Communicating with Stakeholders

When it comes to project management, keeping stakeholders involved is not important, it is absolutely fundamental (Achong, & Budrovich, 2011). Described in the multimedia program, “The Art of Effective Communication”, are the points of: communicating with members of your project team is one of the main responsibilities; and the way in which the message is delivered has significant implications on how the message will be received. Having been presented the same message in an e-mail, voicemail, and face to face, in the multimedia program “The Art of Effective Communication”, helps demonstrate the variation in how a message can be interpreted, and how the different delivery methods can elicit various emotional responses from the receiver. I received each message in the order they were presented. That is, e-mail, voicemail, and then face to face.
 

In reading the message in an e-mail, although the sender did acknowledge an appreciation at the end of the message, I didn’t care to have the sender refer to my report as “the missing report”. It was clear that the sender wanted the report as soon as possible. However, reading the word “missing”, was difficult to get past. My report was not “missing”, it had simply not yet been delivered to the sender. In that the message was delivered via e-mail, it was impossible for me to read it only once, and each time I did read it, “missing” jumped off the page even more!
 

Listening to the same message in a voicemail helped calm me down a bit. The sender of the message had a calm, soothing tone, and even though she used the word “missing”, it was not an emphasis. In fact, the message sounded like the sender was actually understanding of my own circumstances and workload. Again, it was clear the sender wanted the report from me as soon as possible, yet it sounded like she did not want to step on my toes and come across in a demanding manner. Rather, her tone indicated to me a kinder, gentler request, more along the lines of “When you can get to it, I’d really appreciate having the report so I can meet my own approaching deadline”.
 

Receiving the message via face to face delivery, it was clear the sender wanted my report now. However, the sender seemed to convey an indifference to my circumstance. It was almost as if she was bothered or being inconvenienced and I was the target. I think it was the tempo of her message and how her voice seemed a little lethargic. I had a little sense that she didn’t think I could or even would get the report to her soon. I particularly didn’t like it when she point her finger when saying “and your report…”. I Interpreted that portion as “and YOUR report …”. It might have been the partition she was standing behind, but I didn’t feel a connection in the sense of “we are working together on this”.

The greatest take away for me in this activity is about how a message is delivered. Communication is not just words, it is about the spirit, attitude, tone, and body language (Stolovitch, 2011). If the sender of the third message, delivered face to face, used the tone and tempo of the sender of the voicemail, I would likely have dropped everything and completed the report, even though it wasn’t due for another couple of days. It is not unusual for any of us to have an off-day, in general. If this off-day is a day when we are to be responsible for carrying out effective communications regarding a project, an extra level of awareness in how to communication would greatly benefit the outcome or result of the communication. I can’t merely say and/or write words and assume the message is correctly understood and interpreted. Regardless of whether or not I get along with the other members of our project team, I must be able to effectively carry out my duties along with the other members. With members of an instructional project team likely coming from a variety of background, disciplines, and levels of expertise, communication is critical (Lin, 2006). Mis-communicating and/or ineffectively communicating could become a seed, at a project’s beginning, that might grow and spread weeds throughout the course of the project! Once the clover, dandelions, and Bermuda grass begin to grow, it becomes rather difficult to remove!

Resources

Achong, T., & Budrovich, V. (2011). Practitioner voices: Strategies for working with stakeholders. Lecture presented for Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5693702&Survey=1&47=7270808&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1.

Lin, H. (2006). Instructional project management: An emerging professional practice for design and training programs. Workforce Education Forum, 33(2).

Stolovitch, H., (2011). Communicating with stakeholders. Lecture presented for Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5693702&Survey=1&47=7270808&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1.

The Art of Effective Communication. (2011). Multimedia program presented for Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6145/03/mm/aoc/index.html.