Let's Talk About Talking

Talk about talking?!? Project managers have many core responsibilities and one that I believe to be highest on the totem pole is communication. PM's have a responsibility to the project, the team and their stakeholders to communicate openly, honestly and often to ensure everyone is rowing in the same direction. Lack of communication can truly make or break a project faster than you can say "scope creep". My goal for this blog is to share some of my thoughts on what I've learned and what's worked well for me, in hopes that you may find it helpful.

Poor communication is a sure fire way to lose trust from stakeholders. Really good communication can help strengthen relationships, especially with decision makers or those who may hold the purse strings for future projects. It's important to mention that good communication goes beyond a well crafted status report to executives. What about everyone else on the team? Stick around and I'll show you what transparent communication really looks like and how to keep everyone informed and engaged.

Why Everyone Deserves the Truth and Transparency

A lot of project management training courses and books will say tailor your messaging to meet your audience. Inevitably that same lesson will include a visual of the stakeholder matrix. You know, that handy chart where people are categorized by their influence and interest levels? High influence/high interest folks get the VIP treatment with detailed updates, while everyone else gets... well, whatever's left over.

In general, you should be familiar with and understand the information presented in this graphic. But just because someone doesn't have 'high influence' on paper doesn't mean they don't deserve to know what's actually happening on a project.

For example, my project team was working on a particular task because it aligned with the project scope, but unbeknownst to us, someone from the data team, but not working on this particular project, had been assigned that exact same work. We only discovered this duplicate effort by accident during a hallway conversation. This is a classic example of what happens when we limit communication to just the 'high influence' players or direct project contributors. If all parties had been kept in the loop, this situation could have been avoided and time and money could have been spared.

This is just one real-world scenario that has helped shape one of my core beliefs about communication, which is instead of rationing information based on influence levels, simply make transparency the default. It's such a simple solution to making people feel included and informed. Of course, you have to use judgment. You can't CC the entire company on sensitive budget discussions. But when in doubt, err on the side of inclusion rather than exclusion. Your team will thank you for it.

Honest Communication Without Causing Panic

There's definitely an art to being transparent without sending people into full panic mode. Context, timing, being proactive, knowing your audience, and owning your mistakes are all keys to being able to deliver news without giving someone a stomach ulcer.

Context is Your Best Friend

Here's the thing, people can handle bad news way better than you think, but only when they understand what you're doing about it. It's the difference between "Houston, we have a problem" and "Houston, we have a problem AND here's our plan to fix it."

Here's an example:

Instead of: "The project end date is extending."

Try: "Month-end code freeze limited production migrations this week, so the team decided to extend the monitoring period to better validate CI/CD processes in production. This change will extend the overall project completion date to..."

See the difference? Same information, but one version leaves more questions than answers, while the other gives a clear reasoning.

Timing is Everything

You know what causes panic? Silence followed by a bomb drop. You know what prevents panic? Consistent, honest updates that keep people in the loop.

Think of it like building immunity. Small, regular doses of reality are way better than one massive shock to the system. This is especially true for Directors or people who have a lot of irons in the fire. People have a tendency to forget, so be that constant north star that people can look to for the information they need.

What does being a north star actually look like? It means being the reliable source of truth for all things project related. It means having consistent touchpoints, whether that's weekly team huddles, regular one-on-ones, or even quick Slack updates. People should know they can count on you for straight answers when things are on track and especially when uncertainty hits.

Proactive vs Reactive Communication

Most of us are way better at reactive communication than proactive communication. This is truly something that separates a good PM from an average one IMO. We're great at explaining problems after they've blown up, but not so great at giving people a heads up when you sense a risk materializing.

But identifying risks early and communicating them transparently is literally part of a PM's job. Proactive communication is like weather forecasting for your project, you're not waiting for the tornado to hit before you tell people to take cover. It's reaching out when you first notice something brewing on the horizon. Part of being proactive also means knowing when to escalate. Don't sit on an issue for weeks hoping it'll resolve itself, then surprise your manager when it's become a crisis.

Sometimes you'll feel like you're crying wolf, but your team will appreciate the transparency and the chance to help brainstorm solutions before things get critical. And when things do go sideways (because they will), people won't be shocked because you've been keeping them informed along the way. The goal is to eliminate surprises, not eliminate problems. Problems are inevitable, but surprises are definitely optional when you're doing your job right.

Translation, Not Filtering

Here's where knowing your audience will work to your advantage. Your CEO needs different details than your junior developer, but that doesn't mean one gets the truth and the other gets sugar-coated nonsense. Think of it as translation, not filtering. You're giving everyone the same honest information, just in the language that makes sense for their role.

For example, when budget constraints hit, your director might need to see the financial estimates or timeframe forecasts. But your development team needs to hear: 'We need to focus on our core features instead of the nice-to-haves, which aligns better with what our user research is telling us.' Same problem, same honesty, different frame of reference.

Own Your Mistakes

Want to know the fastest way to build trust and model the kind of openness you want from your team? Admit when you mess up. I'm no stranger to a mistake or two here and there, and I have absolutely no issue owning my screw-ups. Personally, I think it's a matter of integrity. Learn from it, move on and don't make the same mistake again.

When you own your mistakes, you're basically giving everyone else permission to be honest about theirs. This will also create a psychological safe team environment, where people will be more likely to come to you early with problems, and not hide them until they're project killers.

The Bottom Line

Your project team and stakeholders can handle way more reality than you think. What they can't handle is feeling like they're being kept in the dark. When you become more comfortable with honest, well-timed communication, you're not just avoiding panic, you're building trust, preventing problems, and creating an environment where collaborative problem-solving thrives.

When people feel informed and included, they naturally shift from passive recipients of information to active contributors to solutions. This transparency creates a safe haven where people actually want to come to you when challenges arise, bringing their ideas and expertise to help tackle problems together rather than waiting for someone else to fix them.

Speaking of the impact communication can have on projects. I dug into some of the data and what I found was pretty eye opening.

What Do the Statistics Say?

Here are some compelling statistics that link communication to project success (or failure). From the outside looking in it's like "yeah duh communication is an important factor", but seeing some actual data to prove the point was really eye opening.

Project Failure Statistics:

• According to PMI's Pulse of the Profession reports, poor communication is cited as a primary factor in project failure for 56% of unsuccessful projects

• The same PMI research shows that organizations with highly effective communication practices have a 47% higher project success rate

• Projects with ineffective communication are 5 times more likely to fail

Financial Impact:

• PMI research indicates that for every $1 billion invested in projects, $135 million is at risk due to poor communication

• Companies that communicate effectively are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their peers financially

• Poor communication costs organizations an average of $62.4 million annually in failed projects

Team Performance:

• Teams with effective communication practices complete projects 2.5 times more successfully than those with poor communication

• 86% of workplace failures are attributed to lack of collaboration and ineffective communication (according to Salesforce research)

• Projects with regular, transparent communication see 40% higher team engagement scores

  
  

Stakeholder Satisfaction:

• 75% of project stakeholders say poor communication is the biggest barrier to project success

• Organizations with strong communication practices report 47% higher stakeholder satisfaction rates

The Last Word

Wow this was a fun one! Project Management is so much more than schedules, budgets, and deliverables. It's about people working together to build something meaningful. The numbers speak for themselves: poor communication kills 56% of failed projects, while transparent communication creates teams that are 2.5 times more successful.

But behind those stats are real people who either feel trusted and engaged, or confused and left out. Communication isn't just a project management skill, it's how you show respect for your teammates, build trust with stakeholders, and turn inevitable challenges into opportunities for collaboration.

So the next time you're tempted to filter information or delay that difficult conversation, just trust your gut and have the conversation.

Happy communicating!

xx Kristi