Can you imagine managing a project without communication? Sounds like a nightmare, right?
It would be pretty much impossible—what with all the layers of project requirements, details, and decisions that need to be approved by all those important folks up the chain of command. Every step requires some new task to talk about, and that task depends on another task, decision, or person.
When it comes to project management, you can’t go at it alone. But even the best tools won’t matter much without effective communication. In other words, you’ve got to know how to talk to your people!
So what are some of the best ways to improve your communication in project management? Let’s walk through it.
The importance of communication in project management can’t be stressed enough. That’s because it’s critical to project success.
Good communication keeps conflict and confusion from bogging your project down by ensuring key players are aligned on project goals and know exactly what’s expected of them. It also helps build team-wide trust so everyone works better together from project start to finish.
No project relies on a single type of communication to get work done. You might use a combination of these communication methods to keep people informed on your projects:
So how do you know which communication types are right for your project? Look at what worked well—and what didn’t—for past projects. Then bring your team and stakeholders into the conversation to get their input. Everyone has different communication styles, so take those into consideration to ensure your project communications will actually land.
A communication plan can help you devise a strategy for what effective communication will look like on any given project. That way everyone involved in the project knows what to expect and how to communicate with each other effectively and efficiently.
Lay a clear path to success with a visual plan that’s easy to understand, and keep everyone in sync with flexible workflows and team collaboration.
You want to be the best project manager in the history of your company, right? Of course you do!
Here are 5 communication skills the best project managers regularly apply to their projects:
Remember: Project management isn’t just about tools and process. It’s about people. Good project managers develop relationships that ultimately help projects move smoothly.
That’s not to say tools like team collaboration software aren’t helpful. Useful project management software will help your team share ideas and make decisions together.
The savvy project manager knows how to manage those tools, details, and people through meaningful, strategic conversations. They pull the best out of people—making the introvert a little more outspoken while figuring out a way to make the difficult team member a little easier to deal with.
Think about your project management communications in terms of routines. As a project manager, you want to be sure you’re making it easy for your team to access and share information—and ask for more when needed.
Let’s look at some simple ways you can set your team and projects up for success with effective communication.
When you kick off a project, make sure everyone—including both your team and stakeholders—know what’s expected of them throughout the course of the project. You also need to know what everyone else expects from you.
Here are some good ways to do this:
The most important thing is to get the details on the table and ask: What does success and failure look like on this project?
When you’re honest about what a project win looks like—whether it’s on the administrative end or through frontline project management communications—you’ll have a much easier time setting (and resetting) expectations as work progresses.
If you’re not actively checking in on your deliverables and reviewing them as a team, you’re missing a huge opportunity to collaborate and build a stronger product. When outlining your plan, make sure you’ve built in time to review, discuss, and critique your team deliverables.
This generates more confidence in what you’re building and will also keep team members accountable for project decisions. By just having a short review and discussion, you’re taking steps to eliminate a risk that a current deliverable will have a negative impact on your scope later on.
Regularly hold status meetings—otherwise known as scrums or standups. These brief get-togethers are necessary to keep everyone informed about progress and blockers. Decide together if you want these meetings to be daily (15 minutes) or weekly (50 minutes).
Productive meetings will include:
Keep stakeholders in the know as well so they’re seeing progress and know where they fit in the process.
TeamGantt’s Project Health Report is a great tool for communicating project status, as it provides a snapshot of what’s going well, what’s running behind, and what’s overdue. Share it in meetings with your team and stakeholders so you can work together to ensure your project stays on track.
Being a project manager requires you to be inquisitive—you have to understand processes, people, and deliverables. Chances are, you’ll work with someone who comes up with a new way of working or takes a new spin on something you’re working on. That’s awesome! Just make sure you understand it—and that you can articulate the what, why, when, and how of that new thing.
Most important, never be afraid to ask your team questions. In the end, it’s a win-win situation for you and your team because the more you understand the work, the easier it is for you to advocate for it with stakeholders—or plan for similar activities in future projects.
Bottom line: No matter what you do, be open to discussing how you communicate with your team. You want to know what’s best for the project while also being open and willing to adapt if that will set a tone of positive collaboration.
All that together will lead to success. You can count on it.
A clear and collaborative project plan is your best tool for communicating and tracking all the details, deadlines, and to-dos that will lead your team and project to success. And TeamGantt makes planning easy!
Create, monitor, and collaborate on all your project plans in minutes. You’ll have all the features you need to ensure projects finish on time and under budget—from drag and drop simplicity and team collaboration to customizable views and workload management.
Best of all, it’s all wrapped up in a simple and intuitive interface your whole team will love. 😍