Having communication skills for project managers are vital because those skills can help set clear objectives for the team, enable collaboration, build trust, create transparency, and establish professional relationships with everyone involved in the project. So, in this article, we’ll explain 8 communication skills every project manager should know.
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Why Are Communication Skills Important for Project Managers?
Communication skills are important for project managers because they should spend 90% of their time communicating with internal and external stakeholders.
Communication skills are crucial because they can help project managers manage their teams and projects successfully. Furthermore, they use communication to express the project goals and expectations to team members clearly. Moreover, open communication between team members and a project manager can facilitate a workplace environment in which team members feel supported and comfortable asking questions. This can lead to more efficient and productive project outcomes. So, let’s discuss 8 communication skills you should know as a project manager.
Read More: Why important project communication management when managing a project
Communication Skills for Project Managers
As a project manager, if you are interested in improving your communication skill set, here are 8 communication skills you should consider:
Listening
Listening is the first communication skill you should know as a project manager because strong listening skills give you full focus and attention to a conversation. This means pausing on other tasks and directing your body and eyes toward the person. As a project manager, you can also practice active listening, which means thinking about what the person is asking questions and saying to understand their points. Furthermore, it can also help establish mutual respect between primary and secondary stakeholders in the project.
Written Communication
This is the second communication skill you should know as a project manager. Written communication can include reports, emails, memos, discussion boards, posts, or project plans. These written communication methods may benefit from a distinct style and be most useful in particular situations. However, a project manager should select the most suitable written communication style to use and craft their message effectively.
Verbal Communication
Project managers should establish professional relationships with everyone involved in the project. Having strong verbal communication skills will help them build professional relationships with their project stakeholders and they can provide instructions, updates, or encouragement to their team throughout the project. Furthermore, they can use verbal communication to present project progress updates or reports to managers or shareholders.
Effective verbal communication should include clear speech, thoughtful language, and a confident tone. Furthermore, the place at which you speak is also crucial because it can be helpful to speak slowly enough for listeners to understand and quickly enough to maintain energy and the listener’s attention. So, verbal communication is the third skill you should know as a project manager.
Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication is the fifth skill you should know as a project manager. This may include body posture, gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, and more. For example: project managers can use eye contact and gaze for nonverbal communication when presenting to shareholders to communicate confidence in their project.
Important💡 The following are some benefits of conducting effective verbal and nonverbal communication with everyone involved in the project.
- Enhance collaboration
- Establish professional relationships
- Build trust
- Connect the organization’s vision with the project in a way that will help you motivate the team members
- Create transparency
- Display confidence without arrogance
- Influence through energy and personal motivation
Public Speaking
Public speaking is the fourth communication skill you should know as a project manager because it can help you give effective presentations to team members, shareholders, and other organization peers. These communication skills help project managers lead project meetings and facilitate feedback sessions. However, project managers should improve their public speaking skills by knowing their audience, organizing their presentations effectively, focusing on their key message, and engaging with listeners.
As a project manager, you can improve your public speaking by practicing in front of friends and colleagues or participating in a public speaking seminar.
Organization
Organization is the sixth communication skill you should know as a project manager because you might communicate with a wide variety of people throughout the day. This makes organization a key communication skill and it can help project managers prioritize which emails to respond to quickly or how best to contact certain individuals.
As a project manager, you can organize the content of presentations, written communications, and meeting agenda to express project information and key points productively.
Leadership Communication
This is the seventh communication skill you should know as a project manager. Leadership communication is a communication style that project managers use to inform team members regarding the project goals and values of a particular project or company.
Having leadership communication skills helps leaders develop a common understanding of the key mission and culture that informs the project or company, which may help create a clear set of expectations involving work and attitude for the project team. Furthermore, this communication skill can help establish a common vision of success that team members can work toward.
Empathy
Empathy is the last communication skill you should know as a project manager because a better understanding of another individual’s feelings and points of view can help you facilitate an effective solution and enable productivity. Therefore, project managers should practice communication with empathy, which may enhance their ability to understand the challenges that their team members are working to overcome. By communicating with this skill, you can establish an environment of trust and support, which may encourage team members to put more care into their work.
Read More: Top 10 interpersonal skills for project managers
Conclusion
Communication skills for project managers are crucial because they help establish professional relationships, set clear objectives for the team, enable collaboration, build trust, and create transparency. Listening, written communication, verbal communication, nonverbal communication, public speaking, leadership communication, organization, and empathy are the most important communication skills every project manager should know.
