Quality+Communication

Once you have your audience identified and a communication plan in place the rest is easy, right? **Wrong!** How you communicate is critical to the success of your project team. According to Vijay K. Verma, author of //Human Resource Skills for the Project Manager: The Human Aspects of Project Management//, communication skills are the most important skills a project manager can have. Verma lists the key components of quality communication as skills, characteristics, and methods. In this section, you will learn more about how the skills of the project manager, characteristics of the message and methods of delivering the message can help you to be a terrific project manager!
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Kay H. Roman highlights five critical skills for team leadership in her article of the same name (Roman, 2011, p. 2). They are: By focusing on the mastery and utilization of these skills, project managers will both demonstrate and earn the respect of team members. They will be able to better engage team members by picking up on behavioral cues and sharing praise and criticism appropriately.
 * Skills of the Project Manager**
 * 1) Understanding behavioral styles
 * 2) Listening and effectively communicating
 * 3) Giving praise
 * 4) Handling criticism
 * 5) Using problem-solving and persuasion instead of criticism

Once the project manager recognizes the need for communication, it is equally critical to consider the characteristics of a high quality message. Marci Gannon, Manager of Project Management at STCU, underscored the importance of a quality message in a recent interview. media type="file" key="SMEClip_QualityCommunicationPage.mp4" align="center" width="300" height="300"
 * Characteristics of the Communication or Message**

Gannon’s perspective echoes the points communicated in //Effective Business Communications// by Murphy, Hildebrandt and Thomas. In their work, they highlight the “seven Cs” of effective communication. A summary of their thoughts is displayed in Table 2, below. Like Gannon, they wrote that being clear and concise are critical for good communication (Murphy, et al, 1997).

Having crafted a high quality message is closely tied to selecting the appropriate vehicle to deliver the message. Read on to learn more about the methods of communication.

Meetings are often the most effective method for distributing information to project stakeholders. Before planning a meeting, the project manager or assigned team member should consider the communication objectives and choose a meeting format that will meet the objectives ( California Department of Transportation, 2007, p. 26). Project team members use a variety of communication methods to deliver project information; however verbal communication is most commonly used in face-to-face interactions or meeting forums. In many circumstances the project management team members and stakeholders are in different geographical locations, leading them to resort to other, more practical, communication channels.
 * Methods of Communication**

Aside from verbal communication, email is the most frequently used communication channel. Other ways to communicate with stakeholders and team members include bulletin boards, blogs, wikis, and notice boards (McVay, Lynch & Roeker, 2007, ch.8, p. 135).

Coming full-circle, project managers must rely on their skills for assessing and addressing their project team and stakeholders and incorporate the best method for communicating with each party. This certainly relates back to considering the importance of the audience and meeting their respective needs.
 * Click here for a summary and a short quiz to test your knowledge of project management communication >**