- Communication, it seems so simple, but miscommunication is one of the main reasons for project failure and issues. In this video we'll focus on all the elements of effective communication that you and indeed, everyone in your team needs to master. We communicate in so many ways, verbal, nonverbal, active or passive, formal or informal, conscious and subconscious. The way in which we communicate affects our understandings and feelings, and these can alter the meaning of our message. Keeping this in mind, there are three essential parts to effective communication. First, make sure you know who you're communicating with. Next, make sure you're communicating through the right channels. Last, make sure that your communications can be monitored and that there is a system that supports feedback. There are also three primary ways or methods that we use to communicate. Interactive communication is about multi-directional exchange of information, like we would have in a conversation. Push messages are sent from one party to another, while pulled messages are messages that can be accessed by someone at their own convenience. With this said, there are quite a few blockers that can get in the way of any of these. These include false perceptions on the receiver's part, making them interpret a message incorrectly. Communication over time zones can be staggered and difficult. Our cultures and languages can also stop people from communicating effectively as these create different frames of reference. Distractions while communicating can stop people from fully understanding what's being communicated. And lastly, we are all subject to selective listening. This is a bias where we tend to understand what we want to understand or in other words, only take part of the message that reinforces our own perspective. These aren't unique challenges, and most of us have to deal with at least a few of these on a pretty regular basis. As a project manager, one of the best things you can do to make sure your communication is as effective as possible is to create a communication plan. This should take into account what information you'll be communicating, who needs to receive it, why it's being sent, when members need to send or receive information, how they should communicate and where they should communicate. And of course, regardless of the forms of communication you use, you need to think about how you're going to create, store, share, archive and destroy information. For the final part of this video let's quickly go over some of the benefits of an effective communication plan. A great communication plan will make sure that all of your stakeholders understand what's expected of them and will help mitigate conflict. It will also help build confidence with stakeholders and your team and support the decision making process. Finally, current, unrelevant information will be available to everyone who needs it, which can also help improve productivity. And that's it for this video. Facilitating great communication will help your project succeed. In this video we have covered what communication is, how it happens and some of the blockers you might experience, To help you deal with these, we've gone through the importance of a proper communications plan and some of the benefits it can bring to your project and organization.