Project managers spend most of their time in communication. In fact, in the past, PMI used to say that project managers spend 90% of their time in communication.
Communication plays an important role in managing stakeholders, and to successfully complete your project, you must keep your stakeholders satisfied.
Good communication skills and correct communication methods can help you complete your project with minimal hassle. However, failing to do so can create many conflicts in your project.
Types of Communication Methods
Though many types of communication exist, such as verbal, non-verbal, formal, informal, written, and oral. They fall into three categories:
- Push Communication
- Pull Communication
- Interactive Communication
Push Communication
You use push communication when you want to send information to stakeholders. This method is useful for time sensitive information and when you expect to get feedback.
Push is a kind of broadcast, and you, as the sender, control it and determine which stakeholders receive it and at what time. You use this communication method when no urgent response is required from the stakeholders, but some sort of action may be required from them after receiving the message.
For example, you want a presentation session with stakeholders, so you send them emails inviting them to the presentation.
Other examples are memos, letters, voice mails, etc.
The benefit of push communication is that it helps send information to a large pool of stakeholders.
Pull Communication
You use pull communication when the information is general.
For example, you upload some information on a central server and let stakeholders access it whenever they wish.
In the pull communication method, stakeholders pull the information as per their requirements.
You use this communication method when the information is not urgent, not time sensitive, and if some stakeholders miss the information, it won’t affect your project. You use this communication method when the information is for informational purposes only.
The benefit of this method is that the information can be shared with a very large number of stakeholders in the shortest possible time.
The disadvantage of this method is that you cannot track whether the information is received by a particular stakeholder or not, and whether the stakeholders understand the information once they have received it.
Other examples of pull communication are blogs, intranet, lessons learned databases, bulletin boards, etc.
Interactive Communication
Push and pull communication are unidirectional and do not occur in real time, and they are not the most effective communication method.
You cannot use these methods of communication when you need a quick resolution or if a tough negotiation is required.
In such cases, you will use interactive communication. This is the most effective communication method as it is multidirectional and occurs in real time.
Here you meet with your stakeholders and discuss the issue, convey the information face to face, and get their feedback instantly. The participants are also able to clear up their doubts immediately. In this method, you can ensure that every stakeholder receives and understands the correct information.
You use this method when the information is sensitive or urgent feedback is necessary.
Some examples of this communication method are meetings, workshops, video conferencing, training, etc.
The disadvantage of this communication is the difficulty in bringing all stakeholders together in one place. Sometimes a few stakeholders cannot attend the meeting, which can cause problems.
Communication skills are important skills to manage stakeholders. You can use any method of communication depending on the situation and the requirements; however, interactive communication helps you get feedback immediately and gets stakeholders to buy in. You will use push and pull communication when you have many stakeholders or if they are spread out in different geographic locations, and the information is not classified or urgent.
Although push-and-pull communication methods require less effort and stress, the feedback obtained from these communications is not as good as from interactive communication.
Summary
Every communication method is unique and used for its special purpose. These three communication methods should be part of your communication management plan, and you must use them according to your stakeholders’ requirements and to benefit the project.
This post was all about the communication methods used in project management. How do you manage communication in your project? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.
Dear Fahad
Thanks for updates .
With best regards .
M. S. Kirnalli
Thank you Mr. Kirnally for your comment.
Dear Fahad
Thanks for updates .
With best regards .
M. S. Kirnalli
Thank you Mr. Kirnally for your comment.
Very scrip article.
Thanks for sharing
You are welcome Prakash.
Very scrip article.
Thanks for sharing
You are welcome Prakash.
Thanks for educating us
You are welcome Lynette.
Thanks for educating us
You are welcome Lynette.
Thank you very much for the useful information
You are welcome Mohamed.
Thank you very much for the useful information
You are welcome Mohamed.
Informative and interesting read indeed, in some of especially small projects where stakeholders a few and requirements are not too tedious, apart from calls and emails, we also use Whatsapp messaging, house you can easily keep tract as to when the message was received and replied or read!
thank you for sharing, Markus.
You are welcome Markus.
Informative and interesting read indeed, in some of especially small projects where stakeholders a few and requirements are not too tedious, apart from calls and emails, we also use Whatsapp messaging, house you can easily keep tract as to when the message was received and replied or read!
thank you for sharing, Markus.
You are welcome Markus.
Thank you Fahad for presenting this important and very interesting topic. I am sure that almost every PM has used these 3 types of communication during any project life but that takes another dimension when one is able to define and explain it as Fahad has just made it in this blog. I really enjoyed it. Thank you a lot Fahad.
I am glad Dewey that you liked my blog post.
Thank you Fahad for presenting this important and very interesting topic. I am sure that almost every PM has used these 3 types of communication during any project life but that takes another dimension when one is able to define and explain it as Fahad has just made it in this blog. I really enjoyed it. Thank you a lot Fahad.
I am glad Dewey that you liked my blog post.
Thank you for making these clear.
You are welcome Morshed.
Thank you for making these clear.
You are welcome Morshed.
thanks Mr. Fahad
its really informative for me to manage in our project.
You are welcome Babar..
thanks Mr. Fahad
its really informative for me to manage in our project.
You are welcome Babar..
very well narrated about the communications…….
please may add selection of right communication method for various scenario with some good examples.
Hello Sreedhar, I have noted your request and will try to update this blog post with this information.
very well narrated about the communications…….
please may add selection of right communication method for various scenario with some good examples.
Hello Sreedhar, I have noted your request and will try to update this blog post with this information.
This really is just 1 example of the method of ‘effective teaching’ Fahad offers; simple, effective and informative. Most importantly easily understood. Good read.
Thank you Gordon for your comment.
This really is just 1 example of the method of ‘effective teaching’ Fahad offers; simple, effective and informative. Most importantly easily understood. Good read.
Thank you Gordon for your comment.
Very Precise .
Thanks Toye for your comment.
Very Precise .
Thanks Toye for your comment.
Lines of communication must be open and be clear as I believe communication is the backbone of every project. And it is the project managers job to get the informaytion out there and to make sure that stakeholder understand what is being communicated and through communication project managers can win the loyalty of stakeholders and trust
Yes, project manager spends most of his/her time in communication.
Lines of communication must be open and be clear as I believe communication is the backbone of every project. And it is the project managers job to get the informaytion out there and to make sure that stakeholder understand what is being communicated and through communication project managers can win the loyalty of stakeholders and trust
Yes, project manager spends most of his/her time in communication.