Effective Communication Skills for Project Managers

This guide focuses on communication strategies and skills through verbal and nonverbal communication, supportive listening, conversation management, and assertiveness training on stress and anxiety. It provides techniques for workplace, interpersonal relational communication issues and provides barriers to communication.

Everyone communicates. It is your communication skills that will help you to lead a project team, negotiate a new contract, or relate to a family member. How well you will manage these tasks will be determined by your ability to communicate effectively. This is an important skill and yet many people do not have any training in this skill, let alone any other skill.

Throughout my professional career, I have come to appreciate the communication skills and strategies advanced by many professionals. Their articulation is not the factor that determines the clarity of a message. I have come to the remarkable conclusion that the attainment of the purpose of communication is what matters. You will be excited to learn that these skills can be acquired with the right training and sustained effort.

Effective communication is not the same as simply talking to someone or sending quick emails. Communication involves an exchange where both people feel heard, rationalised, and personally satisfied. Think of it as a dance where both members of the partnership should be in rhythm.

The main aspects of effective communication include:

• The speaker’s messages: The audience understands the speaker’s proposition and follows the ideas without conflict or confusion.
• Having the response: You recognize emotions and respond adequately to the feelings said.
• Participation: Both the speaker and the listener give complete attention to the conversation.
• Level of communication: You change your style of talking to fit the circumstances and the people involved.
• Loops of communication: You check understanding by asking questions and paraphrasing.
• Facilitating process of communication: You hold private conversations, attend meetings or video conferences, send emails, text messages, and interact over social networking sites. It is important to note that all levels of communication, regardless of the method utilised, aim at clarity and understanding.

When it comes to communication skills in the workplace, there is plenty of evidence to back the claim. The employees of the business lose about $62.4 million a year secondary to the poor inter-office communication. On the other hand, companies that communicate effectively have a stockholder return of 47% more.

Having efficient communication skills in any profession can result in:

Your personal relationships are no exception. To better communicate, which in turn is correlated to one’s mental health, better emotional attachments, trust, and problem-solving skills.

Exceptional communication skills are particularly necessary for project managers. The Project Management Institute has stipulated that communication makes up 90% of a project manager’s role, describing how they are always interfacing with stakeholders, managing their expectations, resolving conflicts, and ensuring that everyone is aligned on the project goals. Understanding project leadership principles can significantly enhance these communication capabilities for professionals in any industry.

I teach a simplified approach to how they communicate to my clients. Recall these five C's.

• Clear: Offer clarification by removing any messages that are vague. Get to the point directly. Avoid jargon unless you are sure everyone can grasp it.
• Correct: In order to gain credibility, accuracy is fundamental. Ensure to check your information before displaying it. Grammar and spelling mistakes are more common in writing, which one has to check.
• Complete: Simply put, provide all necessary information right away. Provide all necessary context, examples, and background information your audience might need.
• Concise: Schedule your communication so that every participant’s time is respected, and nothing more than what is absolutely necessary is said. In most cases, less is more, and a more concise message is far easier to remember.
• Compassionate: Take time to understand how your audience is likely to react. Use of empathy is necessary to foster rapport, so your audience is more likely to respond to your message.

A range of barriers continues to stop messages from being received and understood:

• Stress and emotional overwhelm are arguably the most recognized barriers to successful communication. When anxious or angry, mixed messages are more easily sent, even though it is the words of the person who will usually take the blame.
• Lack of focus is a major productivity killer. When engaged in a conversation and multiple things are done concurrently, the chances of missing a major component of a conversation, especially the non-verbal communication, are greatly increased. 
• Conflicting body language is detrimental to communication and trust. Saying “I will help you gladly” with a folded arm and no eye contact is one of the best examples of words that betray the person speaking them.

Many professionals enhance these abilities through structured learning programs such as the Techademy PMP course online.

Know Your Audience Like The Back of Your Hand

Any communication decision begins with who the other party is. The language and level of detail in a presentation to a senior board are very different from those used in an orientation for new employees.

Consider these facts regarding the people who will receive the message:

• Demographics - Age, level of schooling, culture, and ethnicity.
• Knowledge - What do they already know about the subject?
• Concerns - What is the most important issue to them?
• Their mode of communication - Is it data and facts, or description and illustration?

Understand the concept of an Active Listener Master

Most people recall a proactive response during the time the other person is talking. This guarantees a lapse in communication. Active listening is focused on achieving an understanding of the emotions and the spoken words.

Active listening techniques include the following:

• Remove the sources of interruption: Instead of scrolling through your cell phone, concentrate on the deliverer of the message
• Help them by maintaining the right amount and type of eye contact: This shows commitment and consideration
• Use open, reading, or appropriate postures: Gentle head movements in a vertical direction, a slight forward leaning posture, and an overall body posture that is relaxed.
• Not breaking a person’s stream of thoughts: People should be allowed to finish their thoughts before replies are made.
• Outlining what the other person has presented to them: Formulating a response serves to validate the listening process
• What is the meaning of ... or can you restate it in a different way with an illustration?

Engage the decoders and Put Them in the Framework of Communication

Based on the informative and scientific works of the author Albert Mehrabian, the wealth of an individual’s communication rests on the other attributes, meaning the body language and emphasis in the voice, while the actual words spoken are only a fraction, in this case, 7%.

Your vocal tone and facial expressions, eye contact and posture, plus hand gestures, all combine to send potent signals. It is only when these signals are congruent with what you are saying that you are able to communicate with conviction and power. Recognizing the benefits of project management practices, including structured communication protocols, helps teams avoid misunderstandings that can derail initiatives.

Enhancing your nonverbal skills means you must:

• Ensure your body language and message are consistent: Smile and use open gestures if your message is positive and enthusiastic.
• Attain an open posture: Face the person you are talking to with your arms open and lean slightly toward them.
• Ensure your facial expressions: Avoid words that contradict your assertions.
• Adjust your tone: Control the speed, pitch, and volume to highlight important moments.

Choosing the Right Communication Medium for Optimal Effect

The “channel” used to convey your message plays a critical role in achieving intended communication outcomes. Messages that are communicated in different ways often yield different results.

The communication models below should assist you with the selection process.

Documented communication is an important part for project managers, especially for those with PMI standards and project documentation requirements. It will, however, result in a lost opportunity for personal interactions.

Visceral Strain and Its Consequences on Communication

Almost no other thing can obliterate effective communication as fast as stress can. Anxiety and overwhelm put your brain in the fight or flight mode, and as a result, derail crucial conversations and can lead to project failure.

Identifying individual stress signals can help in better management:

• Tension in muscles, particularly in the shoulders and jaw
• Breathing shallow and/or at a fast rate
• Accelerated heartbeat
• Blurred thinking or racing thoughts

Stress relief strategies that take a couple of minutes to implement include the following:

• Breathing techniques: Slow, shallow breathing five times, accompanied by guided imagery
• Sensory Engagement: Focus on a stress ball or some peppermint
• Little stretches: Stand, stretch a bit and go back to your chair
• Relaxation exercises: Gradually tense the major muscle groups and then fully relax them in a repetitive fashion

An individual who is assertive can communicate without being passive or aggressive. Neither extreme is needed since each type of communicator will express their needs, as well as take others into consideration at the same time.

Passive communicators remain in their comfort zone and tend not to stress over conflict, though it is usually to their detriment. On the other hand, aggressive communication goes to the opposite extreme and focuses on their needs regardless of the needs of the rest of the people. Ultimately, the communicators who are assertive tend to offer solutions that satisfy all parties involved across different levels of management, with examples showing varied approaches.

Principle of assertiveness:

• Understand your worth: You matter, your thoughts and needs matter just like anyone else’s.
• Express needs directly: Don’t use “you” accusations, use “I” statements.
• Set and enforce boundaries: learn to say “no” politely but firmly when it is necessary and
• Accept criticism: Compliments are a sign of your worth, criticism is an opportunity.

Practical assertiveness techniques:

• Boundary assertion: "I appreciate how you are working under a lot of pressure and on a tight deadline, but I, too, need some time to go through the proposal."
• Consequence assertion: "If we keep missing deadlines, we’ll have to change the scope or the timeline of the project."

Once you learn how to communicate effectively and efficiently, every factor of your work and personal life flourishes. The process doesn’t really end, but every step is a step closer, and it only builds from there.

For a project manager, perfecting these skills is vital. Time and again, communication is number one on a list of important skills in the workforce, which is why understanding what is PMP certification entails recognizing its emphasis on communication competencies.