Tools and techniques for manage communication in project management play a crucial role throughout the project life cycle. So, in this article, we’ll discuss 07 tools and techniques and benefits of manage communication in project management.
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What Is Manage Communication in Project Management?
Communication management in project management plays a vital role throughout the project life cycle. According to the PMBOK 6th edition, project communication management is categorized into three processes.
- Plan communication
- Manage communication
- Monitor communication
Monitor communication in project management helps project managers ensure timely and appropriate collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, and monitoring of the ultimate disposition of project information. Furthermore, this process is to help an efficient and effective information flow between the project team and the stakeholders. However, project managers should identify the following aspects when managing the communication.
- Choose appropriate technologies, methods, and techniques.
- Ensure flexibility in the communications activities by allowing adjustments in the techniques, technologies, and methods with the changing needs of the project and its stakeholders.
So, let’s explore 07 tools and techniques for manage communication in project management.
Tools and Techniques for Manage Communication in Project Management
Managing communication in project management is crucial because it will help project managers increase the chances of project success. So, here are the essential 07 tools and techniques for manage communication in project management.
Communication Methods
As a project manager, the choice of communication methods should allow flexibility if the membership of the stakeholder community change or their requirements and expectations change.
Communication Skills
Communication skills are another vital technique for managing communication, including communication competence, feedback, presentations, and nonverbal.
Communication competence means a combination of tailored communication skills that consider factors such as effective relationships and information sharing, clarity of purpose in key messages, and relationship behavior.
Feedback means essential information about reactions to communications, deliverables, or a situation. So this supports project managers build active communication between project managers, team members, and stakeholders through coaching, mentoring, and negotiating.
Presentation is a technique that helps project managers formally deliver information or documentation. Through that, project managers can provide clear and effective presentations of project information for the relevant project stakeholders. Typically, this may include progress reports and information updates to stakeholders, general information about the project and its objectives, background information to support decision-making, or specific project information aimed at enhancing understanding and support of the work and objectives of the project. However, as a project manager, you must know about your target audience, their expectations, and the project objectives to ensure the success of your presentations.
Nonverbal communication is another vital technique of communication that includes appropriate body language to transmit meaning through gestures, tone of voice, facial expressions, and mirroring eye contact. Therefore, team members should be aware of how to communicate using the nonverbal method to manage their communication effectively and efficiently.
Interpersonal and Team Skills
These skills are crucial when managing communication, which includes active listening, conflict management, cultural awareness, meeting management, and networking.
Active listening is a technique that involves acknowledging, understanding, explaining and confirming, and avoiding bottlenecks that adversely affect comprehension.
Conflict management means, within a team environment, project managers require the ability to solve problems, set appropriate goals, settle personality differences, and resolve conflicts. So, they can use the following conflict management techniques to run a smooth team environment.
- Withdraw/Avoid – Avoiding the conflict or postponing.
- Smooth/Accommodate – Focus on areas of agreement rather than the differences
- Compromise/Reconcile – Searching for a solution that satisfies all parties
- Force/Direct – Forcing one’s viewpoint on others
- Collaborate/Problem Solve – Consider multiple viewpoints
Cultural awareness technique comprehension of the differences between individuals, groups, and organizations helps to manage communication efficiently.
Meeting management is a technique that takes steps to ensure meetings meet their intended objectives productively. As a project manager, you should use the following steps when planning a meeting.
- Prepare and distribute the meeting agenda that provides clear guidance regarding the objectives of the meeting
- Ensure that the meeting starts and finishes at the publishing time
- Determine the suitable participants are invited and attend
- Stay on the topic
- Manage expectations issues during the meeting
- Record all the actions related to the meeting
Networking means interacting with others to exchange information and develop contacts. Furthermore, the network provides project managers and their teams with enhanced performance through,
- Access to informal organizations to solve problems
- Influence the actions of the stakeholders
- Enhanced stakeholder support for the work and outcomes of the projects
Project Management Information System
Project management information systems (PMIS) help project managers ensure that stakeholders can easily retrieve the information they need in a timely way. Typically, project information can be managed and distributed using tools as follows.
Electronic project management tools help managers manage and distribute their information effectively and efficiently. For example,
- Project management software
- Meeting and virtual office support software
- Dashboards
- Collaborative and work management tools
Social media management tools help project managers manage and distribute their information. On the other hand, these tools offer the opportunity to engage with stakeholders and form online communities. For example,
- Blogs and applications
- Websites and web publishing
Electronic communication tools help project managers manage and distribute information among the project stakeholders effectively and efficiently. For example,
- Fax
- Voice mail
- Video and web conferencing
- Website and web publishing
Project Reporting
Project reports help project managers to collect and distribute project information among project stakeholders. Therefore, as a project manager, you should be adapted to provide information at a suitable level, format, and detail for each type of stakeholder. However, project information may be prepared regularly or on an exception basis.
Meetings
Project meetings are another vital technique for managing communication in project management because they support the action defined in the communication strategy and communication plan.
Related Post: 6 types of project meeting in project management
Communication Technology
As a project manager, when managing communication, you should be concerned about the following factors because they can influence your communication technology.
- Whether the team is controlled
- The confidentiality of the information
- The influence of the organization’s culture
- Resources available
Benefits of Managing Communication
As a project manager, you can manage project communication by using types of tools and techniques as discussed earlier. On the other hand, managing project communication helps you achieve many benefits as follows.
- Make efficient and effective information flow between the project team and stakeholders
- Determine the appropriate methods, technologies, and techniques for manage communication in project management
- Provide opportunities for project stakeholders to make requests for further clarification, information, or discussion
- Allow flexibility in the communication activities
Conclusion
Tools and techniques for manage communication in project management play a vital role throughout the project life cycle to achieve many benefits. Tools and techniques include communication technology, communication methods, communication skills, project reporting, meetings, project management information systems, and interpersonal and team skills when managing project communication effectively and efficiently.
