What is communication?
Communication = exchange of information - intended or involuntary
What are we communicating?
Ideas, Instructions, Emotions
Sender - receiver model
Components
Transferring information from one person to another (one place to another) in a way the intended message is not lost.
Sender should ask for feedback from the receiver how message was understood. If message was not properly understood, this back and forth comms need to continue until the receiver understands the message correctly. This is sender receiver model.
Components of S / R model: Sender, Receiver, Encode, Decode, Noise, Feedback, Message, Medium
Barriers in communication
5Cs of written communication, meaning
Meaning: to reduce misunderstandings we deliver the message conforming to 5 C.
5Cs are also supported by good comms skills.
Name some communication skills
When is communication effective?
- Have clear purpose of why we are sending info
- understanding receiver as much as possible, meeting his needs
- Monitoring & measuring effectiveness of comms
Challenges / Trends / Emerging practices in communications mngt
- include S in project reviews
- include S in project meetings
- increased use of social computing
- multidimensional approach to comms
Communications mngt processes (3)
- Plan communications management
- Manage communications
- Monitor commuications
What do we need before we can start planning for communications?
Stakeholder identification needs to be done in Identify stakegolder process
Effective listening
- Repeating what was said/giving feedback
- Asking for Clarification
- Watching for non-verbal clues or Body language
- Maintaining eye contact
When planning for communication, what all do we need to consider?
- Who needs what information and when?
- What format?
- What is the frequency?
- What method and which technology to use?
- Which language should it be sent?
- No. of channels of comms?
Types of communication?
- Internal/External
- Formal / informal
- Oral / Written
- Gestures / choice of words
- In person / Virtual / via Media
- Upward / Downward / Horizontal (hierarchical)
Plan communications management - inputs
Project documents
- stakeholder register - identified + prioritized stakeholders, who needs what when in what format.
- requirements docs - Can have info on comms requirements w/ client, customers
Project management plan -
- Resource mngt plan - comms requirements re team members, vendors
- Stakeholder engagement plan - prioritization and ranking
- EEF - organizational structure, cultural differences, language
established methods of comms
- OPA - templates, lessons learned re comms
Plan communications management - OUTPUTS
- Communications management plan
- Project mngt plan updates
- Project documents updates
What info can you find in communications managment plan?
- Communication needs of stakeholders
- All the methods and technologies that would be used for communication
- What information would be sent in which format and in what frequency and to whom?
- Who would be responsible to send out which kind of information?
- Stakeholder groups and their individual priorities vis-à-vis project information and frequency
- How the communication would be recorded and stored and how they would be retrieved or referenced. Escalation and various approval processes
- Glossary and definitions of technical terms and acronyms being used
- Change process for altering or updating the communication plan itself.
Plan communication management
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
- Expert judgment
- Comms requirements analysis
- Communication methods
- Communication models
- Communication technology
- Interpersonal team skills
- Meetings
Plan communication management
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
Comms requirements analysis
An analytical technique to determine the information needs of the project stakeholders.
Input “Stakeholder Register”
analyzing which stakeholder needs what kind of information and in which format as well as the frequency (periodicity) of the transmission of that information.
This analysis also understands which kind of information, if not transmitted to specific stakeholders, would lead to project failure.
We take stakeholder register and analyze who needs what information at what time, how often and in what way.
Which information would cause project failure if we don’t deliver it to stakeholders
Plan communication management
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
Communication methods
Interactive communication -
two or more participants in a real-time interaction of exchanging, understanding and clarifying messages and information.
the best method in reducing noise.
Ex: face-to-face communication, video conferencing, audio conference, meetings, instant messages, casual conversations
Push communication
sender send information to the receiver, no feedback loop
Ex: Memos, telex, telegrams, e-Mails, snail mails, Couriers
Pull communication
information seeker searches and retrieves information that may have been kept by someone at a different period of time.
onus of receiving communication in on the receiver.
Ex: Notice boards, websites, virtual repositories kept on servers, physical files kept in a library or a file cabinet, white papers published
Plan communication management
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
Communication models
- Sender / receiver model
- Shannon and Weaver Model,
- Schramm Model,
- Constructionist Model and
- Liner Model
Plan communication management
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
Communication technology
- Face-to-face
- Video, audio conference
- Regular mail, email, courier
- Instant messaging
- Social media
- Fax/telex/telegram
Plan communication management
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
Interpersonal team skills
- Communication styles analysis
- Cultural awareness
- Political awareness - finding power centers (who has deciding power) and choosing appropriate comms methods
Manage Communications
What is the process about?
- executing the Communications Management Plan
- taking care of the “Ad Hoc” requests for project information by stakeholders.
Manage Communications
% of transmitted communications
- Face-to-face 98%
- Phone 45%
- Emails 7%
- Non-verbal 93% (100-7%)
