Some of the findings were surprising. There were many areas in which project managers just turned out to be clueless about their own strengths and weaknesses. One of the more eyebrow raising of these was that 94% of all project managers rank themselves as being more effective at communications than their stakeholders rank them.
In other words, basically 9.5/10 of us think we’re better than we are. It’s bad news for us and worse news for our stakeholders who have to suffer through our communication. It’s like not being able to sing all while believing we sound wonderful. Everyone loses.
The secret to fixing the root of this problem requires quite a few adjustments. Here are just a few:
- Understand your audience
- Spend time learning how to listen effectively. Make this a top priority
- Communicate to them the way you would like to be communicated with
- Make your communication highly brief and relevant
- Tailor your communication to your audience. Avoid “spandex”, one-size-fits-all messages
- Carefully select your communication medium. Phone, email, and face-to-face all have their place
- Create feedback loops to capture stakeholder opinions
- Foster a safe environment for your stakeholders to give you feedback on how you could be a better communicator
- Take the emotion out of your communication without stripping it of your passion
Most of all, take time to think before you speak or click “send.” This simple step will pay big dividends toward propelling you into the Alpha group!