Project Planning: The Importance of Communication and Interpersonal Skills

After the project conception and initiation, the next stage is called project planning. As the second phase in project management, it involves the process of outlining the works to be performed, calculating the cost, making a schedule, and determining all the necessary resources.

Basically, project planning is the ultimate basis of the whole project, otherwise the backbone. The project will not push through without the necessary planning. And so, this stage requires thorough brainstorming among the team. All members must be able to contribute something to the success of the project.

During this phase, interpersonal and communication skills in addition to leadership skills are essential. Team building, relationship building, and conflict management are a few of the areas where these skills prove relevant.

Having the ability to interact and communicate among and between the members of the team promotes teamwork and strong relationship from everyone involved in the project. Through this, each of the member is able to voice out their ideas and be recognized; thus, they become more motivated to work with others and look forward to a good end-result of the planning stage.

According to El-Sabaa (2001), the communication skills of project managers or leaders greatly influence how the teams execute their varying tasks, particularly during the planning stage (as cited in Alam, Gale, Brown, & Khan, 2010, p. 497).

Alam et al. (2010) explained that this is because the workers are people; they are not robots. And so, it is natural for them to associate with others using what they have learned and their creative thinking in order to come up with the best option. In fact, they can achieve their highest potential when they ask advice, counsel, or recommendation from other people in the team.

Bourne and Walker (2004) pointed out that one of the most challenging situations project managers face when communicating is dealing with many people having various behaviors and thinking, especially those having difficulty to connect with others (as cited in Alam et al., 2010, p. 497). This primarily happens during the planning stage where all ideas for the project are finalized by putting into writing.

This is especially true if you have just gathered a team for a certain project and each of the member does not know each other very well yet. Some will act like they know or that they are the best, while others are the most behave awardee. You will also encounter people who have too much pride and confidence that they will not listen to the project manager.

However, no matter what the differences are, if the leaders have the ability to build a relationship with their group, which motivates or empowers them, everyone will have a common goal towards the overall success of the project.

For this to take place, Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman (1995, p. 716) revealed the qualities managers must exhibit – skill, kindness, and integrity (as cited in Ng & Walker, 2008, p. 417); these three will earn them respect, trust, and confidence, which indicates authentic leadership (Ng & Walker, 2008).

According to Ives (2005), disputes are expected to occur because of the following: budget and schedule restrictions, power struggle (as duties sometimes overlap), intricacy and connectedness of task, and learning curve (as cited in Alam et al., 2010, p. 496).

Communication skills are highly useful to resolve conflicts that arise when planning for the project. If the speaker knows when to raise or lower his or her voice, when to object or confirm, when to add something, what words to use, and so on, miscommunication that leads to disputes and serious disagreement can be avoided.

If the leaders know how to effectively communicate with their members in order to find a common ground, time-wasting disputes and conflicts can be avoided.

Peled (2000) highlighted that the responsibility of project leaders is not only limited to the supervision of operations, but also to dispute resolution (as cited in Alam et al., 2010, p. 496).

In doing so, however, Baroudi and Pant (2008) suggested that they must also have the know-how on settling indifferences properly and the ability to sympathize so as to prevent conflicts from arising (as cited in Alam et al., 2010, p. 496).

Based on the five main reasons cited, it can be said that interpersonal skills are especially vital during the project planning phase. It is where teamwork is highly needed. Accordingly, the soft skill of communication is crucial during the project planning in order to avoid conflicts that destroys the teams’ relationship.

Overall, being a great project management necessitates effective communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills. Just like the teams’ various tasks, these three are interdependent.

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Ng, C., & Walker, D. H. T. (2008). A study of project management leadership styles across life cycle stages of an IT project in Hong Kong. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 1, 404-427.

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