HTML clipboardI think most will agree that good communications are essential to achieving success in Project Management. Communication in general is essential in today's business world where everything is partitioned and every project requires a lot of coordination from different groups. Often, people in a single project will range from your typical grunt worker to a middle manager to a VP and perhaps even C-level execs.
Many people seem to forget that the level of information that they present and the way in which it is presented should be targeted to your specific audience. It seems common-sense that you will not explain the same technical problem to your grunt IT worker in the same terms and with the same level of detail as you would to your VP. And yet, this is what I see happening time and time again. People will often create a completely avoidable situation by simply understanding what information has to be presented. You know that saying: "It is not what you say, but how you say it that matters most." This is very true. We need to make sure that people on the project understand how information should be distributed, instead of leaving it up to them to make that choice. As PM's we have to know who our stakeholders are, and at what level they want information delivered to them. Some may care for specifics, others may care about the dollar figures, others about impact to schedule, etc. Understanding this is crucial, and we have to make sure that we have a handle on how the same information is expressed to these different groups.
I have seen too many issues being escalated, unnecessarily and causing unnecessary tension between stakeholders on a project, after poorly thought-out statements were made to top-level execs, who interpreted the problem as being far more severe than it really was.
It may be helpful to develop a communication plan at the very beginning of a project, to make sure that information trickled up and down appropriately. Make sure that you understand that there is a real distinction between not sharing all the information, by keeping things secret and sharing information in a matter suitably presented to different stakeholders.
Ultimately, as Project Managers it is our job to know who on the team may act as a broken telephone and make sure that their communications do not disrupt or altogether derail the project. It is also up to us to make sure that communications we produce are clear and offer enough details to our target audience. Keep in mind that one size does not fit all, and learn from your mistakes, so that they do not continue to re-occur.
