Communicating Effectively



http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/categories/Communication%20and%20Media

This week we were tasked to review a multimedia program called the “Art of Communication.” http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6145/03/mm/aoc/index.html

In this presentation we were given three scenarios that presented three different ways to deliver the same information. One was via email, another voicemail and face-to face.  The object of this exercise was for us to post our interpretation of each of the different modalities in which the message was delivered. In addition, we were asked to synthesis our thoughts regarding the implication this activity may have when communicating with members of a project team. We also were asked what things we learned in order to communicate effectively with others.

Email

When I saw the email communication, I felt that the communication was very important and that I needed to immediately address the email.  For me personally it is essential to have the information in writing and I prefer an email over any other method of communication if it is a business situation.   It is important to be able to go back to the written communication to verify information. It is imperative to write an effective message when communicating in writing. Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Schafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008 explain that it is important to minimize jargon and acronyms, prepare shorter reports and to send scheduled reports in a standard format. When stakeholders see email reports or any other type of written communication that is too long, it is easy for them to get distracted and there is more of chance they will not read the email.

Vociemail

The voicemail communication in my opinion was informal and I personally barely ever leave voicemails and I don’t really check my voicemail. So if someone has something important to say to me a voicemail would not be an effective way to communicate with me. The voice was friendly and the message was delivered effectively.

Face-to-Face

The face to face communication seemed friendly  and if someone comes up to me personally in my work area to talk to be about something that serious I take it very seriously however I always ask the person to follow via email with me so I won’t forget the details.

Communicating with your Project Team

Dr. Stolovitch talks about communication and trying to find out what the best communication style  the people on your  project team prefer . It is important to have the “communication style “conversation with the people that are going to be working on the project. As a project manager it is important to communicate effectively with everyone in order to keep the project moving.  Not every person on your team will respond to the same method of communication as each person is unique. However as Dr Stolovitch explains in his video, it is always important to document your communication with other people. So even if you have an informal conversation with someone on the team about something regarding the project, it is important to take notes, in case you need to refer back to the notes when following up on any assignments. I especially prefer email since you can easily have a trail of the documents and communication you send via email. It is important to note that not everyone on your team will prefer email so that is when you have to adapt to that person’s communication style. If the person prefers a face to face conversation, then go ahead and take that extra step and plan some time during your day to speak to the person.

It is also important to consider if you are going to use formal or informal communication (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Schafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008) . Depending on the type of information you will deliver, you have to decide if you are going to use formal or informal. For example if you need the project to be approved, you know that will have to send a formal communication requesting a sign off.

Lessons Learned:

·         Use the correct type of communication method not only depending on the type of information that is delivered but also on your audience.  

·         It is essential to ensure that you are not leaving someone that is involved in the project out of the communication.  Making sure that everyone that needs the communication gets the information in the same manner as everyone else, preferably at the same time.

·         Ensure that you document everything in writing, even when having an informal conversation about a project.

·         It is crucial to follow up with people on your team regarding deadlines and decisions relating to the project.

References:

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

Stolovitch (n.d.). Communicating with Stakeholders [video]. Retrieved from: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=6290461&Survey=1&47=8115912&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”

Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”

As I reflect on the most recent project at my place of employment; I can say that there were things that were not done well and some that were done extremely well.  I work for an online university. The project our school is working on is changing the current course management system (CMS) to another.  Changing from one course management system is big project and there are so many people and teams involved that things can easily get overseen or forgotten. This project is so big it is divided in stages but I want to reflect on stage one of the migration project.  

The first time we knew this project was in trouble was when we did not meet the first deadline for the first roll out of courses in the new CMS. The deadline got pushed because we were not ready for the migration. I feel that management made a good decision in changing the date because if they would have launched the new CMS on the initial date things would have gone really bad.  Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer and Sutton explain that project scheduling is one of the importance responsibilities for project managers. Even though I was not aware of the exact reasons of why the project was delayed, I can assume it had to do with one or more teams not getting their tasks in on time by the due date. There could have many reasons for the delay, maybe there were not enough experienced people working on the project or the project managers did not conduct an effective forward pass.

The team I work for is responsible for fixing technical issues in the classroom or escalating content issues back to the course developers and then implementing the changes.   In addition, our team was in charge of updating spreadsheets with changes that have been completed in the old course management system, in order for another team to implement the changes in the CMS. The part of the project that was successful was that all the classes were migrated successfully and our team did a good job at tracking all the changes in the spreadsheet. The part that was a failure was that our team did not know enough about the new CMS in order to respond the technical difficulties that arose after the migration took place.  In addition, the faculty also did not seem to be very familiar with the new CMS, a lot of issues were also due to lack of knowledge.   There were things in the new CMS that worked correctly before and after the migration they were not working.

As I read the description of phase IV create deliverables and V test and implement deliverables from the assigned course reading. I can clearly say that our team did not have any input in the project. No one ever asked us what we thought even though our team plays a big part in the technical aspect of the classroom itself. Our group did not test the product in the manner that we were going to use it for our customers, which are faculty and students. If we would have created a training sandbox where we could have practiced making changes in the new CMS, we would have been ready to address our customers’ needs.  The transition was not smooth for faculty, employees or students. There could have been more effective training sessions for employees and students. Even though there were online trainings, in this situation I think it would have been better to provide information sessions with a facilitator available to answer questions as the students, faculty and employees learned how to use the new CMS.

Things that could be done better in the future are probably planning the schedule in a more effective manner, keeping the project moving and also paying attention to the scope creep (Greer, 2010). When a project so big involves so many teams and each team has a different function and manager sometimes it is very hard to have control of all the possible things that can happen. The important thing is to learn from the mistakes and ensure that we plan for all possible things that can go wrong (Greer, 2010)

Resources:

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

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