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How Project Managers Communicate… Or Not!

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on How Project Managers Communicate… Or Not!

It truly is your responsibility as a PM to understand, ask, answer, interpret, filter, listen – communicate – and be effective while doing it.

True communication is a dialogue, not just a monologue.

Well, that certainly sounds easy enough…. Until you add people to the scenario and then it appears like a whole lot of Yakkity Yak happens due to the many styles of communications that PMs use.

And why does this occur? Non-verbal communication carries about 55% of the message you are sending. Paralingual communications are the tone and pitch of your voice which also affect how the message is received. And blocked communications most likely occur when conflict is present.

As Sir Winston Churchill so eloquently put it: “Responsibility is the key to greatness.” and it is your responsibility to communicate and be a great PM.

Styles of PM Communication

Tells All – Knows Nothing. If you don’t know the answer, it is perfectly acceptable to indicate that. You can’t and aren’t expected to know everything about everything. Don’t fall into the trap of assuming your reputation is the ‘Undisputed Authority and Knows-It-All’ PM (that’s why you have a team – all efforts and ideas are worthy and contributions respected). You will become notorious as the ‘Tells It Like I Think It Is’ PM, followed around by your trusty ‘What He Really Meant To Say’ Business Analyst. Don’t attempt to communicate what you don’t know.

Always Has The Last Word. That would make you a dictionary, not a communicator. Communication is about taking turns – talk, listen, talk, listen (there is a rhythm to this). You can complete the cycle by asking if everyone is clear on the information. But you don’t need to ensure that your infinite words of wisdom and commands are the last sound that everyone hears. Often a simple ‘thank-you’ is the most appreciated communication closer.

Because I Said So. If you speak to a team member (or your entire team!) in the same manner that you speak to a small child, then you aren’t a successful communicator. Respect is the fundamental component here. Speak with authority, but do not belittle, insult, or patronize your colleagues or team. They are adults and professionals. If you treat them with respect, you will reap greater results. No one wants to work for the strict disciplinarian who commands and demands. Volume does not solve problems nor does it make others suddenly understand a concept. Raising your mighty voice does not create an enthusiastic team.

Hostage Negotiator. Have you thought about a career change? This style involves convincing people on a whole new level how to accomplish work in a worst-case scenario situation. I’ve known a few projects that might have benefited from this role, but not too many. However, since we are all in PM mode, let’s consider that approach. Patience is the crucial element. Negotiating is a skill. Set your objectives. Thoughtfully consider your responses. You may have to modify your techniques to have peaceful results unless you’re planning to have the people you are addressing in handcuffs at the end of the dialogue!

One More Time (with feeling!). And in your role as PM, regardless of how well you think you have explained, rephrased, clarified, illustrated, illuminated, used various hand gestures and facial expressions to have the team understand your topic, there may still be one person who really doesn’t get it. You observe the glazed eyes and blank stare. Our backgrounds, cultures, language, and skills provide a frame of reference. Be conscious of improper phrases that may not translate. Perhaps you can sustain some form of information flow with your teenager and their clichés and retro-phrases, but in a work environment, you may be misinterpreted and not as hip as you assume you are. And then sometimes, you’ll just need to go over it all again – one more time….!

Let’s Make a Deal. Game show host or seasoned PM? I doubt that you can offer a brand new Victory Red Solstice behind door #2 as an incentive for being a team member on your project. So, what is your deal and how will you communicate it? Work together, listen carefully, respect your differences and skills, show support, and celebrate successes. Strike up a cooperative environment with your team.

I Did It…. (cue music…) Myyyyy Wayyyyy! And then there is the communication plan which includes the verbal and narrative details associated with your project. It will indicate how the management and control of the what, why, who, when and how of communication is put into place. Throughout your PM career, you will need to communicate and be the recipient of communications. Develop your own professional style that will achieve results.

And when reading communications, beware of the fine print at the end.

And this is the fine print…. and …The End….

Donna M. Ulrich, PMP (member of PMI) has over 25 years of project management and consultant (owner of Cougar Management Consulting Corporation) experience within the education, nuclear, telecommunications, IT, service/utilities, financial and healthcare industries. When not managing projects or writing articles, Donna enjoys kayaking, reading, movies, camping and travelling. The highest priority on her list of non-project related work is being with her family (Roland, Samantha and Lewis). Donna can be reached at [email protected]

Implementing PM: It

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles. 4 Comments on Implementing PM: It

Implementing PM can be quite a challenge in any organization. There will be a need to put a lot of processes in place, there will be a lot of reporting, there will be training, there will be software implementation, and there will be a significant investment made. Senior leadership has to see a return on investment (ROI) for all of this. Showing an ROI will generate support for the effort. When you begin to sell project management in your organization, you need to be aware of whom the stakeholders are. A list of stakeholders and issues that you should consider are identified as follows:

Stakeholders
  • To have a successful implementation you must have senior level buy-in. Get a C-level officer to sponsor the PMO or authorize the resources to be used for your project management initiative.
  • Consider the structure of your organization. Start with the organization chart. Break down the business units and get their leadership endorsements.
  • The workers in your organizations want to be successful. Offset resistance to PM by rolling out project management in as non-threatening a manner as possible. Let them learn the methodologies of project management – and terminology – before you throw out to many comments like; “get the WBS done, establish an EV measurement system, show me the IRR for the project”. The bottom-line is if they feel comfortable with what is asked of them, they will support your effort.

Methodology

  • There are many ways to slice a loaf of bread. But from an organizational learning aspect – pick only one way. The Project Management Institute has the internationally accepted methodology for project management. The methodology described here follows the PMI’s PMBOK.

Tools

  • There are numerous project management software products on the market. You should select the one that interfaces best with your other software products and applications. You should also consider the size of the project. Some products are better suited for larger projects, while they may be overkill for smaller projects.

Training

  • Developing a curriculum for project management should be done in parallel with establishing a methodology. The methodology cannot be implemented effectively without a training program. Deciding how much training, for whom, when and how are major concerns when making a training decision. Methodology that is proprietary and vendor specific should be avoided. The PM methodology from the Project Management Institute is methodology with the widest acceptance around the world. Look for training that supports the PMI methodology. Some initial questions that should be answered are as follows:
    • How many employees do you have to get trained?
    • Are they geographically dispersed?
    • Do they travel?
    • Do they need to get PMP certified?
    • Has a PM methodology been identified in your organization?
    • Do you have a budget for this training established?
  • These are questions that you should be prepared to answer before selecting a vendor. Do not under-train or over-train your workforce. Match the training they need to the jobs they will be performing. It is important to prepare the employee for their duties before they are in the position where they require the skills.
  • In order to communicate the methodology used for project management, we must train our workforce. This should include the following:
    • Sponsor training for senior management
    • Project management fundamental training
    • Extensive and specialized project management training
    • Advanced project management training
    • Program and portfolio management training
    • Tools and software training
  • Training will enhance the probability of success for the PM initiative. Start by removing the culture that fears the change or acquisition of a new method or tool. Do this by developing your workforce competency towards the new method or tool. As they learn they will develop confidence in their abilities to utilize the new knowledge and skills.

Maturing the Project Management Initiative

Organizations must not only say that they are implementing project management, they must embrace it. This is done through a commitment throughout the organization. The following issues must be focused upon in order to maximize the ROI for an organization’s investment in project management.

  • Senior level sponsorship
  • The PMO
  • Dedicated project management resources
  • PM methodology
  • Training
  • Systems and Software
  • Measures of PM performance

Senior Level Sponsorship

In order for any management methodology to be embraced the initiative must be endorsed and sponsored by a senior level executive. This can include the CEO, COO, CIO, or CFO as well as other senior level executives in an organization. The saying that it starts at the top is imperative to maximize the effectiveness of project management. With the C-level endorsement many an obstacle can be removed. This C-level endorsement will encourage other senior level executives in an organization to support the program. In addition, you will find funding for various resources to be greatly enhanced for your efforts with project management.

The PMO

The PMO should be the focal point for an organization’s PM initiative. The leader of the PMO should report to either one of the following two options. First, the CIO or the appropriate department where the majority of projects reside. Second, and a better alternative, would the COO, so that they do not have a particular departmental function alignment. The PMO should be responsible for defining the methodology, tools and templates to be used, and oversee the PM training.

Dedicated Project Management Resources

Organizations must allow for resources to be used on projects either full-time or part-time. They can report under the PMO auspices or they can maintain their functional alignment. This will require resource utilization management, so that they are not over or under used. The probability is greater that they will be over utilized. Managing the proper amount of resources that should be allocated can be challenging. This will depend on the workload for the organization.

PM Methodology

The internationally accepted methodology for project management is from the PMI. This organization has been evolving the methodology for project management professionals since 1969. A testament to their global reach is seen in the sheer numbers of organizations that have endorsed their methodology and certification – PMP – and the number of international chapters and certified members.

The methodology that is selected must be standardized throughout the organization. Processes must be defined, documented, and communicated to all concerned. It is imperative to mature project management that project documentation be archived. From this archiving, lessons learned and best practices can be accomplished. We will explore this aspect more as we discuss how an organization can develop maturity.

Systems and Software

There will be an investment for systems and software to execute project management. The capability to share information and communicate is constantly and rapidly evolving. Data can be collected, stored, and accessed immediately anywhere by any member of your organization that you wish. Monitoring, control ,and tools are numerous that can help an organization plan, execute, monitor, and report project performance. These tools must be selected prudently and trained to enhance the success of the project management initiative.

Measures of PM Performance

At the very essences of project management is the project plan. If you do not have a plan you do not know where you are going or at the very least how you will get there. PM performance is based on comparing actuals against the plan. A challenge for many project managers is that they rarely know what an acceptable variance is. Projects will not come in as planned. Imagine a large IT project estimated at $58M and 18 months of effort. Do you agree that it is unacceptable that after 18 months the project will be completed and at a $58M budget? What is the project came in at 19 months and $61M; would this be considered a failure? It all depends, what was the acceptable variance? We truly cannot measure performance unless we know what an acceptable variance is. It is imperative to know this range in order to measure the performance for PM. Techniques such as variance analysis, earned value, BCA, and ROI are measures that we look to in order to determine project performance.

Project Management Maturity Model

Maturity models have become quite prevalent in last 20 years. The software engineering institute and Carnegie-Mellon developed a capability maturity model that was used to assess the maturity of processes used to develop software. The model identifies five levels of process maturity for an organization:

  1. Initial (chaotic, ad hoc, heroic) the starting point for use of a new process.
  2. Repeatable (project management, process discipline) the process is used repeatedly.
  3. Defined (institutionalized) the process is defined/confirmed as a standard business process.
  4. Managed (quantified) process management and measurement takes place.
  5. Optimizing (process improvement) process management includes deliberate process optimization/improvement.

There are many models with a great level of similarity to the CMM model have been developed over the last several years to assess maturity of project management in organizations. The PMI has led the way with their model called organizational project management maturity model or OPM3.

An organization needs to realize that they must pursue achievement of higher levels of maturity in these models in order to realize greater ROI for their investment in project management. Consider receiving fantastic training received by rave reviews, what good would this fine training be if not applied in earnest on ensuing projects? The benefits realized would be minimal. To truly see the benefits an organization must utilize the tools and techniques they are trained on in order to start towards higher levels of maturity.

Developing Maturity

Step 1. Level I – Initial

Analyzing what your organization is doing in project management. Figure XX identifies the tasks and activities that a project manager performs on projects. Use this to determine what is done at each the project management lifecycle.

Step 2. Level II – Repeatable

Assess the practice and methodology that your organization utilizes as they use project management. Are there tools or techniques they use to:

  • Select a project
  • Plan a project
  • Develop the product
  • Monitor and control the project
  • Close the project

Step 3. Level III – Defined

The following questions will be helpful in assessing if your organization has properly defined practices for project management. Have polices and procedures using the tools and techniques identified in step 2 developed? Is there training and information about how to use these tools and techniques?

Step 4. Level IV – Managed

The use of measurement tools for project performance must be utilized to develop baseline data for project performance. In addition variance management must be deployed to quantify project performance. An organization must define what is an acceptable variance for a project in regards to schedule and budget performance as compared to the project plan. Configuration management will be useful here to ensure that the expectations of stakeholders have been met. Stakeholder satisfaction is a challenge because it cannot be measured in time or cost units. Qualitative data will be valuable as you look to identify the satisfaction of stakeholder expectations.

Step 5. Level V – Optimized

Best practices must be identified in order for an organization to continuously improve what they are doing with project management. Perform a Phillips ROI impact study to determine the ROI for your initiative. ROI will be ultimate evaluation tool to compile the various qualitative and quantitative data needed to ensure that the best tools and techniques are realized to ensure maximum ROI. For more information on ROI please refer to www.VillanoavU.com or www.ROIInstitute.net

Wayne has taught and consulted project management, quality management, leadership, curriculum development, Internet course development, and return on investment around the world to Fortune 500 companies. He has over 26 years experience from the Air Force as a project manager for AF technology training and curriculum development programs. Wayne has developed numerous AF and corporate training programs, classroom, multimedia, and Internet based programs. A dynamic presenter and trainer, Wayne has spoken at numerous conferences such as; the Project Management Institute (PMI®), the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), and the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) annual conferences. Wayne is a doctoral candidate with Nova Southeastern University specializing in Computer Information Technology. Wayne is certified Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute, a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) by the American Society of Training and Development, and a Certified Return on Investment Professional (CRP) by the ROI Institute. Wayne is currently an adjunct faculty member at Villanova University.

Wayne Brantley, MS Ed, PMP, CRP, CPLP is the Senior Director of Professional Education for the University Alliance (www.universityalliance.com).

Time to Kick Back, Take It Easy

Written by Mike Morton on . Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on Time to Kick Back, Take It Easy

The summer is finally here! This is the time of the year that I try to relax – but I do find it difficult.

This is the time of the year that I plan, meet and regroup. I schedule all my team meetings for the summer months (working around everyone’s holidays) and review the past, look at the current status of work in progress and plan or re-plan the next few months.

I must admit that I do not punch a clock like many of our readers, so I am able to take a few liberties but regardless, for many this is a quiet time and thus a perfect time to regroup.

The team meetings …what did we say a year ago and what really happened? We spend time looking ahead: the business plans, the schedules and the work that is giving us trouble. And we have some fun so there is some team building in there as well.

The planning… where are we going? Is the plan realistic? Are we equipped? Do we have enough time? There is no doubt that we see this as a luxury that we will not have available in the fall – so we appreciate the opportunity.

The re-group …this is where I air some dirty laundry – get the junk out and over with. Do we need to re-jig the team slightly? Are there some weak points? Are we vulnerable in any way? This is the time to go over it all.

And …I take the time to build my forecasts and start my budget process. This may not be the right time of the year for this for some of you, but it may be a good time to look over the plan you set months earlier.

This is a great time of the year for me. I come out of the summer rejuvenated, prepared and re-scheduled. I have a team that thinks I get it. I have a to-do list longer than ever, but that’s alright. I panic when I am out of control. No more panic. I am in total control by the end of the summer.

By the way, I said I took liberties. All of August on my island in Georgian Bay. The wonders of High Speed Internet via satellite!

Communicating with “Non-Experts”: A Guide for Project Managers

Written by Mike Morton on . Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on Communicating with “Non-Experts”: A Guide for Project Managers

When you run a project you have two responsibilities: you must manage both your project and the organization’s relationship to your project. This second job is often more difficult. You are a technical expert, accustomed to working with other technical experts. Now you must influence non-experts – executives, end-users and others — who are in a position to help you or to hurt you. Welcome to the world of organizational politics.

 

Political problems trouble, delay, and sink projects more often than do technical problems.  Resources are diverted, requests go unanswered, specifications mysteriously change, and business units either ignore you or try to run things.  People expect the impossible and blame you for not delivering it.  People don’t listen and blame you for not telling them what was happening.  You must accept that communicating, selling, and persuading are basic organizational survival skills. Your success depends on engaging the interest and support of very bright people who know little about your area of expertise.  You must always remember that these “non-experts” will define your success or failure.

 

The label non-expert does not suggest stupidity or even lack of interest.  Expertise is different than intelligence: it requires massive amounts of information and years of training in working with that information. You are probably appallingly ignorant of marketing or finance or accounting or manufacturing or customer service. We are all non-experts most of the time.

Experts and non-experts think differently. Despite this, we typically try to use the same communication strategies with both. We provide expert information – details and methods – to non-experts and think we have communicated. We have not. We have spoken but no one is hearing.  Look at good popular science writers – like Matt Ridley or Timothy Ferris or Malcolm Gladwell. They focus on people, they give examples, and they tell stories. They understand non-experts.

 

Recent work in cognitive science has drawn a vivid picture of the non-expert. Outside our areas of expertise:

  • we don’t think abstractly – we think concretely, in pictures, in examples, in metaphors, and in stories;
  • we don’t think logically – we need help seeing how things connect and how one event is related to another; and
  • the personal dimension of communication becomes more important – because we can’t directly evaluate the evidence, trust in the messenger becomes crucial; we attend less to what experts say and more to how it is being said and who is saying it.

 

The less we know about any topic, the more powerfully simple images and stories shape our responses. You need to know the images people have of your project and the stories they are telling.  Are they saying it’s another self-indulgent engineering toy; another waste of the money the rest of us work so hard to make, another bleeding-edge effort?  You only have one tool here – get out in the business and listen.  Talk to people and ask direct questions. You need to know what people are already saying and hearing.  If you are telling a manager how helpful your new scheduling process will be and her best friend from college is telling her how something like this screwed up routing for three months in her company, you are in trouble.

 

Outside our expertise, we have difficulty seeing connections and implications. I was recently at a managers’ meeting in a major financial organization.  During a discussion of the largest systems project in the organization – a new accounts-receivable system – the marketing people volunteered that they were supporting the project even though it had nothing to do with them.  The systems people were aghast. The database capabilities of the new system, they asserted, meant that it would have more impact on marketing than on any other area of the business.  Now the marketing people were aghast; no one had mentioned this to them before.  The project’s natural – and powerful – allies had been ignored.

 

This brings us to the most important point: communication with non-experts is always personal. It is not about “the project.” It is about them and it is about you. These people know that they can’t evaluate the technical side of your project. What they think they can evaluate is you. They can decide whether or not they trust you. We all make these kinds of evaluations regularly with physicians, auto mechanics, and stockbrokers. We can look at the certificates on their walls, but in the end, we make a personal judgment.

 

Help people trust you. Your reputation in the organization is not built simply on the results you have obtained. Your reputation is based on people’s perceptions that you are helping them get what they want. What they want first is to know that you understand their problems. If they believe that you do, they are inclined to trust you. You become “one of us” rather than “one of them.” 

 

Two questions that are at the heart of any strategic communication: what do they want from you and what do you want from them?  Or, to put it more effectively, how can you best help them and how can they best help you?  For this, you need to know your different audiences because their hopes and fears are your real topic. Since one of the universal realities of organizational life is that these concerns differ at different levels, let’s distinguish your three key audiences: the leaders; the managers; and the users.

 

The leaders are your first audience.  Depending on the scope of your project, this may be a department head and her direct reports or it could include the CEO, the top executive team, and even the board.  So what do you want from the leaders? You want their sponsorship. The leaders have already signed off on your project or you wouldn’t be in business, but you need their visible and sustained support, not just their nods or shrugs. 

 

Leaders live in a world of massive demands on their time and resources. They are endlessly distracted and immersed in crises. So what do they want? They want to know that they made a smart decision in authorizing this project.  They want results, they want to know that you are going to succeed, and they want to look effective. You only have their attention briefly, so you want to focus on what you are doing to succeed. You can help them by

  • keeping your reports and presentations short and focused on results;
  • being realistic and straightforward about difficulties; most leaders know that things go wrong, but they are offended at feeling deceived, misled, or uninformed
  • providing materials for their own presentations and discussions with their bosses, board members, customers, financial analysts, and internal groups; leaders spend much of their time in these kinds of discussions and like having exciting, clear, and simple materials to use; it makes them look good; it also publicly commits them to you,

 

Never assume that because the leaders have approved your project that you are done.  Remind them what they have bought and why they have bought it.  Show them that they are getting what they decided to pay for. 

 

Your next key audience–and one that is almost universally ignored–is the managers who will be affected.  Never assume that because the leaders have said “yes” that you have the commitment or even the compliance of the managers.  In fact, never assume that anybody has told them anything.  The leaders always think they’ve communicated with their managers, but they probably haven’t. This group is simply taken for granted, but this is a huge mistake. Managers have strong, implicit veto power. They can decide, for example, that their people are much too busy to be released for training. What you want is for them to become active agents for your project. These are the real implementers. You want them to be willing to make efforts for your success.

 

And what do these managers want?  Managers often have the most to lose in organizational changes: they are under enormous performance pressures; they have succeeded with the old systems; and they live in a competitive world that gives them little margin for error or even experimentation.  They almost certainly see you as a cost, not as an opportunity. You need to help them discover how your project is good for them personally.  You build this support by:

  • keeping in daily touch with the business;
  • listening more than you talk, paying special attention to the managers’ expectations and concerns;
  • being realistic about costs, especially hidden costs around installation such as temporary reductions in efficiency, temporary opportunity costs, training costs, etc.;
  • most importantly, helping them see how your project will help them specifically.

 

There is no substitute here for face-to-face direct communication. You must go to them. This is going to take time, but it is time well spent. Your effort gives you credibility. You want the managers to want your project; you don’t want them either to misunderstand it or merely to tolerate it.  The marketing group I mentioned should have hungered for the new accounts-receivables project.  If managers want your project, it becomes an organizational priority, not another item to be moved down the list every time there is a crisis or another demand for resources.  Your goal is for these key players to want you to succeed.

 

Your third audience is your user community, the people who will actually touch and use the results of your project. You don’t have to sell these people, because they really don’t have a choice. Besides, users are less cynical than their superiors.  They may actually believe that you are going to help them do their jobs better. What you want is for them to become successful users, so don’t sell to them – educate them.  Your goal is to prepare them for installation. That is also what they want. They don’t want to feel stupid and inept. So start educating them and start early.

 

You likely became a project manager because of your technical skills. One of the hard lessons is that you will fail without political skills.  The technical skills with which you and your team create a first-class product are obviously essential, but they are not enough. Communication requires time and effort, but it is your job. You will win when you realize that effective communication is more about your audiences than about your project – about their hopes and fears. As you engage these hopes and fears, you may well discover that you are also becoming an expert in organizational communication.

 

Bill Roberts is the vice-president of TDF International and co-creator of TDF, a perceptual-styles theory. Trained in psychology at Purdue and Duke, Bill has worked as a psychotherapist, a professor, and a change consultant. He is the co-author of Finding Your Place: The TDF Map and numerous training programs. He can be reached at [email protected].