Communication is an invaluable skill for project managers that plays a key role in project management. Creating good communication channels with stakeholders improves the project’s likelihood of success. On the other hand lack of communication is the root cause of conflicts within a project. If you do not create good communication channels between you and your team, they will not take decisions when needed or they will not understand the urgency of the situation. And if you are unaware of how your team is performing, you will not track your project’s progress. This will frustrate your project’s successful completion. Interactive communication, pull communication and push communication methods are the types of business communication methods used by project managers to improve the quality of work and project’s performance.
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Communication Methods and Styles
As mentioned above, communication plays a significant role in project management. The Project Manager is responsible for communicating issues related to the project with all the project stakeholders. There are various communication methods such as nonverbal, verbal, written, contextual, oral, body language, etc. The success or failure depends on how well you communicate throughout the project life cycle.
There are several ways to communicate but they all fall within three basic categories: interactive, push, and pull. Also, The PMBOK ® Guide defines 3 types of communication :
1. Interactive Communication
2. Push Communication
3. Pull Communication
Interactive Communication Methods
Interactive communication is the most effective type of communication between two or more people in real time. It is a face to face communication type in which the project manager can receive direct feedback from the project team or stakeholders to understand their thoughts and provides them his ideas.
Interactive communication can be used when the urgent response is needed or when the issue is important and there is a possibility of misunderstanding. This real-time communication method provides fast and effective results.
For example, you hold a meeting related to the project’s status and invited the stakeholders. During the meeting, you discussed the key points and bottlenecks of the project and received the participant’s opinions. This is an example of interactive communication.
Interactive Communication Examples
Interactive communication can be performed via media like teleconferences or face to face contacts. Below are a few examples of interactive communication.
Meetings
Phone Calls / Conference
Video Calls / Conference
Workshops
Push Communication Methods
Push communication is not a face to face communication type like interactive communication. The project manager sends the information to the recipient with no expectation of receiving immediate feedback or response. But some action or response is needed when the recipient receives the message. The information conveyed through push communication is usually in written form and should not be urgent classified.
In the push communication method, you send the message or information but you are not sure that the message is well understood by the recipient. Therefore push communication method is not suitable for urgent situations. For example, in a construction project, you detected a dangerous problem related to health and safety. You sent an email related to the problem. However, nobody read your message and the action is not taken.
Push Communication Examples
Letters
Memos
Emails
Reports
Voice mails
Pull Communication Methods
Pull communication is suitable for large and complex projects with a large audience. In this type of communication, the sender places the information at a general database such as a SharePoint or a shared drive and the recipients are responsible to use the information placed at this location. Pull communication is not a face to face communication type and it does not require immediate feedback or response.
For example, you subscribed to a website related to PMP Certification Training. You receive information related to the new articles and lessons learned. If you do not read the information or messages this will not affect the website or the website does not expect your response.
Pull Communication Examples
A website
A knowledge repository
A bulletin board
A SharePoint of a sharedrive
Interactive Communication vs Push Communication vs Pull Communication
- Interactive communication is a face to face communication type. People involve in communication and share their ideas in real time. Interactive communication method is suitable when the issue is sensitive and the urgent response is required.
- Push communication is a communication type between the sender and the receiver. Therefore it is not a face to face communication type. Push communication method is suitable when the urgent response is not required. However, the recipient takes some action on receipt of the message.
- Pull communication is an informational type of communication. Senders convey the message through websites, bulletins, etc.
Summary
It is the project manager’s responsibility to create good communication channels between all the parties involved in the project. Effective communication makes a contribution to any project’ s success. On the other hand, insufficient and deceptive information leads to wrong decisions and incorrect estimates. Therefore the Project Manager must select the best type of communication method based on the purpose and the urgency of the message or information.
Project managers usually prefer Interactive Communication to manage his team and inform stakeholders urgently. Push Communication can be effective if the project manager only wants to convey information without any needs to obtain immediate feedback from the recipient. When the communication is informational only to the recipients, the pull communication method should be used. If the recipients don’t read it, it will not have any effect on the project. Are you using various communication methods and styles? You can use the comments box to share your methods.
External References
See Also
Conflict Management Techniques
Ananya Prisha is an enterprise level Agile coach working out of Hyderabad (India) and also founder of High Level PM Consultancy. Her goal has been to keep on learning and at the same time give back to the community that has given her so much.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about blog. Regards
I think the best style is the interactive one.
Helpful Article
I think best way to engage stakeholders is Interactive Communication