When project teams are surveyed at the end of failed projects, poor communications is always cited as being one of the major causes. Why does this keep happening? Why is project communications so poorly executed so often. My short answer is that many project managers (and managers) are arrogant, inattentive, and oblivious to the feelings and needs of the project team.
Project managers are busy, and often they don't make time to manage project communications effectively. Also, the project manager may think they are doing a good job communicating, but that may not be the case.
Project managers must remember that the project team is made up of individuals. Each person on the team has a preference for the types of communication they like to receive, and each person processes communications differently.
Some things to monitor that may point to poor project communications are:
Trust - Does the team trust you (the project manager)? How do you know? Everybody will not trust you all the time. Team members that don't trust the project manager will not be open in their communications. They will tend to either shut down, gossip and spread rumors, or challenge the project manager at every turn
De-motivated - Where are we going? Is the team going where we said we were going when we started? Did we clearly state where we were going before we started?
Whining - Despair and anxiety take over the team or key team members. Infighting is prevalent and people are starting to talk openly about the project being a failure.
Incompetence - Team isn't sharing information and learning. Perhaps the team has had little to no training, or the training received was of poor quality. Perhaps some team members should be fired from the team.
All the above can be overcome, however it requires that the project manager is listening and changing strategy when necessary to get the team back on track. Just because you are a project manager doesn't make you a good communicator, however ignoring problems like the ones mentioned above will make you a bad project manager.
My two cents are, be a leader. Lead through your communication and your ability to motivate your team to get the job done. Be on the lookout for the above warning signs. When you see the signs act quickly, follow-up, then continue to monitor. Remember people may need to be removed from the team.
Poor project team synergy is the fault of the project manager. There are a lot of incompetent project managers that are hurting our profession because they either refuse to alter their communication styles or are too arrogant to change. My advice to them is to change their ways or leave the project management profession.
