Communication Tips & Tricks for Project Managers Kelly Sullivan CSTI PO BOX 3084 OSWEGO NY 13126 csti@twcny.rr.com

Project Team Success Strategies None of us is as smart as all of us. - Ken Blanchard

Listen MORE than you TALK Success Tool Listen MORE than you TALK

How Messages are Communicated Words We Use How We Say Words, Sounds We Make Nonverbal, Body Language

Success Tool: Attending Giving your physical attention to others Stay focused Lean toward Be at eye level Maintain eye contact Gesture when you are listening Keep an open posture Be aware of proximity

Success Tool: Effective Listening Level 1 Reflective listening/clarifying/summarizing “You are frustrated because the task hasn’t been completed.” “You prepared the meeting notes but have not yet sent them on to the project team for review.” Level 2 Hearing words, but not necessarily the speaker’s intent Level 3 Tuning in and tuning out

Success Tool: Know the Stages The five stages of team development have been characterized as: Forming: * Formation of team happens & the team comes together * Members feel anxious and spend their time finding out about each other * Individual roles and responsibilities are unclear * Highly depending on the manager/leader * Equivalent Situational Leadership style: Directing Storming: * Team members come up with ideas through debates on how to proceed with the task - about task priorities; - clarity on purpose of the task; - roles & responsibilities and - processes to follow * Influence of ideas and power struggles may arise * Compromises may be required to enable progress * Team members may challenge the leader & leader coaches * Equivalent Situational Leadership style: Selling Norming: * Work as a team starts * Roles and responsibilities are clear and accepted * Team begin to exhibit participative behavior & decision making happens by group agreement * Commitment, trust and unity increases * Equivalent Situational Leadership style: Supporting Performing: * This stage is characterized by high levels of: - goal orientation, - interpersonal relations, - independence, motivation, - knowledge and - competence in team members * Team know what,why & how of the task they are executing * High level of respect in the communication between team members * Team expects delegation of task instead of instruction/assistance * Equivalent Situational Leadership style: Delegating Adjourning: * Happens when project completes * Members moving out of the group after project goal achievement * Everyone can move on to new things * Achievement celebrated * Members feel difficulty as they have developed close working relationships with other team members

Success Tool: Roles Task-oriented role: Relations-oriented role: Initiating, seeking information, giving information, coordinating, and evaluating. Relations-oriented role: Encouraging members through praise and acceptance, harmonizing, encouraging participation, expressing standards, and following.

Success Tool: Ground Rules Ground rules are statements of values and guidelines which a group establishes consciously to help individual members to decide how to act. Ground rules must be clear, consistent, agreed-to, and followed. Team ground rules define how individuals treat each other, communicate, participate, cooperate, support each other, and coordinate joint activity. Ground rules may be used to define and standardize team procedure, use of time, work assignments, meeting logistics, preparation, minutes, discussion, creativity, reporting, respect and courtesy.

Success Tool – The Shared Problem Statement How To: Step #3 Interest #1 Interest #2 AND Chunking Up: Step #2 Help me understand – What would having that do for you/what would it bring you? Determine Positions: Step #1 I Want..... I Want..... BUT

Success Tool: Brainstorming Focus on quantity Withhold criticism Outrageous ideas are welcome Combine and improve The origin of brainstorming came from Osborn in 1939 as a method for creative problem solving. Focus on quantity: This rule is a means of enhancing divergent production, aiming to facilitate problem solving through the maxim quantity breeds quality. The assumption is that the greater the number of ideas generated, the greater the chance of producing a radical and effective solution. Withhold criticism: In brainstorming, criticism of ideas generated should be put 'on hold'. Instead, participants should focus on extending or adding to ideas, reserving criticism for a later 'critical stage' of the process. By suspending judgment, participants will feel free to generate unusual ideas. Welcome unusual ideas: To get a good and long list of ideas, unusual ideas are welcomed. They can be generated by looking from new perspectives and suspending assumptions. These new ways of thinking may provide better solutions. Combine and improve ideas: Good ideas may be combined to form a single better good idea, as suggested by the slogan "1+1=3". It is believed to stimulate the building of ideas by a process of association.

Success Tool – Nominal Group Technique Silent generation of ideas Share ideas in a round robin fashion Group discussion Voting & ranking As compared to interacting groups the NGT groups provide more unique ideas, more balanced participation between group members, increased feelings of accomplishment, and greater satisfaction with idea quality and group efficiency When some group members are much more vocal than others. When some group members think better in silence. When there is concern about some members not participating. When the group does not easily generate quantities of ideas. When all or some group members are new to the team. When the issue is controversial or there is heated conflict Routinely, the NGT involves five stages: Introduction and explanation: The facilitator welcomes the participants and explain to them the purpose and procedure of the meeting. Silent generation of ideas: The Facilitator provides each participant with a sheet of paper with the question to be addressed and ask them to write down all ideas that come to mind when considering the question. During this period, the facilitator asks participants not to consult or discuss their ideas with others. This stage lasts approximately 10 minutes. Sharing ideas: The Facilitator invites participants to share the ideas they have generated. He records each idea on a flip chart using the words spoken by the participant. The round robin process continues until all ideas have been presented. There is no debate about items at this stage and participants are encouraged to write down any new ideas that may arise from what others share. This process ensures all participants get an opportunity to make an equal contribution and provides a written record of all ideas generated by the group. This stage may take 15–30 minutes. Group discussion: Participants are invited to seek verbal explanation or further details about any of the ideas that colleagues have produced that may not be clear to them. The facilitator’s task is to ensure that each person is allowed to contribute and that discussion of all ideas is thorough without spending too long on a single idea. It is important to ensure that the process is as neutral as possible, avoiding judgment and criticism. The group may suggest new items for discussion and combine items into categories, but no ideas should be eliminated. This stage lasts 30–45 minutes. Voting and ranking: This involves prioritizing the recorded ideas in relation to the original question. Following the voting and ranking process, immediate results in response to the question is available to participants so the meeting concludes having reached a specific outcome.