Learning Basic Communication:
One thing to keep in mind is that communication, like many other things in life, is a skill. If a skill is underutilized or not being performed, how can you expect to be good at it? This applies to even individual’s that consider themselves to have good social skills. I’ve personally seen social butterflies be much less social after they were put in a situation where they were isolated from other people.
If I was teaching someone the foundational steps to become a better communicator, it would be best to start off small. These foundational steps can consist of:
- Saying “hello” or “Good morning” to a stranger
- Initiating small talk
- Talking within a group of people and feel comfortable
This can be the start to being able to differentiate what’s acceptable to say in a conversation, especially in a professional setting. I understand if this is considered “simple” or should be natural to some people but realistically, it isn’t. It’s important to start out small- learning how to converse with other people especially if your planning on having Project Management as a career.
Project Management Communication:
Communication is a vital component to effective project management. Throughout my internship, this is definitely apparent. Communication in meetings, one on one’s with team members, emails. There was always a professional tone, no matter the medium. Effectively communicating in these methods is a solid foundational step.
Teachable topics include:
- Communication Styles
- In-Person Communication
- The importance of Eye Contact
- Shaking hands In Introductions
- Casual vs. Professional
- Dress for Success
- The importance of table manners
- Elevator pitches
- Communicate with technology (Emails, Messaging Applications)
- No text talk in emails.
- Simple, straight to the point emails, messages
- Consistency of emailing/messages clients
- Inflections and Conversation
- How tone of voice influences interpretation of words.
- Maintain a non-condescending tone with clients
- Culture and Conversation
- Overcommunication
- Overcommunication is better than no communication