Effective Communications in Project Management (Part 1)

What does Clear Communication have to do with Successful Projects?
How often do we, as project managers take communication too casually when managing a project? Most project managers are generally good communicators but are they communicating effectively? In PMI’s 2013 Pulse of the Profession In-Depth report, it was revealed that the most crucial success factor in project management is effective communications to all stakeholders. The research also finds that effective communication leads to more successful projects and therefore allows organizations to become better performers. (See Figure 1)

Figure 1. Organizations that communicate more effectively have more successful projects.

In the same report, it revealed that not all projects will succeed. On average, two in five projects do not meet the project’s original goal or intent and approximately one-half of those unsuccessful projects are related to ineffective communications. (See Figure 2)

Figure 2. One of five projects failed due to ineffective communications.

Communication is one key component which has to be applied effectively throughout a project’s life cycle, from beginning to end. This begs the question, why is it that Project Managers are not communicating more effectively?
In my next Blog post, we will focus on the Primary Challenges to Effective Communications in Project Management.

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