Have you failed today? Has anyone come up to you and spoken the hurtful phrase “you have failed me (again)”? If they have, you need to know how to respond to that.
First of all, you probably have not failed. The “wiktionary” at www.wikipedia.com defines failure as:
“failure (plural failures)
- State or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, opposite of success.
- An object, person or endeavour in a state of failure or incapable of success.
- Termination of the ability of an item to perform its required function.”
What you are being accused of with the statement “you have failed” is being incapable of success, or incapable of performing a desired function.
Most people are not incapable. Most individuals and managers are aware of the hurtful nature of this accusation and would not even consider using such a broad statement in the corporate environment. But unfortunately, some individuals, supervisors, managers, directors, vice-presidents (and above) still fail to grasp the concept of effective communications in the workplace.
How do you respond to the accusation of failure? I think that the best defense is a clear response. What if we use the definition to its best advantage? Perhaps the best response would be: “I may have temporarily not met your desired objective, but that does not mean that I am incapable of meeting it”.
If you find yourself in the situation where you may need such a response, I would encourage you to memorize the above response. Maybe it is not the best response ever – but it is better than being dumbfounded and hanging your head in tacit recognition that you might indeed have failed.
Communications is an issue in the daily workplace and in the daily project environment. When we are small children we learn (usually by doing) that if we run up and touch an oven, it is hot and it burns us. (I did it). We learn that if we close the bathroom door on the dog’s tail, he bites us. (I did that, too). As adults, we learn that if someone asks us a difficult question that is charged with emotion, we need to have a response that is not hurtful – even though we may occasionally have to be totally truthful.
I speak of personal communications. But isn’t all communications really personal? Don’t we all learn our communications styles and reactions from personal experiences? If you are raised in a noisy, aggressive household where everyone shouts and confrontations occur on a regular basis – is it not reasonable to expect that you will communicate in the same manner in your adult life?
Communication is the cornerstone of humanity. Effective communication, positive communication facilitates success. Negative communication often enables failure.
Again, depending on Wikipedia for a definition, communication is defined as:
“Communication allows people to exchange information by one of several methods. There are auditory means, such as speaking or singing, and nonverbal, physical means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch or eye contact.
Communication happens at many levels (even for one single action), in many different ways, and for all beings, and some machines. Many or all fields of study dedicate some attention to communication; so when speaking about communication it is very important to be sure about what kind of communication one is speaking about, mainly: what is being communicated, between what agents and with what kind of results”.
What are some of the barriers to communication that occur on projects?
- Method of communication
- What is being communicated
- Tone of communication
- Non-verbal communication (or lack of non-verbal communication)
- Distance between the communicators
- Communications barriers such as language or culture
Barrier 1: Method of communication. The method of communication must be one that both parties agree upon and both parties understand how to use. It may be effective and instantaneous to communicate with your CEO via instant messenger. But if your CEO does not use a computer effectively, he or she may be unable to receive and respond to your communication.
Barrier 2: What is being communicated. If I send you a message that reads “wu?ightthdwmw” do you have any idea what I just communicated? Shorthand, slang, technical terms are all barriers. The text of the communications must be understandable by all. The text shorthand above could mean: “what’s up? I’m going home tonight to have dinner with my wife”. But, who would know? (Unfortunately, your 11 year old might be able to discern the content of this shorthand message – worse, my shorthand example above probably indicates that I never use this communications element as well).
Barrier 3: The tone of communication. Tone is an instant notification of communication intent. The down-side of electronic communications is lack of tone and non-verbal communications clues. If I send you a message that says “What are you doing about the XYZ project”? That communicates a question. If I forget, hit the keys accidentally or simply am unaware of the rule of CAPS, and I send to you “WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT THE XYZ PROJECT”? Am I really shouting, am I angry, or did I just hit the wrong key? Clarity of communication is compromised unless you can discern the tone of the communicated information. In order to identify tone, voice or visual communications are best.
Barrier 4: Non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication makes up over 50% of each communication. Just like Barrier 3 – you have to be in the presence of the communicator in order to discern any non-verbal clues.
Barrier 5: Distance between communicators. The further away you are from the other communicator, the more challenging the communications. If you are standing at Gate 14 and your friend in standing at Gate 15 at the airport it is challenging to communicate effectively. Look around next time you go to the airport, inevitably, someone is trying to communicate across a distance – usually with poor results.
Barrier 6: Language and culture. If the communicators cannot communicate in the same language or by using the same cultural references it makes communications more challenging. Do I suggest that you always have to have the same references? Absolutely not! The global environment that project managers find themselves working in today precludes the ability to know absolutely everything about every culture that you may be exposed to. But caution is dictated. Do not assume that you know what the other communicator is talking about; ask if you are not sure. Clarify the situation before you create an uncomfortable or difficult situation. American slang, may indeed be unacceptable by another culture.
The effective project manager spends most of their time communicating in one manner or another. The ability to communicate effectively is truly the foundation for effective project management. In my opinion, IF you can communicate effectively, you have a chance of being a good project manager; if you cannot communicate effectively, your chances of being an effective project manager are almost zero.
I would encourage each project manager out there to learn communications skills, to communicate effectively, truthfully and tactfully with your stakeholders and team. Learn how the team communicates and tailor your communication style to that team. Learn about the cultures, language barriers and tactful politically correct communications requirements associated with your project, your enterprise and your stakeholders and make sure that you stay within those parameters when communicating.
Any other forms of inappropriate communication may cause someone to accuse you of “failing today”!
By
Tim Bergmann, PMP, ABCP
Contract Closure is the procurement process of formally accepting and closing contracted work. Like other procurement processes, Contract Closure is applied only if services/supplies are contracted/ purchased to support the project.
