First impressions

Effective communication skills are an integral component of any project manager's toolkit, ensuring complex projects happen on time and to specification. Michael Maynard offers his insight into some key areas to build on.

First impressions count. The moments that people see you for the first time (the first seven seconds, to be precise) are when they assess your outward appearance, stature, gestures and communications skills, and form an opinion based on what they see.

We live in a world where this fact is particularly pertinent, where social media and online influence feature highly, and where everyone is heavily reliant on the judgements people make on all aspects of our communication.

However, as important as digital media may be, there really is no replacement for face-to-face meetings and presentations. Somehow, looking your client, supplier or colleague in the eye and explaining directly what it is you need, are offering or are trying to understand has the strongest impact of any medium of communication. Good communications can effect change with their words. Just look at some of the great orators throughout history; their words have inspired action - sometimes quite dramatic action - from large groups.

Great leaders, including top-rate project managers, are those able to inspire others. To do this, their communication must be bold, not bland. The success of projects and business as a whole depends on communication, and leaders spend more time each day communicating than performing any other activity. The higher up the organisation they are, the truer this becomes. Yet research conducted by BT reveals that many conversations are often unsatisfactory, highly charged or completely misunderstood.

Emotion matters

The best communicators are able to win hearts, as well as minds. They do this by drawing on real, often personal examples when speaking, and introducing emotion to the situation. Painting a picture of how any change can affect customers' feelings brings the impact of the issue to life. In effect, it brings some empathy and perspective.

One example of this is a project manager at BMW who illustrated the importance of a specific element of the 'small print' in an insurance document by telling the story of an accident that happened and its effect on the people involved. This helped bring home the human side of the scenario to those listening. She went on to describe an alternative approach and encouraged her people to pay attention to the detail of their policies.

Communication should always inspire. Rather than feeling dictated to, people want to feel they are empowered to do the best they can and make a difference. It’s a challenge for all managers, especially those whose focus is so clearly on delivering tasks efficiently. Yet people perform at their best when their leaders create a culture that is exciting and enjoyable. These requirements compel managers to consider the emotional atmosphere they create through their communication and presentation.

If you aren’t inspired by your leader – if you look at them and see nothing you aspire to – it is more difficult to be led or instructed by them. The best leaders and communicators create a lasting impression through their words and actions.

Establishing a presence

Charisma plays a key role in successful communication, and the leaders with the most favourable impact manage to convey a mixture of both confidence and vulnerability. Confidence inspires trust in proposed ideas or actions (no one is going to feel inspired by someone staring at their shoes and emanating an air of defeat), and showing a more human and vulnerable side reveals approachability and humanity.

When briefing a supplier, or pitching an idea to a colleague, show that you are focused on getting the job done by also being open to any questions and suggestions from them. You can acknowledge enough fallibility, both in yourself and others, to listen and take on board outside input.

Over the past five years, we have coached hundreds of project managers at a German consulting firm to improve their communication skills. The feedback they receive on their individual impact, and the opportunity to learn and rehearse new behaviours, instils a sense of confidence and intensifies their ability to be present at all times.

This also allows managers the agility to change direction when needed. Rather than being rigid in the face of change, or racked with decisional regret over a course of action that hasn’t quite worked out, they see what’s needed and have the confidence to change course. This can have a positive impact on those you are working with or managing.

Building relationships

You can’t lead on your own. Leadership is about relationships – and any effective project manager has a lot of those to build and manage through each venture. When communicating, it is essential to keep your focus on the other person or people. You need to ask yourself: ‘What are they thinking? How are they feeling?’ This helps maintain your relationships with others, rather than just spouting off what you think and listening to the sound of your own voice.

Building rapport and using personal chemistry are crucial, and, again, involve empathy: trying to understand where those you are dealing with are coming from emotionally, and communicating with them while bearing that in mind.

These rules also apply when the communication takes the form of a pitch or presentation. Coaching project managers at a software company highlighted how important it is to adapt to the audience at hand and demonstrate personality, empathy and emotional agility. By focusing on the audience during a presentation, a manager changed the emphasis of some data to make a point more relevant to those listening.

All forms of communication are more effective if they react and adapt throughout the process. For example, rather than just talking at a client when debriefing them on the process and outcomes for a certain project, home in on certain questions and areas of interest to elaborate on them.

Communicating with impact

Whatever the industry sector or organisational area you work in, effective communication is an essential quality for any successful project manager. When assessing your own interpersonal skills, try the following five ‘Ps’ of powerful communication:

Preparation: make sure you research your audience, gear your message to their needs and rehearse your delivery.
Purpose: clarify what you want to achieve with your communication. What is the impact you want to have?
Presence: be alert and aware throughout your delivery so that you can build relationships and adapt according to your audience.
Passion: speak from the heart and with conviction. What you say should be important, to you and them.
Personality: be yourself. Use your own individual style.

Adhering to these will ensure any presentation goes off with a bang. It goes without saying, but failing to prepare is preparing to fail, and, while no one wants to hear something recited or over-rehearsed, knowing the nuts and bolts of what you want to talk about is crucial. If your communication is peppered with enthusiasm and confidence, it will convey authentic power and gravitas, and provoke action, getting results.

Michael Maynard is co-founder of Maynard Leigh Associates.