Chapter 6. Communication Management, Leadership, and Project Team Management
6.8 Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways
- Project managers spend 90% of their time communicating with team members and stakeholders.
- ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) can facilitate faster and better communication, or they can become a barrier if they are not well understood and applied appropriately.
- The communication management plan documents the types of information needs the stakeholders have, when the information should be distributed, how the information will be delivered with which frequency, who will receive it, and the format and technologies we will use to communicate.
- If all the parties to the communication are taking part in the exchange at the same time, the communication is synchronous. Many types of communication do not require that the parties are present at the same time. This type of communication is asynchronous.
- PMBOK Guide Sixth Edition differentiates among three skill sets project managers should possess – technical project management, leadership, and strategic and business management.
- Working with other people involves dealing with them both logically and emotionally.
- Active listening is placing oneself in the speaker’s position as much as possible, understanding the communication from the point of view of the speaker, listening to the body language and other environmental cues, and striving not just to hear, but to understand.
- Negotiation is a process for developing a mutually acceptable outcome when the desired outcome for each party conflicts.
- Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) defines five methods of dealing with conflict on a scale of assertiveness and cooperativeness: (1) Competing, (2) Collaborating, (3) Compromising, (4) Avoiding, and (5) Accommodating.
- Emotional intelligence is an important part of the project manager’s ability to build trust among the team members and with the client. It is an important factor in establishing credibility and open dialogue with project stakeholders.
- Servant leaders serve by promoting self-awareness, listening, helping team members and stakeholders improve themselves, coaching rather than controlling, facilitating coordination, removing obstacles and organizational impediments in front of the team, the members, and the project, and promoting the energy and intelligence of others.
- Project culture is developed by communicating priority, status, and the alignment of official and operational rules. It is enforced through the use of symbols, storytelling, rituals, rewards or punishments, and taboos.
- A team is a collaboration of people with different personalities that is led by a person with a favored leadership style. Managing the interactions of these personalities and styles as a group is an important aspect of project management.
- According to the Tuckman Ladder, teams pass through five stages – forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.
- One of the essential challenges in virtual work is the elimination of face-to-face meetings that would otherwise help team members build interpersonal relationships.
