3-10-30: Executive and Stakeholder Communication for Project Managers

3-10-30Executive/Stakeholder Communication

for Project Managers

PMI-SWVA Symposium

October 10, 2014David J. Williamson, PhD, PMP, ITIL-F

Copyright © 2014, David J. Williamson

Abstract

3-10-30: Executive and Stakeholder Communication for Project Managers

When responding to a question from an executive, you have about 3 seconds to make your point...and if they are still listening, 10 seconds to provide some e┝plaﾐatioﾐ…aﾐd if the┞ aヴe still listening, 30 seconds to summarize the details. In a presentation to a group of executives, you have about 3 minutes to make your Iase…aﾐd if the┞ aヴe still listeﾐiﾐg, ヱヰﾏiﾐutes to pヴo┗ide soﾏe e┝plaﾐatioﾐ…aﾐd if they are still listening, 30 minutes to summarize the details. Executives tend to He Hus┞ people ┘ho ﾏaﾐage H┞ e┝Ieptioﾐ. The┞ doﾐ’t al┘a┞s ﾐeed to kﾐo┘ all the details, they just want to know you know the details. A short attention span is often just the indication of the need to move on to something else. In this presentation, you will learn some tips and tricks you can put into action immediately for preparing project status updates and presentations to communicate with executives and stakeholders.


The History of Communication Theory

• Historical roots in classical Greece

• Aristotle: Principles of rhetoric and discourse

• 20th century: Social-scientific view

• Sociology

• Psychology

• Political Science

• Marketing & Advertising

• Media

• Print

• Film

• Radio

• WWII: Studies of group decision-making

(UC Davis, 2014)


• Historical roots in classical Greece

• Aristotle: Principles of rhetoric and discourse

• 20th century: Social-scientific view

• Sociology

• Psychology

• Political Science

• Marketing & Advertising

• Media

• Print

• Film

• Radio

• WWII: Studies of group decision-making

(UC Davis, 2014)

The History of Communication Theory


Executive/stakeholder communication:

3sec/min

10sec/min

30sec/min

To make

your point

To support

your point

To explain

the details


Executives are busy.

Very busy.

They manage by exception.


The┞ doﾐ’t ﾐeed to know all the details.

They just need to know that you

know all the details.


Elevator speech or status meeting:

This?Exec: Ho┘’s ┞ouヴ pヴojeIt goiﾐg?You: Well, we had an issue with one of the vendors; they let us know last week that one of the shipments might be delayed, so we got on the phone with the CEO and told them our contract includes liquidated damages if they didﾐ’t deli┗eヴ iﾐ tiﾏe, so the┞ deIided to expedite the order, and we should get it next week, which will put the project about 2 weeks behind schedule, but we should be able to make it up by doing the module testing in parallel which will allo┘ us to ﾏeet the oヴigiﾐal due date…


Elevator speech or status meeting:

..or this?Exec: Ho┘’s ┞ouヴ pヴojeIt goiﾐg?You: We are on schedule except for one delivery.

(pause)

One of the vendor shipments will be two weeks late, but we have a workaround to keep the testiﾐg oﾐ sIhedule, aﾐd it ┘oﾐ’t impact the due date.

(pause)

We contacted the vendor CEO to expedite the shipment so it will arrive in time for us to do ﾏodule testiﾐg iﾐ paヴallel so ┘e doﾐ’t impact the original delivery date.


The difference:

Speaking from a conclusion

vs.

Speaking toward a conclusion.


Presentation:

This?

TitleOption 3

Option 1

Option 2History

Introductions

Options1.

2.

3.

Costs

Benefits

Conclusion

Next Steps

Summary


Presentation:

…or this?

Title

Option 3

Option 2

History

Introductions

Options1.

2.

3.

Appendix

Costs

Benefits

Conclusion

Next Steps

SummaryOption 1

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

More

supporting

details…

More

supporting

details…Copyright © 2014, David J. Williamson

The difference:

Presenting from a conclusion

vs.

Presenting toward a conclusion.


E┝ercise: How’s ┞our project going?

3sec

10sec

30sec


Bonus: Email

Subject: Project status

Team,

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringillavel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputateeleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus. Phasellus viverranulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aenean imperdiet. Etiam ultriciesnisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus. Maecenas tempus, tellus eget condimentum rhoncus, sem quam semper libero, sit amet adipiscing sem neque sed ipsum. Nam quam nunc, blandit vel, luctuspulvinar, hendrerit id, lorem. Maecenas nec odio et ante tincidunt tempus. Donecvitae sapien ut libero venenatis faucibus. Nullam quis ante. Etiam sit amet orcieget eros faucibus tincidunt. Duis leo. Sed fringilla mauris sit amet nibh. Donecsodales sagittis magna. Sed consequat, leo eget bibendum sodales, augue velitcursus nunc.

Please submit your team status updates by 4:00pm Friday.

This?


Bonus: Email

Subject: Project XYZ: Status updates due Friday 4 pm

Please submit your team status updates by 4:00pm Friday.

Team,

Status updates are needed by 4pm Friday so we can meet our goal of timely communication.

As you know, lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aeneancommodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultriciesnec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donecpede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu.

In addition, integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus. Phasellus viverra nulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aeneanimperdiet. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus.

…or this?


The difference:

Writing from a conclusion

vs.

Writing toward a conclusion.


3-10-30: Summary

Verbal

• Know your point

• Make your point in 3 seconds

(pause)

• Support your point in 10 seconds

(pause)

• Explain the details in 30 seconds or less

• Backup data

Presentation

• Ten slides

• Plus Appendix

• Conclusion first,in 3 minutes

• Then support your conclusion in 10 minutes

• Then explain the details in 30 minutes or less

• More details in the Appendix

Email

• Project name

• Whole message in the subject line

• Summary at the top

• Action items at the top

• Details in the body below

• One topic per email


AppendixReferences, supporting details, bio & contact info


References

Jensen, B. (2000). Simplicity. New York, NY: Perseus.

Jensen, B. (2003). The Simplicity Survival Handbook. New York, NY: Basic Books.

UC Davis. (2014). Communication: Historical development of the field and departmental strength. Retrieved from http://communication.ucdavis.edu/graduate/ph.d.-program/introduction/history


Preparing for a presentation:

Pre-work: Know, Feel, Do (Jensen, 2003, p. 27)

• KNOW: さWhat’s the oﾐe thiﾐg I ┘aﾐt people to kﾐo┘, uﾐdeヴstaﾐd, leaヴﾐ, oヴケuestioﾐ?ざ• FEEL: さHo┘ do I ┘aﾐt people to feel ┘heﾐ I’ﾏ doﾐe?ざ• DO: さWhat do I ┘aﾐt people to do as a diヴeIt ヴesult of

my communication?

Why it works (p. 28)

• さGet to the poiﾐt! What’s the oﾐe thiﾐg ┞ou ┘aﾐt ﾏe to ヴeﾏeﾏHeヴ?ざ (KNOW)

• さ“ho┘ ﾏe ┞ou Iaヴe aHout ﾏ┞ ﾐeeds.ざ (FEEL)

• さBe Ileaヴ aHout ┘hat I’ﾏ supposed to do ﾐe┝t.ざ (DO)


Email: the CLEAR model (Jensen, 2003, p. 37)

Receivers are scanning your messages for these points:

•Connected – to their current projects and workload

• List next steps – What you want them to do after reading

your email

• Expectations – What success looks like

•Ability – Ho┘ the┞’ll get thiﾐgs doﾐe: list tools aﾐd support

•Return – Theiヴ WIIFM: aﾐs┘eヴs さWhat’s iﾐ it foヴﾏe?ざ


Bio & contact infoDavid J. Williamson, PhD, PMP, ITIL-F

Dr. Williamson is a full-time project and program manager, a part-time college instructor, and the founding president of the PMI Southwest Virginia Chapter. He has worked in information technology and project management for more than 25 years, and is currently the Program Manager for IT Store Support at Advance Auto Parts in Roanoke, VA. He has taught management, information systems, and project management for more than 13 years at Mary Baldwin College, Virginia Western Community College, UVA Wise, Walden University, Colorado State University-Global Campus, and Virginia Tech. He has also provided training in project management, software engineering, and software quality management to several corporations, non-profits, and government agencies. He co-founded the PMI Southwest Virginia Chapter in 2003 and served as its first president, contributed to the PMI OPM3 standard, and published a paper on IT project complexity, complication, and success in 2012.

www.LinkedIn.com/in/davidjwilliamson

www.waldenu.academia.edu/DavidWilliamson


http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjwilliamson

http://www.waldenu.academia.edu/DavidWilliamson

3-10-30: Executive and Stakeholder Communication for Project Managers

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