How should a project team communicate

Course 4 – Project Execution: Running the Project QUIZ ANSWERS

Week 5:  Effective Project Communication

Google Project Management: Professional Certificate

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Effective Project Communication INTRODUCTION

Effective project team communication is essential for the success of any project. Effective communication will ensure that all project stakeholders and team members understand their roles, stay informed about progress, and understand the expectations surrounding deliverables and deadlines.

Coursera’s Google Project Management: Professional Certificate provides a comprehensive introduction to effective project communication tools, techniques, and processes. This certificate covers topics such as meeting organization and facilitation, decision-making processes, conflict resolution methods, status reporting formats and best practices, stakeholder management principles, and more.

By completing this certificate program, you will gain valuable insights into successful communication strategies that can be applied in any project environment.

Learning Objectives

  • Describe tools that provide effective project team communication.
  • Explain how to organize and facilitate meetings to ensure project success.
  • Explore best practices for communicating project status updates to project stakeholders and team members.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: PROJECT COMMUNICATION

1. How should a project team communicate?

  • The project team should stick to email communication since it is standard practice in business.
  • The project team should communicate regularly and in various ways. (CORRECT)
  • The project team should use one mode of communication and rely on it consistently.
  • The project team should switch communication tools frequently to increase engagement.

Correct: A project team must communicate in multiple ways. A project team can communicate through email, virtual meetings, and various project management tools. This helps the team effectively engage and inform one another throughout the project‘s duration.

2. Which of the following communication tools could a project manager use to create a project tracking report?

    • Asana (CORRECT)
    • Google Meet
    • Slack
    • Zoom

    Correct: Asana is a work management and collaboration tool that project managers use to plan, report, and track project progress. Asana also supports remote teams and allows coworkers to get work done and communicate in real-time.

3. What are the benefits of communication tools for project managers and project teams? Select all that apply.

  • They help project teams measure individual success compared to others on the team.
  • They offer various ways to properly format communication. (CORRECT)
  • They provide clarity and consistency of project details like key dates, tasks, and milestones. (CORRECT)
  • They share external user access to financial, business, and user data files.

Correct: As a project manager, you may need to communicate certain information with the team multiple times and in different ways. When you properly format communications, you help team members more easily digest information to stay engaged and informed. Communication tools can support this type of effective information sharing.

Correct: When project managers use communication tools to provide clarity and consistency of important project details, their teams can better provide effective guidance and feedback. Communication tools also help project managers effectively format information to share.

4. What information should you include in the subject field of an email? Select all that apply.

  • What the email is about (CORRECT)
  • Whether the email requires an immediate response (CORRECT)
  • Whether the email is urgent (CORRECT)
  • What your job title and contact information is

Correct: The email subject field should clearly state what the email is about. If it’s urgent or requires a response, you should also add that to the subject and the first line of the email.

Correct: You need to include your request in the subject line of every email. To do that, you should ensure the subject field states whether the email requires an immediate response. You also want to state what the email is about and address whether the email is urgent.

Correct: Email is standard for business communications, and people receive many emails daily. To communicate effectively, you need to be efficient: Streamline the number of emails you send, and ensure each email’s subject is clear and direct. The subject field should include the topic, level of urgency, and response expectations.

5. What is timeboxing?

  • Inviting meeting participants who can contribute to the discussion
  • Ending a meeting early to give participants their time back
  • Starting and ending a meeting on time
  • Setting a time limit for discussion of a given topic (CORRECT)

Correct: In timeboxing, you set expectations for how long you expect participants to spend on a given topic and add a few minutes’ buffer to each discussion. That way, you know you’re not packing too much into your agenda.

6. Which of the following are tasks for a meeting moderator? Select all that apply.

  • Focus on presenting a topic
  • Determine the topic of the meeting
  • Guide the meeting (CORRECT)
  • Help participants ask questions in real time (CORRECT)

Correct: The meeting moderator helps to guide the meeting. That way, the presenter can focus on their topic rather than meeting management.

Correct: The meeting moderator helps participants ask questions in real time while someone else is presenting. That way, the presenter can stay focused on their topic while the moderator addresses participants’ needs.

PRACTICE QUIZ: TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: EFFECTIVE MEETINGS

1. Fill in the blank: For a project manager to organize an effective meeting, they must carefully select all attendees and prioritize meeting topics in a(n) _____.

  • project plan
  • communication plan
  • schedule
  • agenda (CORRECT)

Correct: An agenda includes a meeting’s prioritized topics, as well as a clearly-stated purpose and expectations. The project manager needs to prepare a clearly-written agenda and share it with all attendees in advance of the meeting. This ensures the meeting is intentional and structured.

2. Which of the following statements best describe effective meetings?

  • They are clear, important, relevant, and frequent.
  • They are virtual, quick, frequent, and straightforward.
  • They are in-person, engaging, motivational, and anticipated.
  • They are structured, intentional, collaborative, and inclusive. (CORRECT)

Correct: Effective meetings always have these elements in common, even if the size, purpose, and format of the meetings are different. To ensure meetings have these elements, project managers need to be purposeful when designing and organizing meetings.

3. What are some actions to take to ensure productivity during a meeting? Select all that apply.

  • Capture key points, action items, and decisions. (CORRECT)
  • Encourage participation. (CORRECT)
  • Prepare an agenda.
  • Determine the need for the meeting.
  • Email a recap of key decisions to participants
  • Practice and demonstrate active listening. (CORRECT)

Correct: During the meeting, there are several items you should document. Along with assigning action items to the appropriate people, you should also capture key points and decisions. After the meeting, you can share these notes with participants and schedule follow-ups if needed.

Correct: During the meeting, you should always give everyone a chance to speak, including remote participants. You can also encourage deeper participation when you ask open-ended questions like “What does everyone think?”

Correct: During the meeting, you can model active listening to demonstrate engagement. Use verbal statements like, “That makes sense. Tell us more.” You can also use non-verbal statements like head nodding and eye contact.

4. Why is it important to clearly state a meeting’s purpose and expectations in the agenda? Select all that apply.

    • To keep participants focused on the right topics (CORRECT)
    • To ensure everyone understands why they’re attending (CORRECT)
    • To help meeting attendees prepare (CORRECT)
    • To replace a meeting with a detailed communication

    Correct: The purpose of a meeting might be to make a decision, assign tasks, propose an idea, or something else. The meeting’s purpose, or goal, describes the reason for the meeting and what the team should discuss. This helps participants focus on the right topics.

    Correct: It is important that each meeting has clear expectations, goals, and a well-articulated purpose. When participants receive the meeting invite and agenda, this information helps them understand why they have been asked to attend.

    Correct: It is a best practice to share a meeting agenda with participants in advance. The information about meeting goals and expectations helps attendees prepare..

5. As a project manager, you recently shifted priorities due to a new expedited deliverables schedule. You decide to implement a new communication method to regularly track the project team on this very tight schedule. Which of the following is the most effective and timely communication method to ensure a successful project outcome?

  • Daily status meeting (CORRECT)
  • Kick-off meetings
  • Stakeholder meetings
  • Weekly email updates

Correct: A team holds daily status meetings to align the team on updates, progress, challenges, and next steps.

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Project Execution: Running the Project WEEKLY CHALLENGE 5

1. When communicating with your team, it’s important to remember that people process information and learn in various ways. What do these ways include? Select all that apply.

  • Listening (CORRECT)
  • Email
  • Watching (CORRECT)
  • Doing (CORRECT)

Correct: Some people learn best by listening. Make sure you communicate with these team members in person or by phone as much as possible.

Correct: Some people learn best by watching others complete a task and then copying their actions.

Correct: Some people learn best by doing something hands-on. Allow these team members to practice skills in order to learn them.

2. What are potential downsides of using instant messaging? Select all that apply.

  • Quick response
  • Distraction (CORRECT)
  • Informality (CORRECT)
  • Difficult to track (CORRECT)

Correct: Too many instant messages can distract from tasks.

Correct: Using instant messaging can lead to using informal language when the situation requires a more formal tone.

Correct: With several back and forth messages, it may be difficult to search for specifics within older messages.

3. Which of the following elements do effective meetings always have in common? Select all that apply.

  • Structured (CORRECT)
  • Anticipated
  • Collaborative (CORRECT)
  • Inclusive (CORRECT)
  • Intentional (CORRECT)

Correct: Effective meetings always have structure. This means the project manager ensures they start and end on time, carefully selects project attendees, prioritizes meeting topics, and designates a notetaker.

Correct: Effective meetings are always collaborative. This means people work together to produce or create something.

Correct: Effective meetings always are inclusive. This means the project manager ensures they include people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized.

Correct: Effective meetings are always intentional. This means the project manager ensures they clearly state the purpose and expectations, which should be in the meeting agenda as well as the meeting invite, so everyone understands why they’re attending.

4. Which three of the following are ways to make a meeting more collaborative?

  • Let participants respond in their preferred communication style (CORRECT)
  • Have a digital, shared meeting document (CORRECT)
  • Ensure the agenda isn’t full of presentations where participants are talked at (CORRECT)
  • Set a timebox for a meeting comment period
  • Allow participants to set the meeting’s purpose and expectation

5. Which meeting type is the official beginning of the project and serves as a way to align the team’s understanding of the project goals with actual plans and procedures.

  • Project review
  • Status update
  • Stakeholder review
  • Project kick-off (CORRECT)

6. Which of the following is a best practice when trying to clearly state what you want in an email?

  • List your request in the last paragraph of the email.
  • Avoid associating calls-to-action with your request.
  • Use acronyms whenever possible to keep the email short.
  • Include your request in the subject line of the email. (CORRECT)

7. Which of the following may help you create an inclusive team environment in meetings? Select all that apply.

  • Formalize initial check-ins for the group. (CORRECT)
  • Use images that reflect the diversity of the world. (CORRECT)
  • Give everyone your full attention. (CORRECT)
  • Encourage participants to share a single, similar perspective.

8. What can be done before a meeting to facilitate a more productive meeting? Select all that apply.

  • Invite only the people who need to be there and contribute to the meeting goals. (CORRECT)
  • Prepare an agenda that states the purpose and goals of the meeting. (CORRECT)
  • Set aside time to prepare for the meeting and review necessary materials. (CORRECT)
  • Recap key action items and share with participants.

9. What does a project manager have to communicate clearly when managing team documents? Select all that apply.

  • Who originally created the documents
  • How documents are used (CORRECT)
  • How often the documents get updated (CORRECT)
  • Who has access to the documents

10. In what type of meeting does the project manager meet with participants one-on-one in order to cover topics most relevant to them and to better understand their concerns?

  • Retrospective
  • Status update
  • Project kick-off
  • Stakeholder review (CORRECT)

11. Who is ultimately responsible for coordinating incoming and outgoing communication, connecting individuals to necessary information, and tracking who needs to receive what information and when?

  • Project team members
  • Stakeholders
  • The client
  • The project manager (CORRECT)

12.  Fill in the blank: A key component of inclusivity is ensuring your meetings and presentations are _____.

  • during normal business hours
  • in person
  • recorded
  • accessible (CORRECT)

Correct: Making sure your meetings and presentations are accessible is a key component to inclusivity.

13. What actions may help make a meeting accessible for someone with a hearing impairment? Select all that apply.

  • Include all the information presented in a spoken presentation on slides. (CORRECT)
  • Speak loudly and slowly.
  • Face the person you are speaking with. (CORRECT)
  • Add closed captions or subtitles to videos. (CORRECT)

14. The use, access, or sharing of what types of confidential or need-to-know information is likely prohibited unless you’re given permission? Select all that apply.

  • Customer service contact information
  • User data (CORRECT)
  • Internal information about your organization’s products and services (CORRECT)
  • Financial and business data (CORRECT)

Correct: You should not share user data outside your organization unless you have prior permission.

Correct: You should not share information about your organization’s products and services outside your organization unless you have prior permission.

Correct: You should not share financial and business data outside your organization unless you have prior permission.

15. Fill in the blank: _____ meetings have an agenda, time limit, and designated notetaker.

  • Broadcast
  • Informal
  • Structured (CORRECT)
  • Impromptu

Correct: These stages illustrate how a team grows from a disparate group of people into a high-functioning unit.

16. Which of the following is a best practice when trying to structure your writing in an email?

  • Use bullets to make the email easier to scan. (CORRECT)
  • Avoid including hyperlinks to additional information.
  • Combine multiple paragraphs into one large paragraph.
  • Put the email’s main idea in the last sentence.

17. In a status update meeting, what questions does the project manager typically address? Select all that apply.

  • What lessons can the team learn about what’s going well?
  • How many tasks have been completed and how many remain? (CORRECT)
  • Are there any new costs that affect the bottom line? (CORRECT)
  • Is the team behind schedule, ahead of schedule, or on-schedule? (CORRECT)
  • Are there any current or anticipated issues? (CORRECT)

18. In what type of meeting does the agenda include topics such as lessons learned about what’s going well, what the team should keep doing, and what can be improved?

  • Status update
  • Project kick-off
  • Retrospective (CORRECT)
  • Stakeholder review

19. Why should you send any pre-reading materials in advance of a meeting?

  • Everyone is prepared to participate (CORRECT)
  • Skip over that information in your meeting
  • Provide a summary for you during the meeting (INCORRECT)
  • Save time going over unimportant information (INCORRECT)

20. What can be done during a meeting to facilitate a more productive meeting? Select all that apply.

  • Clearly state the meeting’s goals at the beginning of the meeting. (CORRECT)
  • Practice active listening and non-verbal communication. (CORRECT)
  • Encourage everyone to participate, including remote participants. (CORRECT)
  • Discourage open-ended and personal questions.

21. In what type of meeting does the project manager typically discuss how many tasks have been completed, whether the team is on schedule, and any current issues?

  • Status update (CORRECT)
  • Project kick-off
  • Stakeholder review
  • Retrospective

22. Which three of the following are benefits of work management and collaboration tools, such as Asana and Smartsheet?

  • Make sharing information and documents easy (CORRECT)
  • Send instant messages to teammates
  • Run effective meetings
  • Complete work in real time (CORRECT)
  • Focus communication within the context of specific tasks (CORRECT)

23. According to a Google study, productive meetings have what three elements in common?

  • At length of at least 30 minutes, active participation from attendees, and the correct attendees
  • Active participation from attendees, a clear and concise agenda, and the correct attendees (CORRECT)
  • A clear and concise agenda, the participation of three or fewer participants, and the correct attendees
  • No personal discussion, a length of at least 30 minutes, and a clear and concise agenda

24. When you create an email, in what section should you clearly state what the email is about?

  • Header
  • Subject line (CORRECT)
  • First line of the email
  • Closing line of the email

Correct: Having a forum for discussion helps teams feel safer challenging processes and workflows.

Correct: Asking to hear from the whole team lets them know that you value and welcome their critiques.

25. Which of the following are key reasons to meet with stakeholders? Select all that apply.

  • Provide daily project updates
  • Make a decision or resolve a major issue (CORRECT)
  • Seek out and listen to feedback (CORRECT)
  • Present a project update (CORRECT)

26. Which of the following is a best practice when trying to keep your content concise in an email?

  • Leave out key information in the email so that the reader has engaging questions.
  • Send the same email content to both executives and teammates.
  • Remove any details in the email that don’t contribute to your readers’ needs. (CORRECT)
  • Think of all questions the reader may have and answer them in the email.

27. Fill in the blank: In order to set clear meeting expectations, help attendees prepare, keep everyone focused on the right topics, and clarify meeting expectations and goals, your meeting should have a(n) _____.

  • leader
  • agenda (CORRECT)
  • timeline
  • guest speaker

28. Which type of meeting is typically more formal, starts with a project update, and may include a decision to resolve a major issue?

  • Project kick-off
  • Status update
  • Stakeholder review (CORRECT)
  • Retrospective

29. What actions may help make a presentation accessible for someone with a visual impairment? Select all that apply.

  • Provide an accessible electronic format of the presentation. (CORRECT)
  • Describe all meaningful graphics in the presentation. (CORRECT)
  • Use a large font size (minimum 22 points). (CORRECT)
  • Use low-contrast colors.

30. Fill in the blank: A project review meeting is also called a _____.

  • Retrospective (CORRECT)
  • stakeholder review
  • status update
  • reflection

31. Which of the following are benefits of work management and collaboration tools, such as Asana and Smartsheet? Select all that apply.

  • Focus communication within the context of specific tasks (CORRECT)
  • Complete work in real time (CORRECT)
  • Make sharing information and documents easy (CORRECT)

32. Which of the following are ways to make a meeting more collaborative? Select all that apply.

  •  Let participants respond in their preferred communication style (CORRECT)
  •  Ensure the agenda isn’t full of presentations where participants are talked at (CORRECT)
  •  Have a digital, shared meeting document (CORRECT)

Effective Project Communication conclusion

In order to be an effective project manager, team communication is essential. You need to be able to utilize the appropriate tools for messaging and collaboration, as well as know how to organize and lead meetings effectively.

Furthermore, it is critical that you have the skills to deliver clear and concise project updates to all stakeholders. By enrolling in this course, you will gain all of these important skills and become an effective project manager who can ensure successful projects through excellent team communication. Join now on Coursera.org!

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