The Importance Of Effective Communication In Project Management

Introduction

Project management involves five phases, namely, project initiation, project planning, project execution, project monitoring, and project closure. A project life cycle goes through these stages and demands effective communication between the project managers, stakeholders, and labourers. Effective communication helps to avoid conflict and communication gaps, and thus, this results in improving the project’s result. Effective communication is not only necessary in project management; it is a powerful tool in any discipline.

Why communication is important in project management?

Communication plays a crucial role in our day-to-day lives, and communication in project management is an important tool enabling project managers to work efficiently.
Effective communication in project management can bring success to the project, ensuring that the involved members are on the same track. In addition, effective communication will give the project managers a crystal clear explanation of the project goals. Apart from project goals and success, communication helps to build trust between the employees and managers and allows the building of a unique bond between them. Thus, employees feel more connected with the company and work beyond their responsibilities. Apart from this, communication allows the involved members to exchange information, thus improving the team’s overall performance. In addition, when the involved team members engage in effective communication, they can develop innovations that foster productivity and reduce overall project costs. Thus, communication has gained such importance in the past few years and has become the centre of all management processes, and project management is not an exception.

Project Management Initiates With “C”

Communication starts with C and refers to identifying commonness when the involved members engage in a group discussion or meeting. This allows the team to devise a solution that can effectively address the uncertainties or challenges that the team might encounter during the project life cycle. Moreover, as we know, project managers and project leaders always explain project goals to the team members, but this is optional; the team members will interpret the message and work accordingly. To confirm this, the project managers should consider some factors. Let’s discuss some relevant factors that the project managers should consider in the communication process.

The communication process involves a sender and a receiver, and their names can be understood: a sender is an individual who formulates and conveys a message, and a receiver is an individual who receives and interprets the message and accordingly shares their opinions or personal reactions.

The communication process demands a medium through which they can effectively communicate. This may involve any type, for example, email, message, special media, PowerPoint presentation, face-to-face, etc. If project management involves complex decisions, project managers often opt for face-to-face communication; this medium allows the project managers and involved members to communicate effectively.
Effective communication always demands feedback from the receiver, who interprets the message. The receiver may accept or reject the message, which depends on their interpretation. This process enhances the decision-making process and overall improves the project outcome. Thus, effective communication is key to the project’s success. Effective communication guides the team members who work accordingly towards the project goal.

What are the various types of communication in project management?

In a project, project managers must communicate effectively with the team members, Stakeholders and other individuals with some role in the project. In this section, we will discuss the various types of communication in project management. Each type of communication possesses specific advantages and disadvantages; thus, project managers implement the communication type by identifying their requirements. The various types involve interactive, written, pull, synchronous, and face-to-face communication. The mentioned communication types ensure that the project managers cultivate efficient planning to achieve optimum results. In addition to this, this also promotes collaboration among the team members. Now, let’s discuss types of communication in detail.

  • Interactive Communication

This type of communication involves two parties and is referred to as a two-way exchange of ideas. This is the most common communication type that project managers often adopt; this type of communication demands the active participation of the involved members. This type of communication may take a verbal mode or non-verbal mode. This is typically known as the most effective communication type that actively spreads all the required information to every member; thus, this type of communication enables project managers to manage projects. Interactive communication offers multifaceted benefits that involve and allows to receive feedback, inspiring and motivating team members for active participation, and promoting real-time communication. In addition, this also ensures that the project objectives are addressed properly, thus maximising project outcomes. As every action has some drawbacks, interactive communication is not an exception. So, project managers should also take care of the limitations.

  • Push Communication

Push communication is often revered as one one-way method of communication. This type of communication does not demand the active participation of the team members. This is often adopted in the middle or after the closure of the project. This does not demand immediate response and active participation. The project managers adopt this communication to convey messages to the stakeholders and update them on the project. This type of communication is typically known as horizontal communication. This possesses some advantages, as this is a horizontal communication process and does not involve hierarchy; thus, information spreads quickly among a large pool of members, thus saving valuable time for the project managers. As the project managers often adopt this to update the stakeholders, this fosters a strong relationship between the managers and stakeholders. Updating them allows project managers to receive feedback from the stakeholders, and thus, they reschedule their plans accordingly. The disadvantage is that this type of communication may not be suitable for sensitive communication.

  • Pull Communication

A website or brochure are two examples of pull communication, in which the content is made available to the targeted audience only after they actively seek it out. This is best suited in situations where it demands regular updates. The mediums involve websites, wikis, and messages. Since the recipient can get the most recent version of the information, this communication style is excellent for conveying information that may need to be updated often. The advantages of pull communication involve the fact that the receiver can seek the information whenever they want to; this depends on their choice. Apart from this, the disadvantages of pull communication involve it demands a significant amount of resources, and the organisation must be equipped with the essential resources to disseminate the information.

  • Face-to-Face Communication

As we can comprehend by the kind of communication, it requests the dynamic support of the two players. This doesn’t request cutting edge innovation, however the shipper and recipient ought to be available under a similar rooftop. This kind of communication is frequently taken on by project managers when they mean to pass on complex data among the team members, some data that is essential for project success.
This permits the two players to comprehend the data obviously; face-to-face communication likewise permits the recipient to decipher verbal and non-verbal communication. That includes the communicator’s non-verbal communication and the communication’s look, and this large number of factors give the collector an inside and out comprehension of the data. Besides, project managers can likewise comprehend how clear the guidelines are to the team members and can figure out this through their looks. Likewise, as this works with face-to-face communication, it permits the project manager to get prompt feedback from the team members and stakeholders, and hence, this permits them to pursue informed choices. With the assistance of face-to-face communication, project managers can guarantee that the data they mean to disperse is successfully discussed. Thai communication guarantees that the data is perfectly clear to the team members. Face-to-face communication offers the accompanying benefits: It constructs a one of a kind connection between the project managers, stakeholders, and team members. Project managers can rapidly recognize in the event that the message is gotten or not. This additionally empowers them to get quick feedback, along these lines further developing project outcomes. As each activity has a few restrictions, face-to-face communication isn’t a special case. One of the disadvantages is that this can be challenging for enormous gatherings, as the project managers need assistance deciphering regardless of whether the message is gotten and understood plainly.

  • Written communication

This sort of communication includes conveying messages through messages, letters, and so forth. This traditional form of communication considers clear and concise communication. Written communication additionally keeps evidence of the information and message that has proactively been informed to the team members, and this goes about as a fundamental device in project the executives for viable and effective communication. How about we presently examine a portion of its benefits and impediments. Written communication stays away from miscommunication and guarantees the receiver receives the information the project managers expect to convey. This likewise guarantees that the team members have legitimate information about the ongoing project; this advances communication between distant areas as this doesn’t request actual presence. This is a speedy and adaptable strategy. Downsides of written communication include being more expert, and some might have to keep away from the message, which prompts vulnerabilities in the ongoing project. What’s more, the delay between when the message is gotten and deciphered can be a major issue with this kind of communication.

  • Synchronous Communication

This type of communication can be defined as the exchange of information in real-time; this promotes quick delivery of the message to the involved members and ensures that every member is updated with the developments of ongoing projects. This type of communication fosters connectivity and collaboration among the team members. This type of communication possesses some advantages that involve promoting communication in remote locations and spreading information quickly to the diverse team members at different locations. Thus, team members can take immediate action for the ongoing project, ultimately maximising the optimum output. One of the disadvantages of this type of communication is, as it demands the active participation of the team members at the same time, it is sometimes difficult to bring everyone under the same umbrella at the same time, and coordination is difficult.

How do you develop communication skills?

  • Be active: As a project manager, your first responsibility is to be active in the team, and you should ensure that project goals and objectives are clear to you; only then can you make your team understand. In addition to that, you make sure that you have a proper knowledge of the weaknesses and strengths of your team members; this makes your job easy. You can assign them tasks per their specialisation, enhancing project outcomes. Be available to solve their doubts.
  • Listen: If you are a project leader, you should be an active listener; this helps you to understand your team more closely. This understanding also helps to build a strong connection between the team members and project managers. Apart from this, it can help your team to solve the challenges they are witnessing and result in better project outcomes.
  • Arrange for meetings: Being a project leader, it is your responsibility to arrange for a meeting once or twice a week to get updates about the ongoing project and conduct interactive communication with the team members; this allows you to exchange thoughts and ideas and comes up with ideas to improve project scheduling and make some developments in the project.
  • Empathy: Empathy can be defined as understanding another’s situation and feeling through their point of view. Always try to show empathy with your team members; this makes your team work beyond the responsibility, and they feel more connected to the organisation. This also creates an encouraging environment within the organisation.
  • Celebrate your team’s achievement: Once the project is over, celebrate the victory. This encourages the team they feel that they are being valued, and this creates a unique bond. This also encourages them to give their best in the upcoming project.
  • Create a Communication Plan: Project management is a complex task and involves various stages. You should develop a structured plan to prevent any uncertainties and challenges in the ongoing project. This helps them to work in systematics; this also avoids delays in the project delivery, and the project manager, along with the team members, gets to see the virtual representation of the status of the ongoing project. This helps them make changes in the project phases and also helps them to make an informed decision.

Conclusion

Communication plays a vital role in every field; thus, project management is not an exception. Communication is a method that involves a receiver and listener, and they actively participate in a physical setting to exchange information and ideas between them. This helps the project managers to disseminate information among large groups, and crucial information can be spread to large groups within a fraction of a second. This allows the involved members to be on the same track and make some immediate developments if required. Communication has various types, and different types possess advantages and disadvantages. So, project managers should be careful before they adopt the type of communication to convey information. To improve their communication skills, the project managers should be active in the team; they should always support their team to encourage them. This ensures that they work beyond their responsibility. Try to be empathetic toward your team members, creating a connectivity network within the work environment. Create proper communication to take advantage of all topics; this promotes flexibility in the ongoing project.

Author Bio: Mark Edmonds, an old pro at Academic Assignments, is energetic about unwinding the complexities of effective communication in project management. With an abundance of knowledge and experience, Mark has committed his career to understanding how clear and effective communication can guide projects toward progress. His obligation to academic greatness and useful experiences radiates through in his work. As a significant individual from the Academic Assignments team, Mark shares his skill as well as adds to the mission of giving top-quality project assignment help at the most competitive prices.