Communicating Effectively

"Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership. The leader must be able to share knowledge and ideas to transmit a sense of urgency and enthusiasm to others. If a leader can't get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn't even matter."

Gilbert Amelio
President and CEO of National Semiconductor Corp.

Messages can be delivered using various forms of communication - formal, informal, written, and verbal. However, the same message can be delivered using different modalities, but generate different interpretations.

For this assignment I had to receive the same message using three different modalities: Email, Voicemail, and Person-to-Person. The message was an informal message. Formal communications "are pre-planned and conducted in a standard format in accordance with an established schedule." Informal communications "occur as people think of information they want to share" (Portney, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008, p. 357). However, just because an informal method was chosen, in today's world of technology I would not consider an informal message unimportant.

Interpretation of the Message:
Email – I had to read the message twice to understand what was being said. I felt the message was run-on sentences; thoughts being thrown onto paper.

Voicemail – The voicemail message was clearer and I had a better understanding of what was needed. The message was friendly and conveyed the feeling that there was a working relationship.

Person-to-Person – I didn't find the message to be any different than the voicemail message. However, the person-to-person message was very scripted and impersonal.

Factors that influenced my perception:
Email – Email can be considered an informal method of communication, but there must still be some structure to the message. Written communications should 1)Begin with a clear purpose, 2) State the situation, 3) include possible solutions, 4) Indicate if a sign-off is required, 5) Specify the form that the response is required to take, 6) Keep the tone of all communications business friendly and respectful. (Stolovitch) In this particular message, not all of these components were relevant, but the purpose, situation, and solution should have been communicated in a more structured manner.

Voicemail – The voicemail seemed more casual and was easier to understand. I do not think the messenger was clear in any of her messages exactly what data she needed. But the message did not seem as fragmented.

Face-to-Face – As in the voicemail, the message appeared clearer. However, the messenger appeared scripted and "unfriendly" making it difficult to stay focused on what she was saying.

Most effective form of communication:
The voicemail worked best for me. I am an auditory learner and maybe that contributed to this method being most effective. The voicemail was casual and clear making it "real" and conveyed a working relationship and a feeling that the messenger knew how to speak so that I would understand.

Effectively communicating with project team members:
"The ability to communicate well, both orally and written, is a critical skill for project managers" (Portney, et al, 2008, p. 357) Written communications should beprofessional, clear and concise. Sending emails(or any written communication) that require multiple readings to understand will either create frustration and lack of understanding for the recipient or it will quickly end up in the "wastebasket." Verbal communications should be professional, but friendly and not intimidating and impersonal. You want to keep the recipient engaged in what you are saying. Regardless of the modality you choose, the one thing that must always be conveyed (and wasn't in any of the examples) is that if there is any question they should contact you and how you can be reached. Letting the recipient know that you are available to clarify and help resolve the issue, tells them the issue is important to you. Just as we all learn differently, we all communicate and interpret communications differently. When dealing with team members on an indivdiual basis,use their preferred communication style. If you are communicating with the group, use a formal style of written communication or consider a face-to-face meeting.

References:
Portney, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Stolovitch, D. (n.d.). Communicating with Stakeholders.
http://www.leadershipnow.com/communicationquotes.html

A Project Post-Mortem

A few years back my organization was interested in implementing a Learning Management System (LMS) to track employee education as well as provide online training to employees. I was responsible to research, identify and propose the system I felt would be most suitable. After much research (approximately 1 year) I finally identified a system and submitted my recommendation. Approval was granted and the very lengthy implementation process began. I say lengthy because I was the only one working on this project, with the exception of communicating with the IT department what would be needed from them (which was very little as this is internet based, hosted by the vendor). This system took approximately 1.5 years to get up and running. The initial implementation was successful and while the system is being used for recording educational activities, as well as providing some education online, it is still not being used effectively.

“Project management is the process of guiding a project from its beginning through its performance to its closure” (Portney, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008, p. 3). This project did not have a Project Manager (PM) nor did it have any of the formal processes of the project management process. While I am happy that the implementation was successful, I now realize how important it would have been to either have a PM or some formal systematic approach to the process.
At the end of a project, it is important to do a project review and look at what was learned from the project and what could be done better in the future. This process is referred to as post-project reviews or “post mortems” (Greer, 2010, p. 42). Below is my post-mortem of the LMS project.

This project did have a defined outcome, however, there was no schedule or allocated resources; there was no formal process, plan or team. Michael Greer suggests that upon completion of a project you do an evaluation from an overall general perspective and the “Five Phase-Specific Questions” perspective (Greer, 2010, pp. 42, 43).

Overall Perspective of the Project
The implementation of this project was a success, however, I think it could have been completed in a much shorter timeframe had more stakeholders taken an active role in the project. It took approximately 1.5 years (out of a 3 year contract) to implement; a loss of 1.5 years on the contract. Key stakeholders who should have been actively involved in the entire process included IT personnel, Subject Matters Experts (SMEs), Human Resources and department managers. The most difficult and time consuming part of this process was mapping staff to the appropriate learning groups without management input. While the system is functioning, mapping is still not accurate and needs to be reworked to use the system more efficiently.

Five-Phase Perspective
Greer’s five phases to assess include: 1) Determine Need and Feasibility; 2) Create Project Plan; 3) Create Specifications for Deliverables; 4) Create Deliverables; and 5) Test and Implement Deliverables. None of these phases were planned in any way. A feasibility study should have been done to determine that the purchase and implementation of an LMS was beneficial and cost-effective. Once it was determined that the project would be beneficial to the organization, a project plan should have been developed; key stakeholders should have been recruited and assigned roles; and a formal PM process should have been followed. Had a formal process been followed the system could have been implemented within 6 months vs. 1.5 years, learning groups would have been mapped correctly from the beginning, and technology requirements for learning modules (i.e. Flash, Adobe reader, etc.) would have been identified and installed on all computers prior to assignment of a module.

What was Learned
Always have a plan! Regardless of the size of the project, you need to follow a systematic approach and carefully plan the project. Any and all future endeavors I am involved in, I will follow Greer’s “10 Steps to Project Success” (p. 45) or some form thereof. Use of Statements of Work, Work Breakdown Structure, diagrams, and schedules help to keep the project organized, maintain communication amongst stakeholders, and completion timelines on track. This project could have been a complete failure, but fortunately it wasn’t. We now have a committee that includes all the previously identified stakeholders who meet quarterly to help improve the use of the system and future upgrades.

References:
Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects. Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.

Portney, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.