Communication in teams

Kalina Bujakiewicz
Maybe you didn’t know that...

• Project Managers spend 75-90% of their time communicating (source: PMBOK)

• The quotation for calculating the number of communication channels in a project:
n(n-1)/2, where n is the number of stakeholders, so in case we have 5 stakeholders we will have: 5(5-1)/2 = 10 channels of
communication komunikacji
- by how many will the number of communication channels increase when the number of stakeholders increased by 5?
• Studies conducted by PMI show that organizations which have implemented effective communication management processes complete
more of their projects within the planned timelines (71%) and within the estimated budget (76%), when compared to organizations
which comminicate in a less structurized way (37% and 48%, respectively)
-> WHAT CAN BE THE REASON?? Discussion

*http://combeenut.pl/zarzadzanie-komunikacja-w-projekcie/
What is communication?

A process by which information is exchanged

between individuals through a common
system of symbols, signs, or behavior
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/communication)
Planning communication
Communication model

• Encoding
• Sending
• Decoding
• Medium
• Noise
Communication

• What do we need to communicate effectively?

 Communication skills
-> Communication styles
-> Giving feedback
-> Paraphrasing, summarizing
-> Presentations
-> Body language
-> Virtual teams

 Interpersonal skills
-> Empathy
-> Conflict management
-> Awareness of cultural differences
-> Meeting management skills
 Tools
—

Communication skills
Communication styles
• Aggressive
• Passive-aggressive
• Assertive
• Passive
Assertive
communication

SITUATIONS:
1. You are waiting to pay for some shopping but
the two sales assistants at the till are deep in
conversation and appear to be ignoring you.
2. Your employer expects you to take on extra
work but your existing workload is already
very heavy.
3. You make a mistake at work and your
supervisor tells you off in a very abrupt and
angry manner.

How would you react to above situations in an

assertive way?

IMAGE:
https://www.istockphoto.com/pl/search/2/image?
excludenudity=false&phrase=asertywno%C5%9B
%C4%87
Assertive communication

• USE “I” STATEMENTS

• SAY NO
• ASK FOR HELP
• BE OPEN TO FEEDBACK OR OPINIONS
• SHOW EMPATHY
• BE AWARE OF AND USE MORE POWERFUL BODY LANGUAGE
• BE AWARE OF YOUR EMOTIONS
• ASK FOR MORE TIME IF YOU NEED IT
• USE WORDS THAT CONVEY A CLEAR MESSAGE
• SPEAK CALMLY AND CLEARLY
• ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT
• SET BOUNDARIES

HTTPS://PROJECTBLISS.NET/ASSERTIVE-COMMUNICATION/

IMAGE: HTTPS://WWW.CATALYST.ORG/RESEARCH/WOMEN-LEADERSHIP-SP-TSX/
Assertive communication
• USE “I” STATEMENTS E.G. Your boss has mentioned a large, upcoming project several times, saying
they want you to work on it since it’s for clients you’ve assisted before.
• SAY NO However, you know that you already have lots of work, so you reply:
• ASK FOR HELP
• BE OPEN TO FEEDBACK OR OPINIONS
I want to prioritize this project, but
• SHOW EMPATHY
I’m afraid if I take it on, all of my
• BE AWARE OF AND USE MORE POWERFUL BODY LANGUAGE work will suffer. I’d like to show you
• BE AWARE OF YOUR EMOTIONS what I can do with this, but I want
• ASK FOR MORE TIME IF YOU NEED IT to be able do my best work. Maybe
• USE WORDS THAT CONVEY A CLEAR MESSAGE
you could please support me with
• SPEAK CALMLY AND CLEARLY
• ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT
assigning another consultant to my
• SET BOUNDARIES
project? In the meantime, I will need
to think about it again, I will give
HTTPS://PROJECTBLISS.NET/ASSERTIVE-COMMUNICATION/ you a definite answer tomorrow.
Please let me know what you think.
IMAGE: HTTPS://WWW.CATALYST.ORG/RESEARCH/WOMEN-LEADERSHIP-SP-
TSX/
Assertive communication
• USE “I” STATEMENTS E.G. You have a new flatmate. You get on well together, yet the
problem is that they are very messy. They leave dishes in the sink
• SAY NO
and laundry on the floor. The floor usually isn’t swept, and the
• ASK FOR HELP bathroom is never very clean. You may approach your flatmate and
say:
• BE OPEN TO FEEDBACK OR OPINIONS
• SHOW EMPATHY  I don’t feel well in messy
• BE AWARE OF AND USE MORE POWERFUL BODY LANGUAGE
• BE AWARE OF YOUR EMOTIONS
spaces, and that distracts me
• ASK FOR MORE TIME IF YOU NEED IT from my work. I understand
•
•
USE WORDS THAT CONVEY A CLEAR MESSAGE
SPEAK CALMLY AND CLEARLY
that you are very busy but
• ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT would you be willing to do
• SET BOUNDARIES dishes and laundry and clean
HTTPS://PROJECTBLISS.NET/ASSERTIVE-COMMUNICATION/
up a little before I come over?
That would help me feel more
IMAGE: HTTPS://WWW.CATALYST.ORG/RESEARCH/WOMEN-LEADERSHIP-SP-
TSX/
comfortable.
Giving feedback
1. Check your motives
2. Be timely
3. Make it regular
4. Prepare your comments
5. Be specific
6. Criticize in private
7. Follow up
 Paraphrasing
A paraphrase – a restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form*. It is a means of ensuring
that you have understood what other person has just said
• Put the focus of the paraphrase on what the other person implied, e.g., “If I’m hearing you right, you conveyed that …?”
• Phrase the paraphrase as a question, e.g. “So you’re saying that ...?”
• Put the focus of the paraphrase on the other person, e.g., if the person said, “I don’t get enough resources to do what I
want,” then don’t paraphrase, “We probably all don’t get what we want, right?”
• Put the ownership of the paraphrase on yourself, e.g., “If I’m hearing you right …?” or “If I understand you correctly …?”
• Put the ownership of the other person’s words on him/her, e.g., say “If I understand you right, you’re saying that ..?”
• In the paraphrase, use some of the words that the other person used.  For example, if the other person said, “I think we
should do more planning around here.”  You might paraphrase, “If I’m hearing you right in this strategic planning
workshop, you believe that more strategic planning should be done in our community?”
• Don’t judge or evaluate the other person’s comments, e.g., don’t say, “I wonder if you really believe that?” or “Don’t you
feel out-on-a-limb making that comment?”
• You can use a paraphrase to validate your impression of the other’s comments, e.g., you could say, “So you were
frustrated when …?”
• The paraphrase should be shorter than the original comments made by the other person.**
*https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paraphrase
**https://managementhelp.org/blogs/personal-and-professional-coaching/2012/01/26/useful-
communications-skills-how-to-paraphrase-and-summarize/
Paraphrasing
Paraphrase the following statements:

1. „I think we should finish work for now”

2. „Sue has just informed me that she will not arrive by 8 o’clock”
3. „I'm having a hard time communicating with Bill and I don't know what's going on”
4. „I am not going to take this exam on Monday”
5. „The insurance company called me yesterday reminding about the upcoming installment to be paid”
Presentations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4y1OO9rppA
Body language • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jwUXV4QaTw
Planning communication
Virtual teams

What are virtual teams?

What are the advantages of such
solutions?
What problems and challenges can virtual
teams face?
—

Interpersonal skills
 Empathy

• Affective empathy involves the ability to understand another person's emotions and respond

appropriately. Such emotional understanding may lead to someone feeling concerned for another
person's well-being, or it may lead to feelings of personal distress.
• Somatic empathy involves having a sort of physical reaction in response to what someone else is
experiencing. People sometimes physically experience what another person is feeling. When you see
someone else feeling embarrassed, for example, you might start to blush or have an upset stomach.
• Cognitive empathy involves being able to understand another person's mental state and what they
might be thinking in response to the situation. This is related to what psychologists refer to as theory
of mind,or thinking about what other people are thinking.

WHY IS EMPATHY SO IMPORTANT WHEN WORKING IN TEAMS?

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-empathy-2795562
IMAGE: https://medium.com/@humancapitalmagazine10/the-power-of-workplace-empathy-2c055ebe6c1f
Conflict management
Examples of good coonflict management communication skills include:
• Quickly Addressing Problems
• Understanding Reluctant Participants
• Formalizing Agreements
• Active Listening
• Leadership
• Mediating
• Meeting with Parties
• Modeling Reasonable Dialogue
• Negotiating
• Nonverbal Communication
• Open Dialogue
• Suppressing Conflict-Provoking Behaviors
• Teaching Positive Behaviors
• Written Communication
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/conflict-management-skills-20
59687
Cross-cultural differences in
communicating

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=x2dGVrOtDtw
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCo
3wSGYRbQ

In your personal/professional life, have you

encountered any differences in cross-
cultural communication that surprised you?
Meeting management
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQW1fEwYZVA

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPhKhTI0Lss

What a good meeting should be like?

—

Communication tools
Meeting management
• Mail
• Email
• Telephones: landline telephones, cell Phones, smartphones, Internet
Calling: Google Voice and others
• SMS/text messaging
• Video and web conferencing
• social networking sites
• Microsoft 365/Office
etc.
Planning communication
Communication methods

Which methods would you use to:

• Interactive • Send MoM, updates?
• „Push” • Sharing documents with a large number of people?
• „Pull” • Get a response quickly