One area that causes major problems in any project, is the interpretation of communication between stakeholder and project manager. Like “Chinese Whispers”, information is transferred from Stakeholder to Project Manager, to team leaders, and what something started out as, may turn out to be very different once it reaches the trenches.

But there is a method to overcoming this and mitigating this risk and it’s called -

Decode, Recode, Respond

You need to understand how the transmission of information works. When someone (Stakeholder) wants to convey a message (Project Plan) they select a method of delivery (Email, PDF, etc.), they then code the message (Put the message in their own words and terminology), then transmit the message to the receiver (Project Manager). The Receiver then decodes the message based on their own interpretation of the wording.

Normally this is where the process stops, but there is a key element missing and that is INTERPRETATION. As a Project Manager you may come from an engineering background, and your Stakeholders may come from a finance background and hence the meaning and interpretation of messages can vary dramatically between the two parties. This is how miscommunication happens. This is what people call ambiguous messaging.

I can’t stress enough…BE CLEAR.

The way to do this is when you receive and decode the message into your own interpretation, you should always summarise your interpretation of the Project Plan, in your own words, and send that summary back to the Stakeholder for confirmation that you are all on the same page. You will be amazed how many times this exposes issues that if left unresolved, lead to major problems down the track.

The Importance of Interpretation