Why communication is so important in project management and why it is overly emphasized in SmartPath LLC project management trainings. Information flow plays a critical part in the success of a project. Right from the start it becomes important to gain the sponsor’s trust on the project, which can only be achieved if there is a clear line of communication between the project manager and the sponsor. Let us imagine this scenario: When you meet the sponsor for the first time, you observe that while she is talking about the project limitations, she is also in-between conversations sending a text message to someone. As your conversation continues for the next five minutes, you hear a bell sound. She picks up her cell phone and reads the text and replies to the message. At least, that is what you are imagining and observing, sitting opposite to her desk.
Your meeting with the sponsor continues for the next twenty minutes and you receive the most important outcomes such as her expectations, project limitations, target cost & timeline, and the implementation approach for the project’s product. Your meeting ended in the next five minutes, and you leave for your office. While going towards your office, you pass the cafeteria, and you decide to get your favorite latte. As you sit to sip your latte, you decide to switch your cell phone back to sound so that it is no longer on silent.
You immediately wrote a text message to the sponsor thanking her for the meeting and mentioning that it was very informative. As you press the send button, your cell phone sounds a bell, indicating that you have a new text message. You open your text messages and were surprised to see that your sponsor has sent you a text. You think, “how she can reply to my message so quickly?” Then you open the message. Her message is to remind you that you must collect the EEF and OPA binders from Barbara and she also mentioned that the meeting was well done.
It is very clear from the above scenario that it was a timely action by the project manager to send a very appropriate text message to the sponsor, since he observed that she likes to stay in contact with everyone using text messages. It is also very well timed, since she has sent the project manager a text giving him instructions to collect the binders.
The above scenario shows that right from the start the project manager and the sponsor understood each other’s communication style and also the project manager honed on to the psyche of the sponsor that she likes to stay in touch instantaneously. This communication style and prompt understanding by the project manager amplifies that mutual trust was established for a successful project execution.
As the project manager takes another sip of his favorite latte, he gets a text message back from the sponsor thanking him for the meeting and wishing him success on the project.