Effective communication: The maker of project manager and stakeholders bond

Professionals and project managers equally know that any project management plan will contain communication activities and communication management plan. Project managers will then monitor whether the communication plan and activities are effectively executed

It all starts with analysing communication styles of stakeholders. Interviewing stakeholders and discussing project objectives with them gives the PM information about personality types of stakeholders as well as they communication needs.

Let us an example of a project where we have 5 stakeholders in the stakeholder register (including the PM)

Number of communication channels needed to establish = n (n – 1) / 2 where n = number of stakeholders. In our examples we have n = 5. Hence communication channels are 10. This gives us the following communication channels map

Once the communication channels map are drawn, data is collected regarding communication style appropriate for each channel. For example, communicating with government agency may require the use of an official email while presenting project status report may need presentation meetings

After communication styles are known and agreed, communication activities and communication plan are then developed.

We end this post with a practical example as follows so as to emphasis the importance of communication in project management

Ahmed is the CFO of the organization and Ali the project manager. Activity A needs to be executed and it depends on paying a remaining balance of the previous activity. Activity A got delayed by 3 days, and when the CFO was asked about the payment he responded that he was not aware of the balance. The project manager than checked his communication plan and found out that the communication activity related to seeking CFO payment approvals was not defined

To learn more about project management and practical project management, get a copy of our latest book from the link below

Jama, A. .A. (2022). Practical project management: With Microsoft project illustration. Somalia: Pure Training Centre. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QGVRKY3