3 Key Elements for Delivering Best Practice #2....Communication (part 1)

#2...Communication

In this article we continue our discussion on the key elements of delivering best practice for delivery professionals. Last time we talked about the importance of documentation, today we discuss the 2nd key element, that being Communication. 

Communication is the foundation of all successful projects. For every project that fails, poor communication is always noted as a major factor.

This is not just relevant for technology but for projects across all industries. If you think about it, it should be obvious. Program directors, project managers/leaders who don’t manage their teams well, who don’t keep stakeholders informed and who fail to prioritise communication in their delivery style will deliver sub-standard projects and poor outcomes.

Why? Because they invariably fail to keep people up to date on key issues when arise, they struggle to keep their teams aligned and in-sync, and they don’t notify stakeholders of pending major problems on a timely basis. The first instinct of delivery people is to keep issues quiet whilst they get busy trying to sort it out themselves. The fact that they commonly don’t report information when they should in itself is a sign that there is a problem.

In my previous article on Documentation, I mentioned that best practice requires attention to detail. People who are strong communicators tend to have an attention to detail. They are on top of what is happening, they have processes in place to make sure that they are the first to know of a challenge before it becomes a problem, they are efficient and they pride themselves on keeping people informed.

Can you communicate too much? Yes, you definitely can over-communicate when you send too many emails and provide too many updates too often...and to the same people. Although in reality over-communicating is a problem that is is very rarely seen. 

So let’s take a moment and make this about you – I want you to ask yourself these critical questions;

Do you communicate enough?

Do the people in your team receive clear and regular communication from you on the status of the project?

Do your internal stakeholders (i.e your company’s internal senior/executive management) know enough about the key issues affecting your project?

Are the customer’s key stakeholders - that is the C-level executives, executive sponsor and financial controllers - aware of the challenges and risks of their project?

Do they know what may be going wrong and what they are ultimately responsible for fixing? 

And lastly, if there are any external 3rd party stakeholders, are they being kept informed on what is going on?

"The reality is that communication at the level needed to ensure success, does not happen anywhere near enough."

Most managers will be honest enough to tell you that they do a good job – not a great job - in keeping people informed. Being “great” at communication is actually extremely hard work but it is critical for success. Strong communicators make it their priority to keep all parties informed on what is happening, what are the challenges, and what needs their input for decisions. They do this regularly, on a timely basis and they usually manage to provide updates to people on the project before those people are asking for an update themselves.

So what can you change today that will help you be a better communicator?

Stay tuned for part 2 of Communication and I will share some important tips to get you started...to be continued.