Communicate EFFECTIVELY
This is part 7 of a 14 part series describing my professional philosophy. Part 6 can be found here.
Was there a specific project that you remember — big or small — where the communication was not right?
There may have been plenty of messages going back and forth, but was it EFFECTIVE?
Was a lesson learned phase, feedback mechanism, or reflective ceremony conducted to see how the communication aided to the project’s success or failure?
Now think of a project that you would classify the communication as effective or even just good. What were the differences?
Was it HOW the messages were written? Was it the format? Was it the channel used to communicate?
This is point 6 of my 12-point philosophy for success — communicate EFFECTIVELY.
There is such a thing as over communicating! If your message is not properly created for the intended audience, if your chosen medium doesn’t reach that audience, if you lack a good feedback channel, and if you don’t time the communication properly — then you are not effectively communicating, and it’s being lost in the ether.
Not many believe it, but it’s true. If you’re not communicating in an effective manner to have your information received, understood, and acknowledged, then you’re barely communicating at all and continuing in that fashion is a waste of time at best — it has the potential to usher in total failure.
Crafting your message is one of the most critical aspects of your effective communication. Taking the time to learn how to be a better writer, embracing brevity — especially when trying to communicate with executives because they don’t have the time to read pages upon pages! Embrace methodologies such as BLUF: bottom line up front (what is the ask or action that the following text intends). BLUF is the hook, it can be the ‘what’s in it for me’ introduction that gets the audience to WANT TO READ what follows. These are some of the ways you can be a more effective communicator.
Feedback is a critical element of communication, especially in project management; no one can read minds. If you don’t communicate your thoughts for how things are going or what you see and hear regardless of the project status — nothing will get accomplished. It’s a delicate subject because everyone SAYS they love to get feedback, but so many don’t provide it and when feedback is provided — it can be taken as criticism or unhelpful information.
Buyer beware.
If you ask for feedback, be prepared for what comes your way.
Sure, you may get some junk and even some very mean comments — but I assure you, you will get some useful information. You just must sift through the mud to find the gold nuggets.
If you collect feedback as part of your communication management, you need to do something with it. Post the best to a centralized site. Send direct messages to the authors and thank them for the comments and include how you will act because of it.
Basically, walk the walk so you can talk the talk.
If you still feel that you’re an effective communicator and you don’t need to improve your communication skills, let me share a story about when I felt the same thing.
Ten years ago, I was in the final year of completing my masters. I had taken a new role outside of the government industry for the first time in my adult life. I was a customer engagement manager (project manager) for a small software-as-a-service organization, and it was hard. It was the fastest paced, most intense, and most demeaning role I’ve ever worked. I was completing post-grad work, and I was cocky and a little bitter about my choice to take this role. But I liked and respected my manager — she was probably a few years younger than me but had a lot more experience in this kind of role and industry. So, when she put on my 6-month performance eval that I needed to improve my communication — I was SHOCKED! I spiraled in disbelief for a while but kept it all inside. I let it settle and thought about it as the day went on.
By the time I got home at the end of the day, I was ready to accept that MAYBE, maybe there’s something I could do to improve my communications. I was wrestling with this notion that I was SO EDUCATED and SO VERSED in the world of business because of my education — how dare any one mention that I need to improve my communication! But I pushed that aside and accepted that I was on a journey to improve my life and I needed to listen to others. What harm would come by seeking improvements in something so important as communication?
I dug out my communications textbook from my bookshelf. I used it only a few short years ago and most of it was still fresh in mind, but a review would be a good start. Somewhere in the second or third chapter was an inset — one of those text panels that takes up about a half page with a side story or vignette that supports the text’s content. Well in this inset was a picture of my freaking manager! Yep, there in MY COMMUNICATION TEXTBOOK is a picture or the person that JUST TOLD ME I needed to work on my communications.
I was in shock again.
The inset detailed how my manager had been focusing on inter-generational communications in the workplace. It’s a very important topic now, but it was only starting to surface back in 2014. I read that and a few other chapters to look for tips, tricks, or methods that I could adopt to begin my communication improvement journey.
The next day, I brought that textbook into work, and I dropped it on my manager’s desk and explained how Karma just hits me over and over and that I will most definitely listen to whatever she has to say regarding communication because of this inset with her in the book. She laughs and tells me a quick story about meeting the book’s author at a conference a few years back and not seeing the book until I showed her. And then she looks at me with cold steel in her eyes and utters with all seriousness in her voice, “If you show this to anyone else, I will kill you.”
I chuckle. She does not smile or laugh and maintains that cold stare. I collected the book and went back to my desk never to mention this to her or anyone else again until writing this.
The moral of the story is: no matter how good you are at something, if anyone recommends improvement in an area for which you believe that you are great in — just listen and seek the improvement. It won’t hurt — it will probably be a really good thing for you.
And work at being a better communicator!