What is Project Communication Management?

Project Communication Management refers to the processes necessary to ensure timely and optimum project information development, collection, dissemination, safe-guarding, and ultimate disposal.

Project Managers in this era of information have access to more information than at any other time in history. We shall be flooded with an ever-increasing amount of data that will arrive quicker than you can even begin to fathom as our technology continues to expand and advance into the future century. Due to the nature of this speedy input, Project Managers will need to have the capacity to deal with information overload, which can result from receiving too much information, information that is contradictory to one another, and failing to express data appropriately. These difficulties are concerns arising from communication management in Project Management. Effective communication is an essential general management talent, and Project Managers need it. They must manage the project’s communications properly. The five steps of effective communication management are designed to assist Project Managers in actively listening to customers and co-workers and then incorporating those individuals in developing solutions to meet the project’s objectives. This article will take a deep dive into what communication management in Project Management entails. 

Communication Skills

Strong communication is necessary for a project to be successful. Ineffective communication is one of the critical factors contributing to a project's failure. The management of project communication ensures that this will not happen.

Effective Project Managers use a variety of communication channels, including formal and informal methods. This increases the possibility of messages being received. To lower the risk of communication breakdown, utilize easy-to-understand language, concentrate on essential subjects, keep communications brief, and compile all relevant information in one spot.

In addition, the following skills related to communication management have been shown to increase a Project Manager’s chance of being successful:

• Capacity for attentive participation in the hearing process
• Capacity for writing that is second to none
• Excellent communication skills
• Inquiring about and trying to obtain further information The process of establishing and upholding expectations
• Inspiring folks to participate, both initially and overtime
• Conflict management talents
• The ability to recall and briefly summarise the information that has been received

In addition to developing skills, the Project Manager must adhere to best practices and guides, such as preparing a Project Communication Plan, as discussed below. 

Planning for Better Communication in Project

It is an arduous task to keep all relevant stakeholders in a project up to date on the changing state of the project without a comprehensive Project Communication Plan. Communication barriers and a lack of openness eventually lead to wasteful, unproductive decisions that impede the project’s goals. With excellent communications in place, it is simple to maintain transparency across all aspects of Project Management, allowing the best decisions to be taken, resulting in efficient project delivery. For instance, where one forum like email is the only medium through which members of an organization communicate with each other, then essential time could get lost, and the Project Manager would be wise to introduce faster methods of communication. Similarly, if the communication channels are too informal, the security of shared information may be at risk. Thus, the Project Manager must be able to find a delicate balance.

Project Managers are obligated to provide specific explanations for how they will handle the management of communications throughout their respective endeavors. A communication management strategy that is clear to the project will need to be developed. When developing a plan, Project Managers should work through each of the following five stages:

• Setting objectives: What are you hoping to accomplish with this communication? You may use communication tactics like a status report to promote awareness. Others may call for action, such as asking a sponsor to authorize spending or a customer to approve project testing. These are both examples of things that may demand action.
• Determining the target audience: These people have a stake in the project. A Project Manager is required to make certain that you have a complete list of everyone participating. They have to consider everyone who will be impacted by the project or whose participation will determine its level of success. On this list, the Project Manager should include not only the team members but also the sponsors, the customers, and other stakeholders who could be interested. The kind of messages transmitted would depend on the mode of communication. This will be the information that is made available to users. Several essential aspects of the project must be communicated, including the scope, objectives, risks, budget, timelines of the project, and the end deliverables. It is vital to display the content, timeframe, budget, goals, chances of the project, and deliverables.
• Choosing the Forum: In this stage, questions about how exactly the communication is supposed to be transmitted would have to be decided. Furthermore, the Project Manager would have to decide whether this is a formal report sent out through email to all of the relevant parties or there will be more of a conversational exchange about it in a less traditional setting during the team meeting. Further questions as to whether the Project Manager would organize a verbal debriefing that would take place during the meeting with the team would also have to be decided.
• Setting Timelines: Questions as to when the Project Manager’s message will be brought to the relevant audience’s attention would have to be decided at this stage. Further, the Project Manager would have to determine whether the stakeholders should get reports periodically and what the period would be. Moreover, if there is a hard deadline, the most effective and transparent way must be devised to avoid confusion. The Project Manager would have to consider the various time zones and the schedules of the persons involved in the project.

The Project Manager’s plan for managing project communication ought to be detailed enough to describe why they are sending a message, to whom, what specific information will be delivered, how it will be sent, and when it will be sent.

It is necessary to include all relevant stakeholders in developing this strategy. The Project Manager must understand their communication preferences and demands. If the Project Manager gives too much information and is unnecessarily lengthy, people could lose interest in what they have to say. However, as discussed above, inadequate communication may lead to misunderstandings, which may cause issues.

It is a universal truth that to be a great communicator; one must first demonstrate that they are attentive listeners. According to many scholars, listening is a leadership tactic that is frequently overlooked, even though it may appear to be straightforward. When designing the communication management strategy for your project, it is necessary to consider all of the pertinent aspects and perspectives.

• Administering Communication: After the communication management process is put in place for the project and the communication management plan has been drafted and given final approval, it can be said to be the duty of the Project Manager to guarantee that it is successfully implemented. This indicates that the plan has to be evaluated and modified consistently to consider any changes that may occur to the project or the stakeholders involved.

In addition to this responsibility, the Project Manager oversees the implementation of the communication management strategy. These are the following:

• The gathering of information and the examination of it
• The production of messages to communicate
• The process of transmitting or disseminating communications
• Keeping all communication records, data, and documents in storage
• Retrieval of all communications that have been saved
• Disposal of any outdated communications upon completion of the project or on a predetermined date

Further, supervising communication among teams and stakeholders, the Project Manager’s tasks include maintaining a watchful eye on and maintaining order in all project communications over the entirety of the project’s existence.

• This task will need verifying the following:
• The communications took place by the plan
• The appropriate persons have acknowledged receiving them
• It has been determined that the messages have been grasped, and any necessary feedback has been distributed to the appropriate project participants
• The plan for managing project communication should outline the kind of monitoring to be done and how frequently it will be done.  

Conclusion

Certain Project Managers are just naturally good communicators. The skill of speaking clearly and concisely is beneficial to others as well. In any circumstance, a significant amount of time is devoted to spoken and written communication. During these meetings, the Project manager’s job is to ensure that the information is given effectively and that all attendees understand it.

The Project Manager can prevent misconceptions regarding the aims and objectives of the project by using appropriate communication techniques and processes. As a direct result, there will be fewer instances of conflict. All of the team members and the stakeholders will have the same understanding. Understanding the communication preferences of your stakeholders at an early stage in the creation of the project is one of the first steps in developing a communication plan for the project. This demonstrates that they are more devoted to the project’s success and participate more actively.

Additionally, Simpliaxis offers project management courses to enhance project management skills and communication effectiveness further. These courses provide comprehensive training in project management principles, communication strategies, and stakeholder engagement techniques. By enrolling in Simpliaxis's project management courses, individuals can acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to excel in their project management roles and contribute effectively to project success.