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How Great Leaders Communicate

• Carmine Gallo

Four strategies to motivate and inspire your team.

Transformational leaders are exceptional communicators. In this piece, the author outlines four communication strategies to help motivate and inspire your team: 1) Use short words to talk about hard things. 2) Choose sticky metaphors to reinforce key concepts. 3) Humanize data to create value. 4). Make mission your mantra to align teams.

In the age of knowledge, ideas are the foundation of success in almost every field. You can have the greatest idea in the world, but if you can’t persuade anyone else to follow your vision, your influence and impact will be greatly diminished. And that’s why communication is no longer considered a “soft skill” among the world’s top business leaders. Leaders who reach the top do not simply pay lip service to the importance of effective communication. Instead, they study the art in all its forms — writing, speaking, presenting — and constantly strive to improve on those skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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Browse Course Material

Course info, instructors.

• Dr. Lori Breslow
• Dr. Terence Heagney

Departments

• Sloan School of Management

As Taught In

Learning resource types, management communication for undergraduates, lecture notes.

[T] = Teaching Notes from the Sloan Communication Program, courtesy of JoAnne Yates. Used with permission.

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Management Communication

(7 reviews)

Lisa Thomas, Brigham Young University

Julie Haupt, Brigham Young University

Andy Spackman, Brigham Young University

Copyright Year: 2017

Publisher: The Marriott School at Brigham Young University

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Barbara Tarter, Full Professor, Marshall University on 4/11/23

The textbook is extremely comprehensive and provides an interactive teaching tool that combines both text with links to online stories, research, and videos. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The textbook is extremely comprehensive and provides an interactive teaching tool that combines both text with links to online stories, research, and videos.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The accuracy of the material is very high. As a teacher of Communication Studies for over twenty years, I was pleased to see the well-rounded coverage of both nonverbal and verbal cues included in the text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I love the section on writing concisely as this continues to be a problem for students. The material includes both written and oral communication skills that are necessary in the field of business and in everyday life.

Clarity rating: 5

The textbook is clear and concise with available links taking the reader to a more in-depth review of the material.

Consistency rating: 5

The textbook used a consist framework throughout and was quick to define any terminology that might be unclear.

Modularity rating: 5

Although the content of the textbook flows very well, it would be possible to assign different segments of the text in a different order, if the instructor desired.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The textbook does have a clear organizational pattern and leads the reader into all areas of communication by providing interactive links, testimonials, and examples. The Link and Learn icons were a little confusing as they did not seem to lead anywhere. I would also consider reducing the size of the text as it was difficult to read without bringing the entire textbook from 100% to about 66.7%.

Interface rating: 3

Some of the links were not available without a subscription to a particular journal or magazine. Some of the links were just not available any longer.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Very well written with no known grammatical issues. Given the contents, the reader would expect nothing less. :):)

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

There was nothing in the text that seemed offensive in any way.

An excellent textbook that I would consider using in both sections of my graduate and undergraduate courses. The writing of students has really declined in the last five years. It is refreshing to see a textbook that has taken them back to the basics. The inclusion of both written and oral communication skills in one textbook is also desirable. As a communication professor that teaches oral communication courses as writing-intensive, this textbook fits the bill perfectly.

Reviewed by Vapordeal Sanders, Assistant Professor, Clarke University on 12/15/22

The text covers many skill areas of communication that allow us to manage communication in our professional life including writing, planning, organizing, building, researching, formatting, revising, managing, persuading, showing, presenting,... read more

The text covers many skill areas of communication that allow us to manage communication in our professional life including writing, planning, organizing, building, researching, formatting, revising, managing, persuading, showing, presenting, branding, working. The Chapters are organized in a manner that allows you to quickly identify the subcategories that match your objectives and outcomes.

The information is in line with 21st-century current topics, skills, needs, and demands. The format is in line with current and future audiences that range from “new school”l to “old schoo”l types. Some like information in bite-size nuggets for only getting what is needed by skimming and choosing and there are others who want a variety of core topics, with solid details, and the option of additional details at their fingertips. The author provides both and supports the latter with the addition of lists for articles, books, and websites.

The book has is a long lifespan because it includes classical topics with core information that transcends time. Just in case they are missing the mark on something important, each chapter has a built-in quick link for feedback. The author has considered their audience in terms of what was needed in the past that is currently needed and will still be needed in the future. There is a contemporary approach to the layout and design that includes the use of symbols and color coding.

Clarity rating: 4

The writing is easy to understand and follow. There is no overuse of jargon but there is jargon that fits the topic “management communication” and it is woven in such a manner that you do not need a dictionary to decipher. The approach of the other quickly becomes clear because of a consistent format in section types and the use of symbols and color coding.

The reader knows what to expect in each chapter in terms of categories of information, although the subcategories might vary. Each chapter begins by reminding you to look for possible symbols indicating required reading, tips, examples, and activities. Each chapter ends with a list of articles, books, and websites. Each chapter has a continuum tool at the top and bottom of the page that allows you to either go back to the previous chapter, see the table of contents, or go to the next chapter. I like it that I don’t have to scroll back to the top of the page to access this tool. Of course, each chapter has core information on the chapter topic.

Modularity rating: 4

The reader can quickly see that each chapter has a modular approach. The content is well organized with good subheadings and bite-size chunks of information to easily digest. Bite-size in this text, fits the truth that more does not mean better if there is quality as a priority, rather than quantity.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text has a good organizational flow that presents the information in a systematic and creative manner. The author lets you see the subheadings and distinguish types of information with the use of subheadings and symbols. The inclusion of a continuum tool serves as an anchor for quickly going back, going forward, or accessing the table of contents

Interface rating: 5

The text has an easy, user-friendly interface, of course, there are fewer interface options if you choose the PDF version. The images are clear whether viewed online or in PDF.

The text raised no concerns for me in grammatical errors. However, if any errors or concerns arise, there is a quick link that allows for immediate feedback.

The text is written and designed in a culturally inclusive manner. The design includes computer-generated human images and photos of human images and the images are diverse in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, and race. There are diverse charts, graphs, and photographs that are linear or creative. The use of cultural colors is broad and includes, black, gray, red, yellow, orange, blue, and green.

I think the table of contents is very eye-appealing with the titles that look to me like a visual slide. The small subtitle under each title is important.

Reviewed by Terese Stratta, Associate Professor, Clarke University on 1/10/21

This open textbook addresses a variety of relevant topics in management and business communication. The information is very useful and applicable to real world experiences. The authors engage and challenge students who communicate at varying skill... read more

This open textbook addresses a variety of relevant topics in management and business communication. The information is very useful and applicable to real world experiences. The authors engage and challenge students who communicate at varying skill levels. Formatting and links will keep the attention of students. The authors use a broad and comprehensive list of resources.

The content appeared accurate and free of errors.

The content provides all relevant topics within management communication. The information is presented in a meaningful manner.

The text is clear, concise, and grammatically correct.

All topics are presented in a logical and structured manner. Terminology and concepts are consistent across chapters.

The text is designed to follow the chapters chronologically; however, professors can assign sections of the text as needed. Each chapter is followed with very useful references.

The topics are presented in a logical manner.

Interface issues were not noted. The graphics were consistent and were easy to understand.

The text was written with no grammatically errors.

The text directly addresses the communication challenges of a global organization. In addition, the text provides general guidelines for communication across cultural groups.

I wish I would have used this textbook when I taught Business Communication three years ago. This text is straight-forward and concise, and addresses the skill levels of students.

Reviewed by Carol Hutchinson, Assistant Professor, George Fox University on 1/27/20

This text covers a broad spectrum of types of communication from written to verbal within the context of management. Each chapter clearly targets a particular aspect of communication and provides practical explanations and examples. This is a very... read more

This text covers a broad spectrum of types of communication from written to verbal within the context of management. Each chapter clearly targets a particular aspect of communication and provides practical explanations and examples. This is a very useful text for any student preparing for a management or leadership role.

I found no errors. All the information was copiously supported by outside sources. At the same time the information was communicated in creative and interesting ways.

The frequent use of links to articles and videos make this an invaluable resource. The links can be easily updated.

The text was not difficult to read and understand. Even when dealing with such concepts as ethos, pathos and logos the text managed to clarify these concepts in a concise and helpful way. There was also appropriate repetition and new application of concepts throughout the text.

The tone was consistent throughout. The text was also consistent in the layout, color contrast and use of text boxes. The language was accessible and when uncommon terms were used they were carefully and clearly defined. The authors truly sought to practice the very communication methods they are encouraging others to adopt.

While the chapters do build upon each other to some degree, it would not be difficult to use some blocks of material in an order other than the textual format. The early chapters on writing would be difficult to take out of order.

The move from one chapter to another was seamless and made perfect sense. Each chapter began with the topics to be covered and ended with a concise review.

Interface rating: 4

Using some of the links in the text presented some issues in terms of having to register on a website before being granted access to the article. However, other material was clear and I found no distortions in the visual material.

I found no grammatical errors. The writing was clear, concise and logical.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

As a middle class white person I did not see any insensitivity to cultural issues. However, I think this requires the opinion of people from other ethnic backgrounds to comment upon.

The text was well written, creative and practical in its approach to communication for managers. I will likely use some of the chapters for one of my courses. Much of the text emphasized writing skills, but it also contained excellent chapters on presentations and how to conduct meetings. The last part of the text on job hunting was helpful, but seemed out of place. However, there were excellent suggestions and examples.

Reviewed by Jodie Bowers, Assistant Professor, Ancilla College on 12/17/19

I believe this text does a fine job of addressing many areas of business and management communication. The author covers the basics that I would expect to find in a business and professional communication class. I particularly like that the text... read more

I believe this text does a fine job of addressing many areas of business and management communication. The author covers the basics that I would expect to find in a business and professional communication class. I particularly like that the text is written and formatted in such a succinct manner because that is what we expect from our students in this class. The content is also written in a way that allows the instructors to make the subject matter their own and fit the needs of the individual classes. It is not bogged down with filler content and unnecessary information as many other business communication texts seem to be. I also appreciate that the author links many external articles, websites, and infographics throughout the text so that if an instructor would like to delve deeper into any particular area, they have a place to start.

The content appears accurate, up-to-date, error-free and unbiased as far as I can tell.

Personally, I feel this text will serve as a solid resource for several years before it needs a total rewrite. The examples, quotes, articles, etc included are recent enough to keep the reader’s attention without becoming outdated in a short period of time.

The text is very easy to read and understand. Any specific jargon or technical terminology is explained when necessary. The quotes from alumni or professionals give great context to the concepts being covered as well.

The terminology used throughout the text remains consistent, professional, and concise.

The text is broken up into short reading sections with plenty of white space included on each page. It is formatted almost as if it is a visual aid presentation which is eye-appealing. The pages do not contain large amounts of text that would cause the readers to become fatigued. Content is written in small blocks and bulleted lists, thus mimicking the business writing style. Also, the color coded system utilized throughout the text is very helpful for readers to stay on track. Overall, I really appreciate the style of this textbook.

The organization and structure of the text work well. It makes logical sense to move from one specific skill to the next.

I did not come across any interface issues, navigation problems, distortion of images/charts, or any other distracting display features. The text is very usuer-friendly.

I did not notice any grammatical errors.

The text is covering basic skills that apply to all professionals. There were culturally diverse examples included.

This is a great book. I look forward to including it in my Business and Professional Communication course as supplement reading.

Reviewed by Scott Gunderson, Business & Management Faculty, Minnesota State on 6/27/19

On its surface the book looks short on content. However, the text integrates videos, articles and other information that enhances the existing outline format. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

On its surface the book looks short on content. However, the text integrates videos, articles and other information that enhances the existing outline format.

The book is error free and no bias detected.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Content is current to today's managerial communications. There are multiple links to videos and articles and as with a textbook of this nature, you can expect that some links are broken.

This is the texts strongest asset. The textbook is written with only the main points, references or links to other resources are available in case the reader needs additional information.

Not surprising for a managerial communication textbook, it follows "to the letter" English standards

Virtually each page of the textbook has a topic of its own. Each page is written in appropriate business format, using an active voice and white space.

The chapters are laid out in an appropriate sequence that build on each other.

The text is supported by color, charts and links to other appropriate material.

The textbook is an easy read, no filler language. It is short and to the point and is grammatically correct for business.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

The textbook is written at a level that will not insult a skilled communicator, and basic enough for readers that English may not be their first language. The textbook is also sensitive to send the appropriate message to any audience/race/culture. The textbook is limited however in using scenarios and support information such as articles and links.

The textbook is suitable for associate and bachelor's level managerial communication courses. There is little in the way of instructor resources so expect to create your own supplemental materials.

Reviewed by Dr. Eva Johnson, Director, LSUS on 4/5/19, updated 5/6/19

The textbook is very comprehensive covering each communication tool in a manner that is easy for students or anyone to read with helpful examples. Each subject matter is indexed and highlighted. read more

The textbook is very comprehensive covering each communication tool in a manner that is easy for students or anyone to read with helpful examples. Each subject matter is indexed and highlighted.

The content is very accurate with examples that are universal, error-free and unbiased.

The content is up-to-date, relevant and can be updated relatively easy.

The information is clear and orderly using the appropriate context with terminology that is universally understood.

The textbook framework and terminology is consistent throughout the textbook. While each section has a color division, the terminology is consistent.

The textbook is divided into small reading sections color-coded with the appropriate heading and can be assigned in different places in the textbook without a lot of realignments and disruptions.

Each topic in the text is presented in a logical clear fashion easy to read with examples through-out each section that understandable.

There were no navigation problems are distortions displayed throughout the text.

There were no grammatical errors found.

The text has no culturally sensitive information. The examples are inclusive of all backgrounds and cultures.

I really enjoyed the textbook. The color-coded section kept my attention. The small pockets of information were clear, concise and not overwhelming. This is the type of textbook that I think every student would enjoy reading.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1 - Why?: Be a Skilled Communicator
• Chapter 2 - Write: Look Good in Print
• Chapter 3 - Plan: Think Before You Write
• Chapter 4 - Organize: Structure Matters
• Chapter 5 - Build: Create Clarity & Coherence
• Chapter 6 - Research: Find the Answers
• Chapter 7 - Format: Make Your Message Inviting
• Chapter 8 - Revise: Zoom Out - Zoom In
• Chapter 9 - Manage: Getting Things Done...With People
• Chapter 10 - Persuade: Be Convincing
• Chapter 11 - Show: Show What You Mean
• Chapter 12 - Present: Stand & Deliver
• Chapter 13 - Brand: Manage Your Personal Brand
• Chapter 14 - Work: Get the Job

Ancillary Material

About the book.

Communication is the heart of business. Short emails, complex reports, private chats, impassioned pitches, formal presentations, and team meetings move information and ideas around an organization, define strategy, and drive decisions. Business communication is concise, direct, clear, and compelling.

About the Contributors

Lead author and project manager: Lisa Thomas

Authors: Julie Haupt

Authors: Andy Spackman

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8.5: Making a Presentation for a Meeting

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• Page ID 4145

What you’ll learn to do: Create a presentation intended for a business meeting

Tools, no matter how sophisticated, are simply tools. Moving from the right tools to a good presentation involves perspective and planning. For perspective, we’ll approach the concept of a good presentation from two standpoints: identifying the key features of a good presentation and common mistakes that contribute to presentation failure. We’ll also discuss what’s involved in the planning process, including the three essential questions that need to be answered prior to developing content. Finally, we’ll explore the classic story structure and apply that structure to a business presentation scenario.

Learning Outcomess

• Identify key features of a good presentation
• Identify the purpose, audience, and message of your presentation
• Discuss common mistakes in presentations
• Create a presentation intended for a business meeting

Parts of a Good Presentation

Like reverse engineering a product, we can distill the key features of a good presentation by looking at presentation evaluation scorecards. Refer to Table 1 for a sample class presentation grading rubric.

At the macro level, the key elements of a good presentation are content, organization, and delivery. There are both substance and style aspects of content. Substance elements include the originality and significance of your idea, the quality of your research and analysis, clarity and potential impact of your recommendations. Style aspects of content include confidence and credibility, both of which have a significant impact on how you—and your message—are received.

Good organization starts with a strong opening and continues in a logical and well-supported manner throughout the presentation, leading to a close that serves as a resolution of the problem or a summary of the situation you’ve presented. The audience experiences good organization as a sense of flow—an inevitable forward movement to a satisfying close. This forward momentum also requires audiences to have a certain level of technical and information-management competency. To the latter point, good presentation requires a presenter to put thought into information design, from the structure and content of slides to the transitions between individual points, slides and topics.

Delivery entails a range of factors from body language and word choice to vocal variety. In this category, your audience is responding to your personality and professionalism. For perspective, one of the three evaluation categories on the official Toastmasters speaker evaluation form is “As I Saw You;” in parentheses: “approach, position, personal appearance, facial expression, gestures and detracting mannerisms.” A good presenter has a passion for the subject and an ability to convey and perhaps elicit that emotion in the audience. Audience engagement—through eye contact, facial expression, perhaps the use of gestures or movement—also contributes to an effective presentation. However, to the point in the Toastmasters evaluation, gestures, movement other mannerisms can be distracting (see Module 7: Public Speaking for more on this). What works: natural (not staged) movement that reinforces communication of your idea.

Figure 1. The WIIFM Principle.

With those key features and presentation-evaluation criteria in mind, let’s add a disclaimer. The reality is that your features won’t matter if you don’t deliver one essential benefit: relevance.

Whether you think in Toastmasters terminology—”What’s in it for me? (WIIFM)” from the audience perspective—or put yourself in the audience’s position and ask “So what?,” it’s a question that you need to answer early. We’ll get into this more in the next section as we discuss presentation planning.

Practice Question

The key elements of a good presentation are:

• Strong opening and strong close
• Confidence and credibility

Content, organization and delivery

What’s My Presentation About?

It may be helpful to think of your presentation as having three key moving parts or interlocking gears: purpose, audience and message. Let’s walk through the presentation-development process at this planning level.

Generally the first step in developing a presentation is identifying your purpose. Purpose is a multi-layered term, but in this context, it simply means objective or intended outcome. And why is this? To riff on the classic Yogi Berra quote, if you don’t know where you’re going, you might as well be somewhere else. That is, don’t waste your audience’s (or your own) time.

Your purpose will determine both your content and approach and suggest supplemental tools, audience materials and room layout. Perhaps your purpose is already defined for you: perhaps your manager has asked you to research three possible sites for a new store. In this case, it’s likely there’s an established evaluation criteria and format for presenting that information. Voila! your content and approach is defined. If you don’t have a defined purpose, consider whether your objective is to inform, to educate, or to inspire a course of action. State that objective in a general sense, including what action you want your audience to take based on your presentation. Once you have that sketched in, consider your audience.

The second step in the presentation development process is audience research. Who are the members of your audience? Why are they attending this conference, meeting, or presentation? This step is similar to the demographic and psychographic research marketers conduct prior to crafting a product or service pitch—and is just as critical. Key factors to consider include your audience’s age range, educational level, industry/role, subject matter knowledge, etc. These factors matter for two reasons: you need to know what they know and what they need to know.

Understanding your audience will allow you to articulate what may be the most critical aspect of your presentation: “WIIFM,” or what’s in it for them. Profiling your audience also allows you adapt your message so it’s effective for this particular audience. That is, to present your idea (proposal, subject matter, recommendations) at a depth and in a manner (language, terminology, tools) that’s appropriate. Don’t expect your audience to meet you where you are; meet them where they are and then take them where you want to go together.

Returning to the site analysis example mentioned earlier, knowing your audience also means getting clear on what management expects from you. Are you serving in an analyst role—conducting research and presenting “just the facts”—to support a management decision? Or are you expected to make a specific recommendation? Be careful of power dynamics and don’t overstep your role. Either way, be prepared to take a stand and defend your position. You never know when a routine stand-and-deliver could become a career-defining opportunity.

The third step is honing your message. In “TED’s Secret to Great Public Speaking,” TED Conference curator Chris Anderson notes that there’s “no single formula” for a compelling talk, but there is one common denominator: great speakers build an idea inside the minds of their audience. Take, for instance, Chimamanda Adichie’s idea, which Anderson summarizes as “people are more than a single identity.” [1] As Adichie expresses it: “The problem with stereotypes [of a single story or identity] is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.” [2] Or Sir Ken Robinson’s idea that creativity is a essential building block for learning. As he expresses the idea: “My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.” [3] Ideas matter because they’re capable of changing our perceptions, our actions and our world. As Anderson puts it: “Ideas are the most powerful force shaping human culture.” [4]

So if ideas are that powerful, more is better, right? Perhaps a handful or a baker’s dozen? Wrong. As any seasoned sales person knows, you don’t walk into a meeting with a prospective client and launch into an overview of every item in your company’s product or service line. That’s what’s known as “throwing spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks.” And that’s an approach that will have you wearing your spaghetti—and perhaps the dust from one of your client’s shoes on your backside, as well. What audience members expect is that you’ve done your homework, that you know them and their pain, and that you have something to offer: a fresh perspective, an innovative approach or a key insight that will change things for the better. As Chris Anderson puts it: “pick one idea, and make it the through-line running through your entire talk.” [5] One message, brought vividly and relevantly to life.

So now that you have a macro view of the presentation development process, let’s review what can what can—and often does—go wrong so we can avoid the common mistakes.

The first step in developing a presentation is to identify:

• Your presentation subject and title

The intended outcome of your presentation

• Who should be invited to the presentation

Bad Presentations

For many, the prospect of developing and delivering a business presentation rates right up there with death and taxes. Interestingly, that same mixture of fear and loathing is often felt by audience members as well. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The ability to craft a compelling story is a skill as old as the human race, and the need to communicate is as primal and potentially powerful.

Figure 1. Akhenaten as a sphinx, and was originally found in the city of Amarna.

For millions of years before the invention of modern technology, humans used the tools available to perpetuate traditions and culture and to document—and often rewrite—history. Do a few internet searches and immerse yourself in the Egyptian tombs; the caves of Chauvet; or El Castillo, the Temple of Kukulcan. What you’re experiencing is a feat of both artistry and communication. Although we don’t know the full significance of these early carvings and structures, there’s no doubt that these early humans captured their world view in a way that is still deeply resonant. While the tools have changed, the communication challenges—and opportunity—remain the same: to communicate an engaging and inspiring point of view.

Regardless of whether you want to change the world, build your brand, or build a billion-dollar business, effective presentation skills are essential. To quote legendary investor, philanthropist and Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffet, “If you can’t communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you’re giving up your potential.” [6] As would be expected of a numbers person, Buffet has quantified his point in talks on student campuses and professional organizations. Speaking at his alma mater in 2009, Warren Buffett told Columbia Business School students that he believed learning effective communication skills could translate into 50 percent higher lifetime earnings.

Given our vibrant storytelling tradition and with so much at stake, why are there still so many bad presentations? Wouldn’t you think that modern communication technology—considering the advances in graphics and communications software alone!—would lead to more compelling presentations? Interestingly, the problem is, to some extent, the technology. It’s estimated that 30 million PowerPoint presentations are created every day, with (seemingly) a majority of presenters opting for default layouts and templates. The problem is, we’re wired for story, not bullet points. A related failure is our use of available technology.

Seth Godin has a wonderful—and instructive—rant on these points: Really Bad PowerPoint (and how to avoid it) , blaming Microsoft wizards, templates, built-in clip art and lazy presenters for ineffective presentations. In response to a question regarding “death by PowerPoint” on the TechTarget Network, Margaret Rouse provided this definition: “a phenomenon cause by the poor use of presentation software,” identifying the primary contributors of this condition as “confusing graphics, slides with too much text and presenters whose idea of a good presentation is to read 40 slides out loud.” [7]

So how do we avoid causing “death by PowerPoint”—or by whatever presentation software we use? The common denominator of presentation mistakes is that they represent a failure of communication. This failure can be attributed to two errors: too much or too little. The error of too much is generally the result of trying to use slides as a teleprompter or a substitute to a report, or, it would seem, to bludgeon the audience into submission. Of course, this tends to have an alternate effect, namely, prompting audience members to walk out or tune out, turning their attention instead to doodling or their device of choice.

What bad presentations have too little of is emotion. Presentation expert and author of the classic Presentation Zen (and 4 related books) Gar Reynolds captures the crux of the problem: “a good presentation is a mix of logic, data, emotion, and inspiration. We are usually OK with the logic and data part, but fail on the emotional and inspirational end.” [8] There’s also a hybrid too little-too much mistake, where too little substance and/or no design sensibility is — in the mind of the presenter — offset by transitions and special effects. Heed Seth Godin’s advice: “No dissolves, spins or other transitions. None.” [9]

The 10/20/30 rule, generally attributed to venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki, is a good guideline to help you achieve a “just right” balance in your presentations. Geared for entrepreneurs pitching their business, his advice is a discipline that would improve the quality—and, effectiveness—of most presentations. In brief, 10/20/30 translates to a maximum of 10 slides, a maximum of 20 minutes and a minimum of 30 point font. [10]

Figure 2. Your presentation should have no more than 10 slides, take no more than 20 minutes, and use type no smaller than 30 point font.

While this rule is a good starting point, it doesn’t overrule your audience analysis or understanding of your purpose. Sometimes, you may need more slides or have a more involved purpose—like training people in new software or presenting the results of a research study—that takes more than 30 minutes to address. In that case, go with what your audience needs and what will make your presentation most effective. The concept behind the 10/20/30 rule—to make new learning easy for your audience to take in, process and remember—should still be your guide even if you don’t follow the rule exactly.

how to avoid death by powerpoint

For more on how to avoid causing death by PowerPoint, watch Swedish presentation expert and How to Avoid Death By PowerPoint author David Phillips TED Talk on the topic:

https://youtu.be/Iwpi1Lm6dFo

To balance readability and information processing, the 10/20/30 formatting rule recommends a:

• 10 point font size
• 20 point font size

30 point font size

Making a Presentation for a Meeting

With perspective on the technical tools, communications planning and information design, let’s take this learning for a test drive.

What’s considered an effective (that is, persuasive) presentation structure hasn’t changed fundamentally over the centuries. In his analysis of dramatic structure in the Poetics , Aristotle identified a play as having three parts: a beginning, middle and end. The story begins with a “complication” (problem), ends with an “unraveling” (resolution), and follows a logical sequence of events from beginning to end. Hollywood screenwriters use the same structure and dynamics. Screenwriter, producer and author Syd Field, whom CNN called “the guru of all screen writers,” translated this simple three-step structure into numerous books and workbooks, including the bestsellers Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting and The Screenwriter’s Workbook .

In a business context, a good presentation is an effective presentation. That is, a good presentation achieves its intended outcome. Clearly, in order to achieve a specific outcome or objective, you need to know what it is. So, prior to crafting the drama (in word or slide), you need to hone in on three things:

• The purpose of your presentation
• Your audience
• Your (one) message

For a review of these elements, refer to What’s my Presentation About .

Once you’re clear on those points, let’s proceed.

To build our presentation, we’ll use presentation expert Nancy Duarte’s interpretation of the classic 3-part story structure illustrated in Figure 1. For additional perspective on this structure, watch her TED Talk, “ The Secret Structure of Great Talks, ” or read her Harvard Business Review article, “ Structure Your Presentation Like a Story .”

Figure 1. Persuasive story structure (Duarte, “Structure Your Presentation Like a Story,” 2012).

The Beginning

The story starts with “What is”—the current state. Describe this baseline state in a way that is recognizable to the audience. This allows you and the audience to get in sync. And with this base level of agreement, your audience will be more receptive to your proposed change.

The second step is to introduce “What could be.” The gap between what is and what could be adds tension and drama to your story and largely determines the significance of your presentation. If there’s no conflict, no proposed change, what’s the point of the presentation?

Let’s say you’re an analyst on the new product development team of a retailer known for exclusive, trend-forward “house” branded products. Your company’s reputation and revenue depends on consistent introduction of new consumer-product goods. Marketing and distribution are key strengths, but new-product performance is off, revenue is below expectations and the company’s stock price recently fell 30 percent. Within your company, R&D (research & development) is strictly an insider’s game; any ideas or innovations that weren’t developed in-house are blocked. The problem is, you can’t innovate fast enough—or with enough market demand accuracy—to meet financial and stock market expectations. You and the other analysts on your team have been tracking innovation trends and successes and you think the answer is opening the R&D works to outside ideas and innovations. Here’s how you might lay out your presentation:

• What Is: We missed our quarterly earnings numbers, largely due to a failure to meet our innovation success targets over the last six months.
• What Could Be: Initial data suggests we could get back on track by modifying our R&D model to incorporate external innovations.

The bulk of your the presentation is developing the contrast between what is and what could be in order to set up your proposed resolution of the conflict or challenge. The objective is also to establish the validity of your arguments, so your proposed call to action is perceived as a logical, ideally inevitable, conclusion of the conflict.

• What Is: We currently bear the full cost and risk of developing new products and our innovation success rate—the percentage of new products that meet financial objectives—is running 25 percent below target.
• What Could Be: Sourcing promising innovations from outside the company could reduce R&D costs and risk while also increasing our innovation success rate.
• What Is: Our R&D process is taking so long that we’re missing trends and losing our market-leading brand reputation.
• What Could Be: We could license or buy promising innovations for a fraction of the cost it would take to develop them from scratch and leverage our marketing and distribution strengths to claim shelf and market share.
• What Is: Our below-plan performance and new product pipeline is costing us political capital with executive management, and we’re at risk of losing budget and/or layoffs.
• What Could Be: Adopting an open innovation culture would allow us to create partnerships that leverage our strengths and drive revenue, regaining a position of value within the company.

To craft a powerful close, heed Duarte’s advice and avoid a list of bullet point to-dos. Your objective here is to achieve resolution of the conflict introduced at the beginning, to issue a call to action that inspires your audience to support your vision of what could be, a state Duarte refers to as the “new bliss.”

Call to Action

To recover our position of a source of revenue and brand value, we need to start working to build a culture and networks that support open innovation and accelerate the development of new products, regardless of the source of the idea.

Our ability to drive value secures our position and reputations in the company, and in the marketplace, and pays off in employee stock value and profit sharing.

The new bliss articulates the proposed—and a desired future state—incorporating the WIIFM, what’s in it for me, that motivates your audience to buy into and work to support the required change.

Which of the following is the best lead-in for your presentation?

• A bullet point list of action items.

A chart illustrating the new product development performance relative to plan.

• An image illustrating open innovation.
• Anderson, Chris. “ TED’s Secret to Great Public Speaking .” TED , March 2016. ↵
• Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “ The danger of a single story .” TED , July 2009. ↵
• Robinson, Ken. “ Do schools kill creativity? ” TED , Feb 2006. ↵
• Anderson, TED ↵
• Gallo, Carmine. " How Warren Buffet and Joel Osteen Conquered Their Terrifying Fear of Public Speaking ," Forbes . May 16, 2013. ↵
• Rouse, Margaret. " What is death by PowerPoint? " TechTarget Network . ↵
• Reynolds, Garr. “ 10 tips for Improving Your Presentations Today ,” Presentation Zen. Nov 2014. ↵
• Godin, Seth. Fix Your Really Bad PowerPoint . Ebook, sethgodin.com, 2001. ↵
• Kawasaki, Guy. The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint . December 2005. ↵

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Managing Organizational Communication

Overview The Importance of a Comprehensive Communication Strategy Building a Communication Strategy Audience Vehicles and Approaches Types of Messages Legal Issues

Communication is a vital management component to any organization. Whether the purpose is to update employees on new policies, to prepare for a weather disaster, to ensure safety throughout the organization or to listen to the attitudes of employees, effective communication is an integral issue in effective management. To be successful, organizations should have comprehensive policies and strategies for communicating with their constituencies, employees and stakeholders as well as with the community at large.

The following communication topics are discussed in this toolkit:

• The impact of effective and ineffective communication on the organization and its employees.
• How to build an effective communication strategy.
• The various constituencies affected by the communicated information.
• Measuring results.
• How to select the appropriate audience for each type of message.
• The types of communication methods used in organizations.

The Importance of a Comprehensive Communication Strategy

Most HR professionals and organizational leaders agree that linking corporate communication to business strategy is essential to effective and consistent business operations. With a formal and comprehensive communication strategy, organizations can ensure that they:

• Communicate consistent messages.
• Establish a recognizable employment brand.
• Deliver messages from the top that are congruent with the organization's mission, vision and culture.

The impact of effective communication

Effective communication may contribute to organizational success in many ways. It:

• Builds employee morale, satisfaction and engagement.
• Helps employees understand terms and conditions of their employment and drives their commitment and loyalty.
• Educates employees on the merits of remaining union-free (if that is the organization's goal).
• Gives employees a voice—an increasingly meaningful component of improving employees' satisfaction with their employer.
• Helps to lessen the chances for misunderstandings and potentially reduces grievances and lawsuits.
• Improves processes and procedures and ultimately creates greater efficiencies and reduces costs.

The impact of ineffective communication

Ineffective communication may increase the chances for misunderstandings, damage relationships, break trust, and increase anger and hostility. Ineffective communication may stem from poorly aligned strategy, a failure to execute the strategy, use of the wrong communication vehicle, bad timing, and even nuances such as word choice or tone of voice. See  The Cost of Poor Communications and The 7 Deadliest Communication Sins .

Two-way communication

HR professionals may initially think of communication mainly in the context of delivering messages to employees about business issues, policies and procedures, but two-way communication plays an essential role in a comprehensive communication strategy. Listening to employee issues and concerns builds loyalty and drives improved productivity. Organizational leaders can learn through listening about issues or concerns before they become formal grievances or lawsuits. They can also discover potential employee relations issues and learn about attitudes toward terms and conditions of employment. See  Three Steps to Turn Up Your Listening Skills and Open and Transparent Communication .

Building a Communication Strategy

To develop a communication strategy, employers should begin by linking communication to the strategic plan, including the organization's mission, vision and values; its strategic goals and objectives; and its employment brand.

Effective communication strategies:

• Safeguard credibility to establish loyalty and build trust.
• Maintain consistency to establish a strong employment brand.
• Listen to employees and to members of the leadership team.
• Seek input from all constituencies.
• Provide feedback.
• Prepare managers in their roles as organizational leaders.

A communication strategy includes the following elements:

• Highly effective strategies that are often top-down, with senior management setting the tone for a cascading series of messages.
• A budget that allows for the use of various types of communication vehicles depending on the message to be delivered and any unique issues associated with it.
• A process by which leaders evaluate any particular situation driving the need to communicate and from which key messages will emerge.
• A method for generating feedback and using it to shape follow-up messages.
• A customized delivery approach with communication materials that are easy to understand.

Constituencies

Everyone in the organization has a role to play in communication:

• The CEO and senior managers are ultimately responsible for setting the tone and establishing organizational culture. Key leaders should be coached on their role in ensuring effective companywide communication.
• The HR professional and communication leader also have critical roles, especially in challenging economic environments.
• Managers are responsible for daily communication with their employees and for relating to their peers and colleagues.
• All employees have a responsibility to voice concerns and issues, provide feedback, and listen effectively.

Communication training may encompass any number of topics, including:

• Company communication policies.
• Effective writing and presentation skills.
• Train-the-trainer initiatives.

A strong training component will not only equip leaders to communicate effectively with their teams and other organizational leaders, it will also help them understand the appropriate communication channels and protocols.

Responding to employee issues

There is no better way to cause resentment among employees than to ask them for feedback and then fail to act in response to their concerns. Honest, constructive feedback from employees starts with trust and the understanding that employees can voice their concerns without fear of retaliation. See  Employee Engagement Surveys: Why Do Workers Distrust Them?

Dealing with external media

External communications—including public and community relations—may also be a part of an organization's communication strategy. HR professionals, in conjunction with public relations professionals and top management, should develop formal policies and procedures for dealing with external media.

Measuring results

While organizations generally agree that measuring and quantifying results of communication plans are beneficial, this goal is difficult to accomplish. Given the elusive nature of communication data, determining a cost-benefit ratio, for example, may be challenging. Did the organization fare better because of the manner in which it communicated crucial information about a merger or acquisition? Was the impact of a reduction in force on morale mitigated by the way in which employees were told?

Despite the difficulty of doing so, organizations should strive to collect qualitative and quantitative information to evaluate their efforts:

• Qualitative data may include anecdotal evidence that employees' attitudes were improved after the handling of an emergency situation or that focus group information supported the strategy for communicating benefits changes to employees.
• Quantitative data may include measures such as turnover rates, productivity rates and employee satisfaction benchmarks, as well as use of employee service center options.

See  Measuring the ROI of Employee Engagement .

Identifying audience issues is a key task in ensuring effectiveness in any communication strategy. What is the ideal audience for a particular communication? The audience may include everyone who influences or is influenced by the information being shared. For the most effective communication, audience size must also be appropriate given the information being shared and whether interaction will be permitted. If organizations anticipate that employees will have a number of questions regarding a new and unique benefit offering or a new procedure, for example, audience size should be limited so that questions can be adequately addressed.

Communicating "up"

While much of a communication strategy is focused on imparting information to employees, another central component is permitting employees to have a voice with members of senior management. Having a voice is a critical employee relations issue that affects satisfaction and engagement. See  7 Tips to Increase Employee Engagement Without Spending a Dime and Communicating with Two Ears and One Mouth .

Geographically dispersed audience

Organizations may have multi-unit operations with a variety of worksites within a city, state or country, or even globally. The more geographically dispersed and the more interdependent these groups are in their need to work together to solve problems, the greater the challenges are to the communication strategy. See  How to Use Technology to Support Remote Teams and Communicating with Diverse Audiences .

Diversity and global issues

Audiences for organizational communication may embody many dimensions of diversity: age, disability, ethnicity/national origin, gender and race, for example. Diverse audiences may have different perceptions and expectations when giving or receiving information, and these differences should be considered when developing messages to a broad audience. See  Cross-Cultural Sensitivity and Communication .

Vehicles and Approaches

One of the major challenges in developing and executing communication plans is to select the best vehicles for delivering any given message to and from employees. With so many choices, such as face-to-face communication, electronic media, meetings, printed materials and webinars, the decision becomes quite complex. Is the communication best suited for an electronic message via e-mail or for a face-to-face meeting? Should communication be mailed to the home address of the employee if family members are affected by the news, such as in a benefits update, or is it best communicated in a meeting conducted on work time?

New forms of electronic media raise additional questions. With social media opportunities available to any individual, HR professionals may need to consider not only strategies to tap into this medium but also policies for employees using this medium to communicate among themselves. See  Texts and E-Mails vs. Oral Communication at Work: Which Is Best? and Study: Tech Miscommunications May Erode Employee Engagement .

When selecting the best communication vehicle, organizational leaders should consider:

• Timing. The timing of the information may be imperative, such as in emergency situations.
• Location. Employees' location may affect this selection. Are all employees in one building, at multiple sites or situated globally? Do they work virtually?
• Message. Another issue that affects the decision is the sensitivity of the information. For layoff or termination information, most professionals agree that face-to-face meetings trump any other means of communication, but some issues may make these meetings impossible due to the geographic location of the employees, the number of employees affected and other factors.

Organizational leaders have many options, including the following, when selecting a communication vehicle.

The employee handbook is used to communicate standard operating procedures, guidelines and policies. The handbook is also used to communicate the organization's mission, vision and values, helping to establish an organizational culture and employment brand. While most employee handbooks traditionally have been produced in print format, more organizations are moving toward an electronic format, allowing for easy updating, documentation and review, especially when all employees have access to computers. See  SHRM Employee Handbook Builder .

Newsletters

Newsletters are used to communicate new information about the organization, its products and services, and its employees. Newsletters may be in print or electronic format and may be sent to the employee as well as to his or her family, especially when the news directly affects family members. Newsletters may be published on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, quarterly) or whenever the organization has news to report.

Town hall meetings

Town hall meetings are an option to gather employees together to share news, celebrate successes or communicate companywide information that affects all employees. These meetings are most effective when employees are physically located in one geographic area, but for some critical meetings, employees may be brought to one central location. Alternatively, town hall meetings may be held in various locations when employees are widely dispersed geographically or may be held electronically via webinars or teleconferences.

Electronic communication is a fast and easy way to reach many employees at once. It may be best used when information is urgent, such as in emergencies. E-mail communication presents some difficulties because tone of voice and inflection are absent, making an ironic or sarcastic remark appear rude or harsh, which may not be the intended message.

Face-to-face meetings

Face-to-face meetings with employees are one of the best ways to relay sensitive information. During layoffs or restructurings or when handling employee performance issues, face-to-face communication is generally preferred.

The telephone is another way to communicate information to employees. Whether it is used in the traditional sense when face-to-face communication is not physically possible or in more state-of-the-art communication via webinars or voice mail blasts, the telephone is a staple in communication vehicles.

Surveys/polls

Two-way communication is vital to any effective communication strategy, and developing formal tactics to listen to employees is essential. Employers can elicit fast feedback through surveys and polls about specific issues (like a new benefit or policy) or general concerns.

Storytelling creates a picture through words so that the message becomes memorable. Organizational leaders are beginning to understand how storytelling can be used as a powerful business tool to impart company culture, to create an employment brand, and to build trust and loyalty among employees.

Social media

Many individuals regularly use social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, not only for recreational purposes but as a business communication tool. Social media can help recruiters source top talent, help salespeople identify potential contacts and allow employees to keep in touch with their leaders. HR professionals should ensure that company policies are updated so that social media is used appropriately in the workplace. 

Messaging apps

Messaging applications such as Jabber and Slack and chatbots that interact with applicants and employees through automation may be the future of workplace communication. The next generation of workers prefer chat and messaging apps over traditional e-mail. 

Virtual team meetings

Organizations may have employees located across the city or across the globe and may need to rely on virtual team meetings to get work done. Setting expectations and establishing protocols are vital steps in ensuring that communication will be effective. Since written communication, whether in print or in electronic format, can hide tone of voice, inflection and other nuances of communication, many work teams rely on videoconferences and Internet-based technologies to make virtual meetings more productive.

The "grapevine"

One of the most used and undermanaged tools for employee communication is the proverbial grapevine. Watercooler discussions are still a mechanism for employees to hear the latest news unfiltered by management, and they continue to be a source for employees in learning the inside story. Employers must be mindful that whatever formal communication strategy is used, the grapevine still exists and will be tapped by employees at all levels. The grapevine should not be discounted when considering the best tool to listen to and learn about employee issues.

Types of Messages

The type of message sent is a major factor in choosing the appropriate communication channel.

Standard operating procedures

There are many ways to communicate policies and procedures—staff meetings, employee orientation sessions and one-on-one coaching, for example—but employee handbooks are still the best way to deliver a consistent message to all employees with respect to standard operating procedures.

General business updates

General organizational updates may be communicated through newsletters, e-mails or town hall meetings or in small group huddles.

Bankruptcy, downsizing and restructuring

Employers should use several different communication means to announce and update employees when an organization faces bankruptcy, a restructuring or a downsizing. Whether in regular briefings by top leaders—through voice mail blasts, e-mail alerts or town hall meetings—or in departmental or group meetings, the employer needs to keep employees apprised of whatever information may be necessary to keep the organization running smoothly. See  Layoffs Require Communication, Compassion and Compliance .

Benefits changes

Communication regarding employee benefits may greatly affect employees' perceptions of the value of their compensation package and, moreover, the value of their employment with an organization. Accordingly, benefits communications should be planned carefully using means appropriate to the circumstances: printed messages, virtual or face-to-face meetings, one-on-one briefings, and so on. Major benefits changes—such as a new carrier or new options—require a more comprehensive approach than the one used for routine updates. See  Make Your Benefits Website a Year-Round Hub

Emergencies

Emergencies—such as those caused by weather, violent employee behaviors, natural catastrophes or terrorists—require quick and effective communication to ensure the health and safety of employees and their families. A comprehensive disaster plan, complete with communication strategies and standard policies for dealing with emergencies, should be a requirement for all organizations. See  Managing Through Emergency and Disaster .

Merger or acquisition

Communication issues with mergers and acquisitions are a high priority for HR professionals. HR professionals must consider how to communicate new benefits plans, new operating procedures, a new company culture, revised organizational charts and myriad other issues during mergers and acquisitions.

Outsourcing

Organizations may find that some business functions are handled better through outsourcing. Communication is vital to explain the change and the rationale to employees, as well as in developing new strategies for communicating with the outsourced vendor.

Legal Issues

Some communications come with legal constraints and/or guidelines that impact the message being delivered or how the employer delivers the information. For example, employers may face charges of unfair labor practices as a result of how it communicates to employees the company's desire to remain union-free. See  Union Communication Guidance: TIPS and FOE .

Employers may also be limited in discussing employees' personal information; even in circumstances where there are no legal restrictions, employers are cautioned against breaching employee privacy in many circumstances.

Should employers announce or post employee birthdays?

Does the HIPAA Privacy Rule prohibit employer announcements of births, employee hospitalizations or family medical emergencies to other employees?

When Giving References, How Truthful Can You Be?

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Module 14: Communication

Communication and management, learning outcomes.

• Describe the components of the communication-process model.
• Recognize common missteps in communication.
• Differentiate between formal and informal communication networks.

Mathias Mendez had recently been hired as the manager of the purchasing department of an online retailer. His appointment was announced through an e-mail to all company employees, and his department was expecting his arrival. His managers told him his first task was to try to cut costs in the department. Mathias hadn’t determined exactly what to do, but he had determined that he could reach the target cuts through a combination of a freeze on new hiring, cutting all but critical travel, reducing training, and cutting back on the use of temporary and contract workers.

He was anxious to show his superiors that he was working on the problem, so he sent an e-mail to his managers and employees that said he would be announcing cost-cutting measures soon. Unfortunately, employees interpreted this to mean there would be layoffs. Rumors soon started flying about how “Matt the Knife” had been hired to outsource the department and that everyone was going to be laid off. Morale plunged and people started using their time to polish their resumes and apply for jobs. The employees distrusted Mathias and he was cut off from all but routine communication with them.

Communication and management are closely linked. Communication refers to the process by which information is exchanged between two or more people (increasingly, machines are also included in communication, but we limit the discussion here to communication between people). Each of the management roles—planning, organizing, leading, and controlling—depends on effective communication. Managers must be able to receive accurate information to determine plans, and they must be able to send accurate information for the plans to be implemented. When information is accurately sent and received, everyone in an organization can be informed. As we see in the earlier example, however, when information is misinterpreted or when incorrect information spreads, communications can create significant problems in organizations.

The Role of Communication in Management

The role of management is to accomplish the goals of an organization. To do this, managers create a plan that defines what needs to be done, when it will be done, and how it will be done. To implement the plan, managers must convey this information to everyone in the organization. That is, they must communicate the plan to members of the organization. However, managers need to do much more than just inform people what they need to do to support the plan. They also must motivate people to support the plan, build commitment to the organization, establish rapport and collaboration, and keep everyone informed of events and actions that affect the organization. Good communication not only informs but also helps to create a culture that makes people feel like they belong to and want to support the organization. The opening example shows what can result from poor communication. Following are some of the benefits of effective communication.

• Provides clarity. Confusion, uncertainty, and ambiguity make people uncomfortable and uncooperative. Making roles, responsibilities, and relationships clear gives everyone the information they need to do their jobs and to understand their contributions to the organization. Effective communication reduces the cost associated with conflicts, misunderstandings, and mistakes.
• Builds Relationships. A culture that promotes open communication reduces tension between hierarchical levels of employees, both professionally and socially. In a trusting and collaborative culture, people are more likely to seek help with problems and to suggest solutions and improvements. Effective communication creates a collegial culture that fosters teamwork and encourages cooperation.
• Creates commitment. Effective communication involves not only sending information but also receiving it. By listening to employees’ concerns, allowing them to have input on their work and their workplace, and giving consideration to their suggestions, managers can make everyone in the organization feel like they are valued contributors. When employees feel like they are valued in the organization, they will likely be more engaged and motivated. Effective communication creates support and commitment.
• Defines expectations. When people are uncertain about what is expected of them and how they will be evaluated, they can’t do their jobs well. Performance reviews are difficult because the employee does not know the performance standards they are expected to meet. And if corrective measures are necessary, the employee may be resentful if he can’t see how his behaviors reduced his effectiveness. When expectations and standards are clear, employees know what they need to do to get a positive review and the benefits that come with it.

These are just a few of the many benefits that come from effective communications. Managers can only reach organizational goals when the people in the organization are committed to the goals. People perform much better when they are informed and involved.

The Communication-Process Model

The communication process may seem simple: one person sends a message and others receive it. The process becomes more complex, however, because the information in the message must be sent and received accurately. The communication-process model describes how the information is sent and received.

The following diagram shows this model.

The communication-process model.

It is easiest to understand the model when one person is communicating with another person. The person initiating the communication, the sender , has information he wants the other person, the receiver , to know. However, before it can be sent, the information has to be encoded into a form that can be transmitted. In a simple case, the information is put into words spoken to the receiver. Or the information may be converted into printed text, tables, charts, or graphs given to the receiver. In a more complicated case, the information is encoded into words or images that are then converted into electronic signals sent to the receiver. The channel is the medium through which the information is conveyed. It could be air conveying sound waves, paper conveying text and images, or wires or magnetic fields conveying electronic signals. (We will discuss channels in more detail later in this module.) In the opening example, the management had information that Mathias had been hired and when he would start. They wanted the employees in the company to have that information so they put it in a message and sent it to employees.

The receiver reverses the process. She receives the encoded message and then decodes it. That means she converts the message back into information that can be understood. In the opening example, an employee reads the message and knows who has been hired and when he will start. Information has been transferred from managers to employees. In an interactive communication process, the receiver can send feedback to the sender to indicate that the message has been received and how it has been interpreted. This can start an interactive back-and-forth exchange that can assure the sender that the message has been received and understood correctly.

The two-person model can be generalized to the case of one person communicating with many others. It could be a person making a presentation to a roomful of people, a manager sending an e-mail to employees, a Facebook post to friends, or a tweet to hundreds of followers.

Practice Question

The following video provides a helpful overview of the communication process and some of the barriers that can arise during communication:

You can view the transcript for “How the Communication Process Works” here (opens in new window) .

Common Missteps in Communication

Each step in the communication-process model introduces the potential for missteps to occur. In the opening scenario, two e-mail messages were described. They were both internal to the company, but they achieved much different results. What was different about the messages that caused the different outcomes?

The first misstep can occur when the information to be communicated is not encoded correctly. Consider the e-mail sent by management to announce Mathias’s appointment. Management had clear information to convey, and a simple e-mail conveyed it.

Mathias’s e-mail had a different purpose. He wanted to convey to his superiors that he was following their directions and was working on a plan to cut costs. But when he put the information into text, he didn’t encode it well. He wanted to convey that he was working on the problem but had not made any decisions. What he actually conveyed was that he was going to cut costs by whatever means necessary and soon. Because the information was not encoded accurately, the wrong information was sent.

The first step in good communications is being able to clearly and concisely convey information, whether written, spoken, graphic, or numerical. If information is not encoded properly, nothing else matters. Later on we will look at specific suggestions for how to tailor messages to take the needs of the receivers into consideration

Missteps also occur during decoding when the receiver interprets the message differently than the sender intended. In Mathias’s case, the message he sent was “I’m thinking about ways to cut costs and I will let you know when I have a plan.” But employees interpreted the message as “I’m going to do whatever I have to in order to cut costs.”

Because feedback is a message sent in the opposite direction, from the receiver to the sender, all of these problems can occur during feedback. In many cases feedback is not important and is not wanted. Much information that is communicated is intended to keep people informed, and acknowledgement or response is not expected. When management sent the notice about Mathias’s appointment it did not expect every employee to respond. Sometimes, though, feedback is important to be certain that both the sender and receiver have the same information and interpret it the same way. The initial sender must be sure that she understands the feedback provided by the sender, asks questions to clarify any misinterpretation, and responds to any questions. The last step in good communication is to be a good listener. In the following sections we will look more closely at the issues of miscommunication and ways to collect feedback.

Formal and Informal Communication Systems

In most organizations there are both formal and informal information systems. Formal communication systems are the methods used to convey information necessary for conducting the business of the organization. Formal communications conform to rules and regulations prescribed by the profession or law (for example, formal reporting procedures for tracking injuries in the workplace). This is information that flows within the chain of command or within task responsibilities. The message may be procedures to provide regular progress reports to managers. It may be scheduled meetings to exchange information on the status of a project. Human resources may arrange seminars to convey new policies and procedures. The formal communication system makes sure necessary information flows through the organization and that dissemination of this information is controlled. Not everyone in an organization has access to progress reports or attends project meetings. Formal communication systems ensure that information is available to those who need it and not to others.

Not all communication in an organization is formal, and not all communication is controlled. Informal communication systems are outside of the formal system. Informal systems can connect almost anyone in an organization to anyone else. They skip over hierarchical levels and between departments and functions. In the opening scenario we saw how misinformation spread through the informal system can harm an organization. However, informal communication systems are not necessarily disruptive. In many organizations, the informal network is the primary way information is spread and work gets done. There are some organizations where getting a job done depends more on who you know than what you know.

There are two main types of informal communication systems: social networks and the grapevine .

A social network is a system of personal relationships that cross hierarchical, departmental, and organizational boundaries. A simple social network system is shown in the following diagram.

In this diagram of social networks, each circle represents an individual.

In a social network, an individual can reach out to anyone else in his network for information or assistance. Through the linking member, he can also seek help from another group. People with large social networks have access to much information, and linking individuals can spread information through an organization. Linking individuals can be very influential in an organization.

The grapevine is how gossip is spread through an organization. Another term for a grapevine is a rumor mill. Almost everyone engages in gossip in some manner, so it is a very effective way of spreading information. In fact, information often spreads faster through the grapevine than through formal information channels. Unfortunately, the information is not controlled, and it can be distorted or even totally fabricated. The grapevine is particularly important when formal communications are inadequate. People don’t like to be uncertain about conditions that affect them. When information is not provided by the formal system, they seek and spread information through the grapevine.

Unlike a social network, a grapevine is unstructured and transitory, although the grapevine can follow social network links. Information flows in the grapevine through chance encounters, informal meetings, and overheard conversations. Electronic communication and social media has greatly increased the speed and spread of grapevines.

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• Communication and Management. Authored by : John/Lynn Bruton and Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
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• Social Networks. Authored by : Wykis. Located at : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Social-network.svg . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright
• Video: How the Communication Process Works. Authored by : Alanis Business Academy. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6u0AVn-NUM . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License

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8 Essential Leadership Communication Skills

• 14 Nov 2019

If you want to be an effective leader , you need to excel in communication. In fact, the success of your business relies on it.

According to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (pdf) , poor communication can lead to low morale, missed performance goals, and even lost sales. A separate study found that inadequate communication can cost large companies an average of $64.2 million per year, while smaller organizations are at risk of losing $420,000 annually.

But effective communication impacts more than just the bottom line. For leaders, it’s what enables them to rally their team around a shared vision, empower employees , build trust, and successfully navigate organizational change .

Why Is Communication Important in Leadership?

A leader is someone who inspires positive, incremental change by empowering those around them to work toward common objectives. A leader’s most powerful tool for doing so is communication.

Effective communication is vital to gain trust, align efforts in the pursuit of goals, and inspire positive change. When communication is lacking, important information can be misinterpreted, causing relationships to suffer and, ultimately, creating barriers that hinder progress.

If you’re interested in enhancing your leadership capabilities, here are eight communication skills you need to be more effective in your role.

Essential Communication Skills for Leaders

1. ability to adapt your communication style.

Different communication styles are the most frequently cited cause of poor communication, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (pdf) , and can lead to more significant issues, such as unclear priorities and increased stress.

It’s essential to identify your leadership style , so that you can better understand how you’re interacting with, and perceived by, employees across the organization. For example, if you’re an authoritative leader , you likely have a clear vision for achieving success and align your team accordingly. While an effective approach for some, it might fall flat for others who seek more autonomy in their role.

Every employee’s motivations are different, so knowing how to tailor your communication is essential to influencing others and reaching organizational goals.

Related: 4 Tips for Developing Your Personal Leadership Style

2. Active Listening

Effective leaders know when they need to talk and, more importantly, when they need to listen. Show that you care by asking for employees’ opinions, ideas, and feedback. And when they do share, actively engage in the conversation—pose questions, invite them to elaborate, and take notes.

It’s important to stay in the moment and avoid interrupting. Keep your focus on the employee and what it is they’re saying. To achieve that, you also need to eliminate any distractions, including constant pings on your cell phone or checking incoming emails.

3. Transparency

In a survey by the American Management Association , more than a third of senior managers, executives, and employees said they “hardly ever” know what’s going on in their organizations. Transparency can go a long way in breaking down that communication barrier.

By speaking openly about the company’s goals, opportunities, and challenges, leaders can build trust amongst their team and foster an environment where employees feel empowered to share their ideas and collaborate. Just acknowledging mistakes can encourage experimentation and create a safe space for active problem-solving.

Every individual should understand the role they play in the company’s success. The more transparent leaders are, the easier it is for employees to make that connection.

When communicating with employees, speak in specifics. Define the desired result of a project or strategic initiative and be clear about what you want to see achieved by the end of each milestone. If goals aren’t being met, try simplifying your message further or ask how you can provide additional clarity or help.

The more clear you are, the less confusion there will be around priorities. Employees will know what they’re working toward and feel more engaged in the process.

5. Ability to Ask Open-Ended Questions

If you want to understand employees’ motivations, thoughts, and goals better, practice asking open-ended questions. Jennifer Currence, president of consulting firm The Currence Group, said to the Society of Human Resource Management to use the acronym TED, which stands for:

• “ T ell me more.”
• “ E xplain what you mean.”
• “ D efine that term or concept for me.”

By leveraging those phrases when speaking with your team, you can elicit more thoughtful, thorough responses and ensure you also have clarity around what they need from you to succeed.

There’s a reason empathy has been ranked the top leadership skill needed for success . The better you get at acknowledging and understanding employees’ feelings and experiences, the more heard and valued they’ll feel.

In a recent survey (pdf) , 96 percent of respondents said it was important for their employers to demonstrate empathy, yet 92 percent claimed it remains undervalued. If you want to improve your communication and build a stronger, more productive culture, practice responding with empathy.

Related: Emotional Intelligence Skills: What They Are & How to Develop Them

7. Open Body Language

Communication isn’t just what you say; it’s how you carry yourself. Ninety-three percent of communication’s impact comes from nonverbal cues, according to executive coach Darlene Price .

To ensure you’re conveying the right message, focus on your body language. If you’re trying to inspire someone, talking with clenched fists and a furrowed brow isn’t going to send the right message. Instead, make eye contact to establish interest and rapport and flash a genuine smile to convey warmth and trust.

8. Receiving and Implementing Feedback

Asking for feedback from your team can not only help you grow as a leader, but build trust among your colleagues. It’s critical, though, that you don’t just listen to the feedback. You also need to act on it.

If you continue to receive feedback from your team, but don’t implement any changes, they’re going to lose faith in your ability to follow through. It’s likely there will be comments you can’t immediately act on—be transparent about that. By letting your employees know they were heard and then apprising them of any progress you can, or do, make, they’ll feel as though you value their perspective and are serious about improving.

Related: How to Give Feedback Effectively

Improving Your Leadership Communication

Communication is at the core of effective leadership. If you want to influence and inspire your team, you need to practice empathy and transparency, and understand how others perceive you, through your verbal and non-verbal cues.

To improve your communication skills and become a better leader, begin by assessing your effectiveness so you can identify areas for improvement. Then, set goals and hold yourself accountable by creating a leadership development plan to guide and track your progress.

Do you want to enhance your leadership skills? Download our free leadership e-book and explore our online course Leadership Principles to discover how you can become a more effective leader and unleash the potential in yourself and others.

(This post was updated on June 16, 2020. It was originally published on November 14, 2019.)

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Project Communication Management Powerpoint Presentation Slides

Communication is considered a vital component for project success as it allows to discuss project progress and concerns to project stakeholders, team members, and leaders. Here is a professionally designed template on Project Communication Management that will be useful for project partners to achieve goals within the assigned timeframe and available resources through an effective communication plan. The deck covers details about lack of communication impacting overall project effectiveness, comparative assessment of project communication standards, statistics related to organizational communication, upcoming project details. It caters to information regarding essential parameters for effective communication, project communication strategies, target groups involved, and engagement in project communication. Key personnel involved in project communication are also showcased and their training schedule. Project communication channels internal or external and communication tools are presented. The deck covers the project communication plan for the target audience, stakeholder impact assessment, and calendar worksheet for communication. Various coordination activities, modes, and meetings for project management are presented. Moreover, the overall impact of effective project management is displayed along with cost assessment and performance dashboard to track project management activities. Get access to this 100 percent editable template now.

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Deliver this complete deck to your team members and other collaborators. Encompassed with stylized slides presenting various concepts, this Project Communication Management Powerpoint Presentation Slides is the best tool you can utilize. Personalize its content and graphics to make it unique and thought provoking. All the sixty slides are editable and modifiable, so feel free to adjust them to your business setting. The font, color, and other components also come in an editable format making this PPT design the best choice for your next presentation. So, download now.

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Content of this Powerpoint Presentation

Slide 1 : This slide introduces Project Communication Management. State Your Company Name and begin. Slide 2 : This slide states Agenda of the presentation. Slide 3 : This slide presents Table of Content for the presentation. Slide 4 : This slide highlights title for topics that are to be covered next in the template. Slide 5 : This slide displays How Lack of Communication Affecting Overall Project Effectiveness. Slide 6 : This slide represents Comparative Analysis of Project Communication Standards. Slide 7 : This slide shows Statistics Associated to Organizational Communication. Slide 8 : This slide presents essential details regarding project in terms of project duration, coordination, project support team, etc. Slide 9 : This slide highlights title for topics that are to be covered next in the template. Slide 10 : This slide displays essential parameters for effective communication plan in terms of information urgency, technology, project staffing, etc. Slide 11 : This slide represents Determine Different Effective Project Communication Strategies. Slide 12 : This slide shows effective communication strategies in terms of planning post - project communication. Slide 13 : This slide presents target groups involved in project communication. Slide 14 : This slide shows Determine Target Groups Involved in Project Communication. Slide 15 : This slide displays target group engagement through different communication channels such as email, instant messaging, etc. Slide 16 : This slide highlights title for topics that are to be covered next in the template. Slide 17 : This slide shows key people involved in project such as sponsor, senior management, steering committee, etc. Slide 18 : This slide presents Determine Roles and Responsibilities of Key People Involved. Slide 19 : This slide shows project manager leadership mission in projects who act as information distributor in order to ensure easy workable conditions. Slide 20 : This slide displays Determine Staff Training Schedule for Communication Skills Enhancement. Slide 21 : This slide highlights title for topics that are to be covered next in the template. Slide 22 : This slide shows various communication channels such as personal interactions, events, publications, etc. Slide 23 : This slide presents Determine Various Communication Channels and Tools. Slide 24 : This slide shows various internal communication channels such as direct communication with project meetings and electronic communication such as teleconferences. Slide 25 : This slide displays various external communication channels such as digital media, publication broadcast, promotional sites, etc. Slide 26 : This slide represents Addressing Suitable Project Communication Mix. Slide 27 : This slide shows Determine Types of Communication Tools Associated to Project. Slide 28 : This slide presents Determine Existing Media Partnerships on Various Platforms. Slide 29 : This slide highlights title for topics that are to be covered next in the template. Slide 30 : This slide displays Addressing Project Communication Plan for Target Audience. Slide 31 : This slide represents project communication plan with details about communication goal, frequency, owner, audience, etc. Slide 32 : This slide shows stakeholder communication impact analysis by assessing stakeholders on their interests, estimated impact and estimated priority. Slide 33 : This slide presents stakeholder communication plan with details about communication objective, action, target stakeholders, etc. Slide 34 : This slide shows Calendar Worksheet for Effective Project Communication. Slide 35 : This slide highlights title for topics that are to be covered next in the template. Slide 36 : This slide represents Various Coordination Activities with Several Project Partners. Slide 37 : This slide shows Different Modes of Coordination for Project Management. Slide 38 : This slide presents Addressing Project Coordination Meetings Schedule. Slide 39 : This slide highlights title for topics that are to be covered next in the template. Slide 40 : This slide displays Addressing Communication Tools Output and Result Indicators. Slide 41 : This slide represents effective project communication benefits and impact in terms of reduce costs, centralized project information, shared resources, etc. Slide 42 : This slide highlights title for topics that are to be covered next in the template. Slide 43 : This slide presents Determine Estimated Budget for Dissemination Activities. Slide 44 : This slide highlights title for topics that are to be covered next in the template. Slide 45 : This slide displays dashboard to track project essential activities by tracking project schedule, budget, resources, etc. Slide 46 : This slide represents Project Management Dashboard to Track Essential Activities. Slide 47 : This slide is titled as Additional Slides for moving forward. Slide 48 : This slide shows Addressing Event Activities Timeline for Communicating Project Details. Slide 49 : This slide presents Selecting Suitable Event Package for Project Communication Cont... Slide 50 : This slide displays Selecting Suitable Event Package for Project Communication. Slide 51 : This is About Us slide to show company specifications etc. Slide 52 : This is Our Team slide with names and designation. Slide 53 : This is Our Mission slide with related imagery and text. Slide 54 : This slide shows Post It Notes. Post your important notes here. Slide 55 : This slide depicts Venn diagram with text boxes. Slide 56 : This is Our Target slide. State your targets here. Slide 57 : This is a Comparison slide to state comparison between commodities, entities etc. Slide 58 : This slide presents Roadmap for Process Flow. Slide 59 : This slide presents Bar chart with two products comparison. Slide 60 : This is a Thank You slide with address, contact numbers and email address.

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People Management 101: Communication Styles in the Workplace

Effective communication is the foundation of success at work. It enables individuals and organizations to:

• Achieve their goals
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Being an effective communicator means knowing yourself and how to expertly navigate conversations. Effective communicators use strategies that cut through assumptions, clarify needs and expectations and maximize group productivity. This course will explore communication in the workplace through the  Straight Talk® system developed by communications expert and organizational leadership consultant Eric Douglas. It is part of the Leadership 101 Curriculum .

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• Define the four Straight Talk® styles and the strengths, weaknesses, similarities and differences among them
• Identify your unique Straight Talk® profile and determine how it contributes to your success
• Determine practical ways to effectively adapt your style to improve your communication with others

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• Increasing your self-awareness, personal productivity and efficiency by using more effective communication with others
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10 Knowledge Areas of project management (PPT & PDF included!)

This blog is reader-supported. When you purchase something through an affiliate link on this site, I may earn some coffee money. Thanks! Learn more .

Knowledge areas are no longer covered in the PMBOK ® Guide – Seventh Edition . PMBOK 7 talks about the 8 project performance domains . Material on the Knowledge Areas can still be found in the PMI web guidance which members have access to, called Standards Plus .

This article reviews and explains the 10 project management Knowledge Areas from the PMBOK® Guide — Sixth Edition. You can view a PowerPoint of the Knowledge Areas and grab a PDF download below.

Knowledge Areas: Definition

What exactly are ‘Knowledge Areas’? And why are they so important they have capital letters?

PMI defines a Knowledge Area in the PMBOK® Guide — Sixth Edition Glossary like this:

An identified area of project management defined by its knowledge requirements and described in terms of its component processes, practices, inputs, outputs, tools, and techniques.

Basically, each Knowledge Area (which you might see abbreviated to KA) is a category of concepts and processes with a common goal. All the things you need to know and do for successful risk management, for example, are bundled under the Risk Management Knowledge Area.

The latest PMBOK Guide does not include Knowledge Areas, but if you’ve landed here because you’re working towards your Project Management Professional (PMP) exam, then you probably already know you are tested on more than what’s in the Guide.

Even if you aren’t in the PMI world at all, the Knowledge Areas give you a good grounding on what to know and do to keep your projects moving forward.

How many knowledge areas are there in project management?

According to the PMBOK® Guide — Sixth Edition, there are 10 Knowledge Areas. These are comprehensive and cover pretty much everything project managers do day-to-day.

However, as with any discipline that requires working with cross-functional teams, you may find in reality you need to draw on other areas in order to get the job done.

You’ll weave them all into your project management plan .

What are the project management Knowledge Areas?

The 10 Knowledge Areas of project management, according to PMI, are:

• Integration Management
• Scope Management
• Schedule Management
• Cost Management
• Quality Management
• Resource Management
• Communications Management
• Risk Management
• Procurement Management
• Stakeholder Management.

They appear in that order as there is some logic to how they map to the project lifecycle. For example, it helps to know the scope of a project before you plan the schedule. You need to know the resources before you communicate to them.

However, I don’t understand why Stakeholder Management is last — possibly because it got added in the PMBOK® Guide — Fifth Edition and was tacked on the end then. To me, it would make more sense to be addressed earlier.

Knowledge Areas PPT & PDF

You can view a super-quick overview of each of the project management Knowledge Areas in this Slideshare PowerPoint deck.

You can also download a PDF version of this presentation inside my project management resource library.

Let’s look at each of those in a bit more detail.

1. Integration Management

Project Integration Management is the hardest KA to get your head around because (in my opinion) it feels so vague.

The point of this whole Knowledge Area is to make it clear that everything about effective project management overlaps and needs to be managed as a holistic whole.

In other words, you can’t ‘do’ schedule management and ignore what the impacts of that might be on people, risk , communications, cost and the rest. This is the domain where you have to manage interdependencies between pretty much everything on the project.

I have always thought having a whole KA to make this point was excessive, but it is a really important concept.

The video below gives you an overview of what it’s all about.

2. Scope Management

This Knowledge Area looks at everything to do with managing project scope. Ultimately, the end result is that once you have worked through the relevant processes, you know what the project is going to deliver, as outlined in the project charter.

That includes requirements (full or as full as is appropriate at this point in time) or a scope statement and a work breakdown structure if you use one.

Tip: Don’t get hung up on creating a WBS. If it isn’t a helpful tool for you, in real life you don’t have to use it! But you will need to know about them if you intend to go for the PMP ® exam.

Project scope management is something you’ll do throughout the project, so you’ll keep returning to use your skills here every time there is a change. And good management here will help you avoid scope creep !

3. Schedule Management

Project Schedule Management is all about making a detailed plan to tell everyone when the project will deliver what is in the requirements.

Schedule management overlaps heavily with comms, as the timeline for the project is of major interest to stakeholders. It’s a key document that you’ll use to manage stakeholders’ expectations . You use it to track progress as well as keeping work moving along the critical path.

There are a number of different techniques for tracking schedule progress including earned value management and percent complete . There is a whole other PMI practice standard for scheduling , so this KA doesn’t have a ton of detail in about the ‘how’.

In this KA, you cover everything to do with defining the work required to deliver the scope, putting those tasks in the right order, estimating how long they will take to do and building the project schedule.

The domain also covers keeping the schedule up to date, and you might hear people refer to it as project time management (but don’t do that, it’s not accurate!).

You’ll often see schedule management and project cost management (see below) on project management job descriptions , because they are the technical skills employers want to know you can do.

4. Cost Management

Cost management is basically managing funding for project activities.

Under the umbrella of cost management, you will:

• Plan how much you are going to approach budgeting
• Estimate your costs
• Create the project budget
• Track and control the budget (using a budget tracking spreadsheet like this one ).

Many project managers on smaller projects don’t have the final say on how much money is allocated to their project, or final sign off on how it is spent. I think that’s unfortunate. If you are going to do the job, you should have authority to do it all.

However, I think many managers in the sponsorship role prefer to hold the purse strings themselves. It’s a shame, as they could delegate this to their project managers.

My personal feelings on whether you should have access to the budget and track project costs or not aside, do what you need to do to understand how your organization expects you to handle finances on your project.

Whether it’s you raising purchase orders and approving invoices or your sponsor, get the process clear in your own head so that funding isn’t a cause of delay.

5. Quality Management

It would be nice to think that quality was something formal covered on every project, but in my experience, and the experience of the project managers I mentor, quality isn’t often considered formally.

Obviously it depends on your project. If you are opening a factory that makes bricks, you want every single brick to adhere to quality criteria that make it safe for building works.

Many knowledge work-related projects don’t take the same regimented approach to quality. However, it’s an important Knowledge Area to be aware of and use as appropriate to ensure a quality result on your project.

Project Quality Management involves preparing a quality management plan with metrics, quality standards, quality assurance and a quality control approach. Then you implement the plan, carrying out quality-related tasks and making course-corrections as necessary to keep your project delivering the outputs you expect.

6. Resource Management

Project Resource Management is so important! It’s the domain where you work out what you need to get the project done.

Resources are typically people but could also be other things like:

• Equipment or vehicles
• IT hardware and software
• Materials like sand, gravel or other components
• Facilities e.g. an office you have to rent for the duration of the project
• Office gadgets like projectors.

I would count money as a resource as well. If you don’t have the funding, you won’t be doing your project.

This Knowledge Area covers planning how you are going to do resource management , estimating what resources you need, acquiring the human resources you need and ensuring the physical resources you’re using are available as necessary.

You’ll also track the utilization of resources and take corrective action if necessary — for example if you’re getting through your resources at a quicker-than-planned rate.

The Resource Management Knowledge Area also covers developing your project team and managing the team.

Developing the team means:

• Helping them improve their skills
• Ensuring they can work together effectively
• Creating an environment where the team can do their best work.

Managing the team means:

• Tracking individual performance against planned work
• Providing them with feedback on their contributions
• Resolving problems individuals may have
• Managing starters and leavers in the team so the team stays cohesive and changes don’t affect project performance.

That’s actually quite a lot for a project manager to do, especially if the people don’t work directly for you. Just do your best and be aware that you set the tone for the team’s culture.

Teamwork is so important , so focus on what you can do to make your project team a great place to work. Keep morale and enthusiasm high.

Read next: Team building ideas: Online scavenger hunt

7. Communications Management

In this Knowledge Area, you:

• Create a communications management plan
• ‘Do’ communications i.e. carry out your plan, send briefings out, give presentations or whatever
• Monitor the success (or otherwise) of those
• Make changes as appropriate to ensure your next communications are effectively received and acted on.

Project communications management is a huge part of my work as a project manager. It’s something I’m focused on all the time, from the smallest conversations with the team to the most formal press releases and staff briefings.

There’s lots of information about how to do project comms on this site, so use the search bar and have a look if you need more tips.

8. Risk Management

There’s a whole PMI credential on risk management, so that tells you risk management is a big deal for project managers.

The Project Risk Management Knowledge Area covers an adequate overview of what you need to do to manage risk on your project. If you want more detailed guidance, there are plenty of books on the subject.

Within this KA, you’ll be:

• Planning how to manage risk on the project and creating a risk management plan
• Identifying risks
• Analyzing risks (both qualitatively and quantitatively)
• Planning the risk response based on your analysis
• Carrying out the risk response activities
• Monitoring risk to check the success (or otherwise) of your response activities, and taking action as necessary.

Basically, that’s the risk management process in a nutshell. You’ll be managing potential risks the whole way through the project lifecycle. Anyone can raise a risk or take action to manage a risk, and it’s normally technical subject matter experts who own risk actions.

Risk management is a team effort and this is a KA you’ll be using over and over again until it becomes second nature.

9. Procurement Management

If your project isn’t buying anything, you can skip this whole Knowledge Area in real life, although you’ll need to know it for the PMP ® exam.

In the Project Procurement Management Knowledge Area, you:

• Plan the procurements required and create a statement of work
• Plan how you will make decisions about vendors
• Carry out the procurement exercise to select a vendor
• Manage the relationship with the vendor while they do the work
• Close the procurement contract at the end of the work.

Depending on what you are buying, and the type of organization you work in, you may have access to a specialist Purchasing team who can help with all of this. Use the in-house procurement process if you have one because there is a lot of contracting involved and those negotiations can be quite challenging if you aren’t used to being in that environment.

Recommended CAPM and PMP Prep Books

• The PMP Exam: How to Pass on Your First Try by Andy Crowe
• PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy
• CAPM Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy
• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) Guide from PMI
• The 50 PMP Exam Questions Everyone Gets Wrong by Cornelius Fichtner

10. Stakeholder Management

Project Stakeholder Management is my favorite Knowledge Area because I believe that projects are done through people.

I also believe that managing people is a slightly arrogant way to think about the work we do in this domain, so it’s preferable to think about it as stakeholder engagement.

In this KA you:

• Identify the people involved and affected by the project objectives — the stakeholders
• Plan how you are going to engage them in your work: create a stakeholder engagement plan
• Manage the activities you are going to use to engage them, and gather feedback on whether the activities were successful or not.
• Act on the feedback to improve your stakeholder engagement work for next time.

This is also the area of the project where you are likely to have the most challenges, because people don’t act the way you sometimes expect them to. You’ll be dealing with conflict , negotiating, managing office politics.

For me, this is the most interesting part of project management and can also see you at the table with the most senior managers in the company.

This is also the domain where you are likely to be planning change management activities, if you don’t have a dedicated business change manager on the team.

So it’s worth spending some time learning the tools and techniques to support how you get work done through others, because they are so critical to your success and the project’s success!

Knowledge Areas Mnemonic

Struggling to remember all of this, in the right order? This video from covers five quick ways to memorize the 10 Knowledge Areas in the PMBOK Guide — 6th Edition.

How Knowledge Areas link to process groups

Knowledge Areas are one thing to learn about, but you’ll also need to swot up on project management process groups if you are planning to follow the PMI ways of working.

KAs flow through all the process groups, although obviously when you are doing project planning and scheduling, the Schedule Management guidance in the KA is most relevant. Then you’ll use it again later when you come to revise your schedule.

It might seem complicated at first, but project management processes are pretty straightforward once you’re in them, and even if you don’t use PMI processes, other standards, methodologies and guides have similar.

Both the processes and the knowledge areas are used for project planning, as you combine everything (skills + process) to keep the work moving forward.

• There are 10 project management Knowledge Areas, according to the Project Management Body Of Knowledge® Guide — Sixth Edition
• They cover the major domains you need to know and use as a successful project manager
• You might not use them all on each project
• You’ll need to know them all for the PMP ® exam.

Now you know about the Knowledge Areas, you’ll also want to spend some time thinking about the practical skills you need as a project manager, things every project manager should know but that aren’t always taught on courses or in books!

Take a look at the 10 things project managers should know that go beyond the ‘simple’ textbook understanding — those are the skills to work on next.

Join the free resource library to receive the Knowledge Area presentation as a PDF. Sign up here , I’ll message you back a link where you can download the templates.

Project manager, author, mentor

Elizabeth Harrin is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management in the UK. She holds degrees from the University of York and Roehampton University, and several project management certifications including APM PMQ. She first took her PRINCE2 Practitioner exam in 2004 and has worked extensively in project delivery for over 20 years. Elizabeth is also the founder of the Project Management Rebels community, a mentoring group for professionals. She's written several books for project managers including Managing Multiple Projects .