Communication Will Make or Break a Project
May 31st, 2012 by Bill Mugavin in Organizational Performance
Recently, a colleague asked me what I considered the most important ingredient for ensuring project success. After some thought, I shared that communication is the most important component within any project. Successful projects require constant selling, updating, and explaining of the project to management, customers, and even the project team itself. While the bulk of this responsibility falls on the project leader, each person on the team must proactively communicate with all project stakeholders throughout the life of the project.
Provoked to thought on this issue, I used the ten statements below to assess how proactively I am communicating with my projects’ teams (1 = not at all proactive; 5 = very proactive). I definitely found areas for improvement. I invite you to do the same self-assessment—I am sure our teammates will appreciate it!
- I share information openly and in a timely manner with the project team.
- When personal conflicts arise, I directly confront them.
- I take ownership for challenges that arise and do not look to shift the blame to others.
- I see my role as a team player not only in the context of my project responsibilities; I look for opportunities to help others.
- I not only identify project issues but provide suggested solutions in a timely manner.
- I am always positive when it comes to talking about my team and the project.
- I compliment other project team members on a job well done.
- I compliment the project leader whenever he or she supports me or the team.
- I invite candid feedback from everyone about my own performance in the project.
- I always commit myself 100 percent to my project responsibilities and goals, and if my commitment begins to wane, I strive to rekindle it.
Bill Mugavin is a consultant at FlashPoint. He focuses his consulting in the areas of organizational performance, and leadership and management development.
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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We have all been placed on “teams.” Maybe it was a project team or a focus group team or even your new service team. Most of us can think of teams that completely fell apart or didn’t work well. Let me guess what happened:
In HR consulting, often I hear leaders say that team building is great—but they just don’t have time.