Communicating Effectively

Post your interpretation of the message as it was delivered in each of the different modalities, pointing out what, if anything, changed about your interpretation from one modality to the next.

Email

Jane’s email was in a friendly, clear and concise tone.  She was very specific on what (ETA data), why (to complete her report) and when (immediately to meet her deadline) information was needed.  Jane’s written tone was not aggressive or demanding with bold lettering or punctuation marks; it was soft, simple and informal to read like having a conversation with a friend but expressed the urgency.

Voicemail

Jane’s voice mail expressed voice tone, tempo and volume.  Her voice tone was pleasant, she fluctuated her voice up and down on the words that needed to be expressed to Mark of her understanding  that he was busy and explained very briefly what information she needed, why she needed and in a non-specific timeframe. Although Jane did not disclose the importance of her meeting her deadline to submit her report, she did express indirectly that he had that information and it was needed immediately without being specific.  The tempo of her voice was calm and slow and gave all detailed information.  The volume was at an even tone not too loud that she was being aggressive and not soft and could not be heard.  It was communicated clear, happy and friendly.

Face-to-Face (F2F)

Jane’s face-to-face conversation showed body language, facial expressions and eye contact.  Her body language showed her friendliness and engaging, facial expressions expresses calmness, understanding and happy. She was standing behind the wall partition; her hands were on the wall as if the conversation was informal and relaxing.  Jane had eye contact the indicated that her environment could have been informal, and sociable but as we know, it was in an office environment and was not a social visit.  Her eyes changed from opening wide to express her calmness and passive behavior as she spoke and her words reflected in tone of a happy, patient person.

A synthesis of your thoughts regarding what this activity implies about communicating with members of a project team.

This activity implied that communicating with project team members is critical and not just words but communication between team members must be intentional because the tonality, words, and body language all can determine how well or not the dialog amongst the team is being perceived.  In the video “Communication with Stakeholders”, Dr. Stolovich, talked about how important it is when communicating it should be clear, concise and focused.  In addition to how effective communication can be swayed by a person’s spirit, attitude, tonality and body language.  I was able to see how important it is to ensure that when communicating with people to be careful on choosing my words because it could be perceived as being negative, aggressive when that is not the intent.

What did you learn that will help you communicate more effectively with others in the future?

To ensure that I deliver the intended message using the appropriate communication style (informal, written, and/or formal).  In addition, that the tone of the message be respectful, brief, clearly communicated what, why and urgency of the message.

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Stolovitch (n.d.). Communicating with Stakeholders [video]. Retrieved from: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=6290461&Survey=1&47=8115912&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

Learning from a Project “Post-mortem”

Project Role:  As an organizational partner, I was on the Employer Outreach Team.  Our responsibilities were to recruit local community employer partners for The Neighborhood Jobs Pipeline leveraging existing and new relationships.

Project Purpose: The Neighborhood Jobs Pipeline a new model of workforce development service delivery that influences local neighborhood support services and community based organizations to create a place‐based approach designed to encourage a targeted set of local employers in a local city to work with the pipeline to strengthen their hiring strategies.  In addition, to develop networks with local workforce agencies that provides employment resources and/or opportunities for local residents within the designated community.

Project Problem: A disconnect between residents of the city target area and employment opportunities both within and around the area. Residents with the training and skills necessary to be good candidates for available job openings are frequently not aware of and/or considered for those job openings.

What contributed to the project’s success?

·       The local city was able to sustain their community by assisting employable residents to sustain their families through short-term employment within their community.  This allowed local businesses to increase their revenue, tax incentives and hire local residents to support their families.

·       The place‐based Pipeline method provided better job search outcomes for residents in their community.

·       The job pipeline increased the stability and sustainability of both businesses and some families in the target area.

·         It helped employers to decrease their human resources costs by allowing the workforce agencies to find, pre-screen and assessed potential job candidates that proved to be ready to work.

·        Residential support increased by frequenting local businesses in the community, created, and improved partnerships and collaboration with local organizations.

What contributed to the project’s failure?

·        Program prerequisites (high school diploma/GED, drug-free, no criminal history) cause low participation from local residents in the job pipeline. 

·        Residents that met program prerequisites could not afford the upfront cost of the drug screening of $35.  If afforded, they would have been reimbursed after participating in the program after 6 weeks

·        Majority of the residents that met the prerequisites skills for the job pipeline did not match the business partners needs

·        Most employers provided short-term employment with no intentions of long-term hiring because of limited tax incentives available that actually covered the majority of the employees pay rate.

Which parts of the PM process, if included, would have made the project more successful? Why?

The project could have been more successful with increasing residents’ participation if there was allocated funding/grants available to assist with drug screening, and identification costs.  The project was design to reimburse the program participate and not provide upfront cost.  The pipeline was designed to assist persons with barriers to employment (non-violent/sexual criminal history, and lack of skills training) and available educational resources for those residents who do not have a high school diploma or GED.

Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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