Exercise

Communication Management
Each of the project scenarios below illustrates a core characteristic that can constrain effective
communication: inter-personal, inescapable, irreversible, intricate, and in the moment. Which of
the characteristics is best illustrated in each scenario?

1. A virtual team was preparing for a conference call. All of the team had called into the
conference number except one person. The team leader was waiting for that individual to
call before starting the meeting. While waiting, two of the team members started to
complain about and criticize the individual who had not called in yet. Some of their
comments were very personal about the individual. After about two minutes of comments,
the team members who were complaining paused for a moment. At that point the
individual who they were talking about spoke up and said, “I am here, and have been for the
last two minutes.”

2. A team leader had sent out a short email about status of several actions and the priorities
for addressing the open issues. The team leader received an email response from on team
member telling her that another team member was so angry about the email from the team
leader that he was threatening to quit the company. The team leader immediately went to
see the angry team member in person to understand the issue. The angry team member
had interpreted the email as a public reprimand because two of the open actions were his
responsibility. The team leader assured him that the message was not meant in that
manner but was to be a rallying cry for everyone to work together to help those leading
those items to complete them. She went on to reassure the team member of his value to
the team and her trust in him and his abilities.

3. Four team members were discussing the recent presentation that had been made at a team
meeting by one of the support staff advocating the adoption of a new workflow process.
One team member thought it was a great presentation. She was impressed with the facts
that were presented and the logical conclusions that followed. She was ready to adopt the
recommendation. Another team member thought it was an awful presentation. The
presenter mumbled and stumbled over the content – often just reading the PowerPoint
slides verbatim without appearing to understand them. Nor could the presenter give a clear
answer to any questions. He felt the presenter did not know what they were talking about
so he was not in favor of accepting the recommendation until they could get another
opinion. A third team member didn’t trust the conclusions because the PowerPoint slides
were very busy and confusing. She felt that the presentation was trying to obscure the facts
and situation, not clarify or enlighten. She was opposed to the recommendation because
she felt the team was being manipulated. The fourth team member was uncertain. He had
watched the response of the team leader and several other senior team members. Based
upon their body language some were positive and some negative. The positive ones were
nodding their head in agreement with the presenter’s comments. The negative ones were
rolling their eyes, shaking their heads, and pointedly ignoring the presentation.

4. A team status meeting was scheduled for 1 pm today. One of the team members was trying
to find a way to miss the meeting. This team member knew that at the status meeting he
would need to report on the failure analysis that he had been conducting. He was afraid
that it would not be well-received. The analysis showed that one of the team members had

www.goskills.com
 not been following the standard process and that led to the failure. The problem with
identifying that as the problem was that this person was thin-skinned and there had already
been several arguments with them. The team member doing the failure analysis did not
want to have another argument. If he could think of a reason to miss the meeting, he could
just send in his report and the rest of the team could deal with the issue.

5. The team leader checked in with all of her team members every day to see if there were any
problems or roadblocks that she could help with. As she came up to one team member’s
cubicle, she overheard him on the phone apologizing and assuring someone that the
problem would not occur again. As she leaned in to check with her team member, she asked
what the call was about. He told here that another function was complaining that he had
bypassed the proper channels for submitting a request and talked directly to Terry to get the
answer he needed for a question. He went on to complain that he was having a bad day. No
one would answer his calls or emails – that was why he contacted Terry directly, someone
had backed into his car when he stopped for coffee this morning and dented the passenger
side door, and he had dentist appointment that afternoon – and he hated having to go the
dentist. The team leader spent a few minutes thanking him for his work on the team and
commending him on his diligence to get to the heart of whatever issue he was working on.
She further offered to help follow-up with some of those individuals who had not responded
to him.

www.goskills.com