Project management

What’s the ideal number of people in your campaign team or committee?

A team’s output is so often affected by the number of team members. Yet this issue is seldom discussed. You need enough people for a good range of ideas, but not too many to bog down meetings with side issues. This article outlines the ideal number of team members.

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How to get good project outcomes when you are not the boss

PR professionals are involved in a wide range of projects that require planning, coordination and implementation with others. This usually means working with inter-departmental or cross-functional team members. One of the most common problems arising in such projects is how to lead or shape the project when you have no formal power or authority over the other team members.

Solve workplace problems with a positive approach

When things go wrong, or potentially wrong, managers and supervisors tend to be critical and look for scapegoats. They don't think about future solutions for problems. I was involved in this type of situation a couple of times myself when I was Corporate Affairs Manager at Western Power – fortunately as a beneficiary in the following case: When Operations had messed up their operational(!) response to a hurricane, they managed to divert attention by ...

Communicate effectively at the start of a project

All the planning for large and complex communication projects counts for nothing unless competent project management is used to turn intentions into reality. Good concepts and strategy won't deliver results if implementation is weak. Project management tends to be process-driven and unexciting, but it is where results happen, and therefore project information needs to be managed competently as part of that process. So we need to communicate effectively about (1) our own communication plans ...

How to improve your project communication

Good communication is the basis of effective project management. As leadership is about communication, you become a good project manager by communicating well, even without formal power Most key project information is gathered first by the formal or informal project leader. Then you need to summarize, filter and report progress to all project stakeholders, including the project team. By doing this, you have significant influence. If good progress is being achieved, others will be ...

Communicating about difficult projects

The best approach for the communication of contentious projects is different from the usual PR approach. Stakeholders are the key to the successful communication management of difficult projects. To be successful, contentious projects must utilize a special stakeholder – the third-party advocate. A process for segmenting these stakeholders and mobilizing them – often through a mutually beneficial project – must be in place. This maximizes the chances of contentious projects succeeding. Traditional way of ...

Poor communication causes most project management failures

Have you noticed there is hardly any information available in the communication profession on the skills required to successfully manage projects? The academic literature hardly contains anything, and PR courses neglect this important aspect of our profession. Yet we are required to manage projects of varying complexity, often simultaneously and usually under time pressure. What’s more, most of the time the experts fail to grasp the importance of communication to the success of projects ...

How to boost your career by successfully managing your boss

  'Managing upwards' is the systematic process of working with your boss to obtain the best possible results for you, your boss and your organization. When you manage upwards, you show leadership on your own part. Most people know the importance of managing their relationships with the people who report to them, but you would be surprised at the number of people who forget to manage their most important working relationship – the one ...

Stop to reflect for better results

Stopping to reflect during a project may seem to slow down progress, but research shows it pays. Very few companies give their employees time for reflection, especially when competitive pressures are escalating. Usually the imperative is to work harder. But Harvard Business School research demonstrates the value of reflection in helping people do a better job. Reflecting on what you've done teaches you to do it better next time. What’s more, the act of ...