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Communicating in Projects (KCE – 11)

Introduction
Integrating the expectations of a project’s external and associated stakeholders with those of the project team members is a complex, though essential part of the project management process.

Tactical and technical capabilities coupled with an ability to communicate and enable personal engagement from the team members and stake holders is a necessity for the project manager. This promotes the use of personality and preferences that support the development of ‘up and down’ communication from the project manager and the team members.

This KCE integrates theoretical attributes and personal experiences.

Personal Preferences
Being Virtuoso-nominated personality, it promotes a lower likelihood of seeking assistance but being available to assist (16 personalities, 2018). The notion of “being relied upon rather than being reliant on’ fits with my personality and technical capabilities. Thus, my personal mantra, which fits the Virtuoso profile. The nature of being focussed, organised and practically pragmatic is appropriate. However, I have a strong emotional conscience and concern for the emotional well-being of others. Moreover, team harmony, respect and health is an important driver and attribute that is in-built with shared accountabilities and security in delivering and developing as an outcome of our work.

Soft & Hard Skills
The notion of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ skills is well promoted as important aspects of project management. In simpler and more meaningful terms, it he nominal aspects of Project Management involve the aspects of enabling the project and meeting physical and commercial expectations, and managing the people and process. This however, is a heterogeneous mix of skills that varies between organisational expectations, industry and project-type.

From my experience in mining, resource development and construction projects, there is a natural correlation between the technical and inter-relational skills. The more complex the work, and the more technical engaging the work, the greater the communication and clarity, integration and skills diversity that was required. Therefore, it seems quite logical that without the ‘soft skills’ the hard skills done develop unilaterally. Furthermore, the team would more likely develop into silos of individual contributors that the Project Manager will have to somehow integrate and ‘pull-together’ as an after though or a separate piece of the work. Therefore, I promote that the soft and hard skills require an appropriate balance in line with the project type to be both efficient and ineffective.

This experience and interpretation is similar to that identified by Bisk (2018) and Marando(2012). Bisk (2018), describes the PMI ‘Talent Triangle, as an important discriminator for project management success, which determines the key aspect to success is the balance of leadership, technical project management, and strategic and business management, where the ‘soft skills’ fall within the leadership category. This work clumsily interchanges the notion of manager and leader, but the idea is sound with a promotion of: communication, trust-building and conflict management. Personal experience promotes the expansion of this to include; motivation and appropriate humour, information sharing, emotional maturity and respect, shared and agreed accountabilities, security and developmental support.

The notion of hard skills is supported because it is easily and unambiguously measured and quantified, whereas soft skills are not (Marando, 2012). This is an immediate deterrent for promoting and prioritising soft skills in some projects (Marando, 2012, Jonsdottiir, 2016). If this is a deterrent, it may mean that the project manager may lack the creativity to develop ‘indicators’ that are used to quantify the successful use and application of soft skills. These may include; retention, hours of collaboration, delays and complaints, etc. These can fit a dash board and these do have financial and tangible implications on the project whereby the value of the individual contributions can be evaluated and calculated. Carrasco (2006) defined the role of geologists and identified that the technical capabilities were important as much as the enthusiasm and ability to communicate at multiple levels and to multiple occupations.

Therefore, the more success is not only in the sifter skill but also the breadth to which these can be applied. The application of the soft skills outside the technical discipline in which an individual focusses, promotes and avenue of access to integration, collaboration at a tactical and strategic level.

This provides a tangible benefit to the project and increases the cultural and technical expertise and breadth and reduces the project risk. Jonsdottir 2016) also promoted the use of KPIs for soft skills as a means of increased potential for project success.

Communication Considerations
It seems somewhat neglected that the nature of the ‘type of communication’ is not a focus though is an assumption the Project Manager should know. What proportion of the team is analytical? Intuitive? Functional? Personal? Are their learning preferences Visual? Kinesthetic? Linguistic? The project manager should understand these and share knowledge with this in mind. If the assumption that the group is not heterogeneous, then it adds risk to the project and potentially influences the communication and expectation.

My common statement is that ‘communication is the accountability of the person delivering the message’. Therefore, I provide the person I am asking to take on some work the opportunity to take the task accountabilities and reflect on them and return for clarity regarding the nature of the work and the required output. What by When is not the answer. Communicating the limitations or degrees of freedom in how to reach that end support in development and open doors to alternative and routes that may not developed if the project managers heuristics drive the method too prescriptively.

Final Considerations
Where soft and hard skills are decoupled, it is likely to increase the complexity to a project. Where it creates additional uncertainty, it creates more risk (by default). However, importantly, the appropriate communication to promote and illustrate soft skills, engage and interact with the personalities of the project personnel and the other stakeholders is an important key to unlocking the potential to engage, collaborate and share inputs and outputs from all parties and potentially adjacent project contributors. This enable the growth in the project to something practically pragmatic that benefits from the heuristic heterogeneities within the teams which compound the likelihood for project success.

The use of personalities and communicating are ironically ‘hard’ and not ‘soft’ but the benefits, perhaps, could be the competitive advantage projects and the managers need?

REFERENCES
16 personalities (2018); www.16personalities.com/istp-strengths-and-weaknesses

Bisk, 2018; 7 Essential Soft Skills for Project Managers. Villanova University. (www.villanovau.com/resources/project-management/soft-skills-project-managers)

Carrasco, P, 2006. The role of the mining geologist – A Codelco vision, in Proceedings Sixth International Mining Geology Conference, pp 3-6 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Marando, A. (2012). Balancing Project Management Hard Skills and Soft Skills. MSc Dissertation. Rabb School of Continuing Studies Division of Graduate Professional Studies. Brandeis University

Jonsdittor I., (2016). Hard or Soft Skills? How the Erasmus project plus project leaders vier the relative importance of skills when conducting their projects. MSc Thesis. School of Science and Engineering, Reykjavik University (Masters of Project Management).