Why Good Communication is so important to project risk management.

There is a very good reason why PMs need to be good communicators – communication is vital to project success, especially on the more complex projects where team performance is highly scrutinized.  Some of my other postings touch on the more critical communication items: e.g., Priorities, Assumptions, Estimating and Planning, Change Management, and Risk Management.  To add further to the list, we should include Decision Making, Providing Direction, Conducting Efficient and Effective Meetings and Reviews, Documenting, Escalating, Status Reporting, Conflict Resolution, and Mentoring (especially with regard to using the PM tools and techniques employed on the project).  There is also Internal Organizational Governance (i.e., Policies and Procedures, Processes, Guidelines, etc.), Laws and Regulations, Security, Employee Relations, Training and Personnel Development, etc.  In my book “Project Risk Management: A Practical Implementation Approach” most (if not all) are touched on.  Needless to say (but I will do it nonetheless), if your organization is on a mission to “do more with less” in an effective way, communication has to be crisp, current, accurate, complete, unambiguous and representative of the organization’s core values and cultural norms.  Team members and organizational management should all be in sync with the established expectations.