The 5 Habits of Very Successful Project Managers

If you improve your communication skills it will get noticed

The most successful project managers realize that in addition to delivering on time and on budget that they must successfully deliver on the people side of the project. The perception by team members, stakeholders, and management will ultimately determine how successful the project is viewed within an organization. 

The people side of a project or what some call the "softer-side" of project management is an evolving concept. Each organization will differ on what "soft skills" are valued within it, but it is clear that communication is one of the most critical to master. Communicating to executives and other levels of management is one of the most important and visible components for a project manager. The timeliness, quality, and means of how information is disseminated can dramatically affect the outcome of a project. It can also influence the perception of others in how effective you are as a project manager. 

There are five areas that you need to master when looking too successfully to improve your communication to executives. The areas are: 

1. Think before you speak 
2. Be accountable 
3. Listen and watch the signs 
4. Delivery 
5. Dealing with emotional roller coaster. 

These five areas assume one key thing that you have a solid mastery of the basics of project communication from planning through closure. Before I move forward let's start with a quick review of some of the basics just to make sure we are on the same page. 

Like most processes, the start of the communication process begins with planning. Communication planning involves determining the information and communications needs of the executive stakeholders and project team. Being able to identify the specific communication needs for your project is critical to it delivering successfully. It is important to point out that the planning process is interdependent with the overall planning process for the project. 

The most important document that comes out of the planning stage is the communication plan, which is basically the game plan for how, what, who, where, and when of the capture and transfer of project specific information. From distribution mechanisms, reporting strategies and closure activities the communication process provides a solid grounding in best practices for effective and productive project communications. 

So, with that brief and high-level stroll through memory lane on how to provide a solid communication foundation for your team, let's dive into the deep end and go into more detail on these five steps to master in order to improve your communication to executives. 

Think Before You Speak 
You now have all the information you need. You and the team have had a chance to process it and have decided on a course of action. You need to now let the rest of the world specifically your executive team or sponsor know to gain their approval. 

Before you do anything you need to take a step back and think. Think about what you are going to do and how. Think about the following: 

Set clear goals for what you want to accomplish with your communication. Determine the probable outcome once the information is communicated Determine the best way to say it especially if the message needs to delivered to multiple audiences Distinguish valuable and actionable information from context You want to make sure that you don't blow the opportunity by leaving the communication to chance. Taking a step back to assess the best course will provide huge benefits. 

Accountability 
Language does not merely express values, but embodies values, without which it could not function as a medium of communication. — Grice's Cooperative Principle. As the project manager, you are the authoritative voice of your project to the outside world. You must be credible and accountable for all your communications. That accountability will help build the trust that you need to gain the confidence of your executive management or sponsor. 

Recognize your role in creating successful communications. Identify internal as well as external factors such as other project findings, mergers, organizational restructure that could impact the success of your communication being clearly understood by the intended audience. Determine ways to mitigate the impact that factors outside your control may have. Finally, make sure to establish both formal and informal feedback loops within the team and your executives. You need to know that your message was clearly understood and that it met your objectives. You won't know that for sure unless you ask. 

You don't want to wait to see if the team provides you with a clue that they heard your message correctly because it will be too late if they didn't. 

Listen and Watch 
We often forget that listening and observing are critical to being able to communicate well. There is an art to being able to listen and watch in order to take that data, and use that to improve your communication on the spot. A project manager needs to be aware if the message is being heard and acted upon correctly and, if not, to be able to immediately take steps to change what is needed in order to achieve the desired result of the communication.

When it comes to listening you need to develop the desire to listen. Our first instinct is to speak, and so you must let the others do the talking. It will allow you to better demonstrate to the team a respect, empathy, and sensitivity. Make sure to ask clarifying questions and listen to the entire message without interruption. 

You must also be vigilant with your eyes and make sure when possible to read between the lines of the clues that the body will give away. Be on the lookout for posture, eye contact, intonation, gestures, and facial expressions. These and many other signs will provide you with insight into how your audience is reacting to your message. 

Delivery 
There is a lot of work and preparation that goes into making sure information is ready to be communicated. The most visible aspect is the actual delivery; be it in person or through other means. You need to make sure that you deliver the information so that it achieves the objective you had in mind. You communicate the message so that you and you alone control all aspects of what is said, how it is heard, and most importantly, how each person acts on the information. As a project manager, you want to control the spin and not be controlled by the spin of others. 

Keep in mind that you need to determine the appropriate place and time to disseminate the information in order to maximize the value of the message. When putting the content together think about the appropriate level of disclosure depending on the makeup of the audience. The executive member will require a different set of data than those who are part of the core project team. It is also important that you build a credible and believable message. 

When you actually deliver the message, make sure that your body language is in sync with your content. You don't want to be delivering a serious point and be smiling from ear to ear. Do your best to work the room so to speak. Make sure to actually move from spot to spot in sync with the content you are delivering in order to force the audience to follow you and show they are engaged. Finally, remember the power of silence. There is nothing wrong with using silence to help prove a point or emphasize the importance of a point. 

Emotional Roller Coaster 
For all the planning and best intentions the one thing we can't control is the emotional state that the listener will be in when they hear the message. It is even harder to control, when presenting in a group setting. I did not say it was impossible, just hard. It is critical that as a project manager you employ first the listening and observing techniques to determine early signs that an issue may be at hand. The first thing when confronted with an emotional situation is to slow down and almost stop. You want to defuse an emotional situation while maintaining your composure. 

You can now see the importance these five areas have in helping to reshape the perception of your teammates and your management team when it comes to enhancing your communication skills. Take advantage of every opportunity to publicly evangelize your projects to those above you while implementing the tips and techniques outlined within each of the steps. With time and practice, each one of these new tips and techniques will become second nature. You will be able to represent both yourself and your project confidently and successfully to all levels of an organization but specifically 

Best Regards,
Hendy Kurniawan

PROJECT MANAGEMENT ACADEMY