Research: Half of all failed projects die due to poor communication

If getting more projects over the line is important to your career and business, this is for you.

Research from the Project Management Institute (PMI), the world’s biggest not-for-profit project-management association, shows quality communication is crucial to projects succeeding. One in two failed projects die because of ineffective communication.

PMI says: ‘Consistent success of projects … stems from mature project management practice that is rooted in sound fundamentals, including effective stakeholder management, transparent communications, engaged project sponsors, and strong alignment of projects and talent development to high-level strategy.’ (emphasis mine)

Here are some tips to help you with the bolded ‘communication’ points above:

Effective stakeholder management
Adapt to your readers. Once size doesn’t fit all. Consider their:

• Personality type, e.g. more detail for Analyticals, less for Drivers; be friendly to Amiables;
• Seniority — focus on their interests, e.g. senior managers want higher-level ‘strategic’ content, not lower-level ‘operational’ content; and
• Values — emphasise what will resonate with them; e.g. some are tuned in to getting stuff done, some to what the ‘right’ thing is to do, and some to career advancement and visibility.

Transparent communications
Naturally, the best currency is trust. You build more trust by:

• Using active, not passive, voice — tell your reader WHO did something, not just what was done;
• Communicating quickly when things go wrong;
• Taking responsibility when it’s your fault; and
• Using jargon-free, natural language — plain English (also here).

Engaged project sponsors
To keep your readers engaged:

• Communicate regularly, concisely and in the mode they prefer, e.g. some prefer phone calls to emails, or PowerPoint decks to Word docs;
• Lead with their need, and tell them what’s in it for them (WII-FM);
• Use your reader’s name and personal pronouns, especially ‘you, your, yours’;
• Ask questions and listen to their answers — don’t make all your communication one-way.