Do you want to boost your effectiveness as a Project Manager sky high?
Do you want to know The Real Secret? (hmmmm, I think I will turn this into a movie and have a following)
You know projects are about people, right?
You know failure to communicate is one of the biggest causes of project failure, don’t you?
Provide feedback.
The sky opens up, new age music is sounding from the speakers. The Scret to clear and effective communication is …
Feedback.
In communication you have a sender and a receiver. The sender tries to get a message across. The receiver provides reflection on how the message is received or encourages the sender to clarify the message.
With simple Reflective Listening techniques you can develop your communication skills:
Paraphrasing: repeat the same information, but only in different words.
Reflecting: reply with the same words, only add additional emotion to it (say it more strongly or more sad).
Questioning: ask for more information to have a better understanding.
Summarize: create a summary of the message sent.
(I tried to locate the original source of these techniques, but failed. If you know, drop a comment.)
You can create anything into a habit, just by repeating it, over and over again. Provide feedback for a couple of weeks, and you will experience an amazing boost in the effectiveness of your communication.
Just don’t over do it. It may scare people.
My memory says Gerald Weinberg’s Quality Software Managementbooks(http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=gerald+weinberg+quality+software+management)
but since I no longer have access to the books I can not verify.
Thanks for the tip. Books look interesting too.
Another way i find useful from time to time: Write down what you have understand after the meeting. Send the paper to the sender. Ask if both of you have the same understanding of what has been talked.
Hi Patrcik, great advice! In the same line, if you expain something, let the receivers create a summary of the lesson you gave.
Thanks for jumping in.
Your blog reminded me that even project managers need to be able to sell the value of their project to stakeholders and motivate the project team. The techniques you mention remind me of a sales training class I once took based on Question Based Selling techniques. The origin of that content can be found at http://www.qbsresearch.com/
Looks simple. Definately, if we follow this, It will have great impact. Thanks