Communication – More Than Words By Frank P. Saladis, PMP

If you are a fan of rock music you may recall a song by the group Extreme. Their song “More Than Words” was about expressing oneself in more than just a simple phrase that is easy to say. The feeling and emotion behind the words was the important part. The subtle message here is that words are only one part of effective communications and that emotion, body language, and other non verbal factors are also very important. Most project managers understand the importance of strong communications skills and attempt to use those skills to build teams, solve problems, update stakeholders, and minimize conflict.

Communication is far more complex than most people realize or would like to believe. Our communications effectiveness is generally measured by the response to the message rather than how well the memo was written or how confidently a presentation was given. Writing skills and presentation skills certainly will help the communications process but how the messages are received and how people respond will determine the effectiveness and success of the communication.

Before communicating a message there are a few things to consider:

Who is the message intended for?
What media will be used?
What is the objective of the communication?
What is the desired response?
How often will you communicate this information?
How will the information affect your audience? Will there be emotional responses? Should they be elated or will they experience surprise? Does the message contain distressing information? Consider the possible reactions. How would you respond if you were to receive the information?
Are you confident that you know enough about the issue to communicate and respond to questions? Have you done sufficient research?
Is the message meant for everyone or just a few select people?
Is the message of a secure nature and requires precautions and a targeted small group?
Can the message be distributed as an email or memo or does it require in person attendance and direct contact?

These are a few of the items that, if not considered, could cause some type of communications breakdown and result in more ineffective communications that could create even greater breakdowns. It may sound like overkill but developing a plan before communicating is an excellent practice. Planning your communications can be facilitated by researching your audience before preparing the message.

Most project managers are familiar with the sender – receiver model that depicts the message process of encoding, passing the message through personality screens, perception screens, then decoding and feedback. A key element of that model that is often missed is the “region of experience” associated with the sender and receiver. The region of experience is the domain that includes the qualifications, education, experience, and knowledge of the sender and receiver. They are distinct and different regions and the amount of overlap of these regions or experience between sender and receiver is a key part in effective communications. Consider a speaker from the financial department speaking to a group of engineers or a speaker from the sales department speaking to an operations group. The regions of experience may be quite different, including educational background and business processes. There may be little to no overlap of experience. Communication in these scenarios can be a challenge. The speaker must take some time to assess the audience’s region of experience and tailor the message to meet the needs of that audience. This will also help to improve the audience perception of the sender’s credibility and may increase their trust and respect for the speaker.

Communications, as the title of the paper suggests is more than words. Research, defining audience needs, selecting the right words, delivering the message at the appropriate academic level are all important but there are other things to consider.

Effective communications includes effective listening. In the book – The Art of Public Speaking, Stephen E. Lucas, McGraw Hill, there are four types of listening:

Appreciative listening – listening for pleasure or enjoyment. This includes listening to music or an entertaining speech. This type of listening does not generally provide us with greater knowledge but is a basic necessity. It can help us relax and possibly generate ideas.
Empathic listening – listening to provide emotional support for the speaker. Being sympathetic to a friend, helping someone through a difficult personal situation. A showing of concern.
Comprehensive listening – listening to understand a message. This is associated with lectures, obtaining directions, gathering factual data.
Critical listening – listening to evaluate a message to determine whether to accept or reject it. An example would be listening to a politician or an attorney’s argument. In the project environment, this is probably very common when dealing with multiple stakeholders with strong opinions.

Listening is a critical part of the communications process and it is something that few people can claim as an expertise. There are several reasons why it is difficult to listen. Many people are impatient and jump to conclusions. Some people must interrupt the speaker during a conversation. Some people prepare responses long before the speaker is actually finished with his or her statement. Many people allow themselves to become distracted. Listening requires control, patience and some respect for the speaker. It is a skill that requires significant practice.

One more area affects communications and is certainly more than words is what is known as non-verbal communications. Defined this means: the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. Such messages can be communicated through gesture; body language or posture; facial expression and eye contact; object communication such as clothing, hairstyles or even architecture; symbols and info-graphics. Speech may also contain non-verbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice quality, emotion and speaking style, as well as prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation and stress. Likewise, written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the use of emoticons (wikipedia definition of non-verbal communications).

Some authors and researchers believe that non-verbal communications contributes to 60% to 70% of the impact of a message. Albert Mehrabian suggested that 55% of communications is non verbal, 38% is associated with tone, and 7% with words. (Silent Messages, Albert Mehrabian, 1981). This information was based on a specific study and is generally communicated incorrectly!). It is important, however, for anyone who communicates to be aware that body language will have an impact on the receiver. The sender must become aware of his or her habits when speaking such as slouching, fidgeting, facial expressions, tone of voice, hand gestures and other non verbal signals. Cultural awareness is also necessary as some gestures may be considered offensive depending on where you are and who is in the audience.

Communications can be complex but it does not have to be complicated. Spending some time to research your audience, understand the culture and region of experience of your intended receivers, and planning how you will communicate will improve your ability to deliver your message effectively and allow you to achieve the desired results or obtain the desired responses.

©2011 International Institute for Learning, Inc.
©2011 Microsoft® Corporation

Frank P. Saladis, PMP is a consultant and instructor in the project management profession with over 35 years of experience in IT, Telecom Installation and the IT Project Management training environment. Frank is a past-president of the PMI Assembly of Chapter Presidents and is the originator of International Project Management Day.

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Communication – More Than Words By Frank P. Saladis, PMP