Interpersonal Skills a PMP® Needs: 4. Communication

In Appendix G, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide) discusses Interpersonal Skills for the project manager. We are currently reviewing these one by one in our weekly PMP® exam tip. In this week’s tip we talk about developing strong communication skills.

Good communication skills are important in most careers. If you are working as a project manager that is even more true since we communicate about 90% of the time. Some project managers go as far as considering the communication aspect of managing a project as their main job responsibility.

Great communication skills are key to not only improving the relationships among all project team members, but also to establishing trust and keeping everyone motivated and on schedule.

Usually there are many stakeholders involved in a project and they must all be kept up to date on the status, timelines, progress, risks and issues associated with the project. A good project manager and Project Management Professional (PMP)^® must communicate all of these details to project stakeholders in a timely fashion and in the format that they expect to receive it in. Project managers must also be able to properly communicate with senior management in their organization.

As you develop your communication skills, it is important to include all of its facets. This includes both written and verbal. Another important part of developing good communication skills is learning what information needs to be communicated and who needs to receive the information. Providing too much information or not enough to the interested parties can hamper the project from fulfilling its potential.