Chapter One: Stakeholder Communication

1.1. What is communication & project communication management?

1.2. Types of stakeholder communication
1.3. Communication competence
1.4. Aspects of successful communication
1.5. Communication essentials
1.6. Understanding the recipient of the communication
1.7. Monitoring, implementation and measuring effectiveness of
communication

1.1. What is communication & project communication management?

The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other
medium. It is the means of sending or receiving information, such as phone lines or
computers.

The meaning of communication in project communication management is a collection of

processes that help make sure the right messages are sent, received, and understood by the
right people.

Project communication management is one of the 10 key knowledge areas in the PMBOK
(Project Management Book of Knowledge). The processes included in this area have changed
over the years but, in the current version, there are three primary project communication
management processes.

These are:

1. Plan communications management

2. Manage communications
3. Monitor communications

How to create a project communication management plan?

Project managers need to clearly outline how they will manage communications across their
projects. This is done by creating a project communication management plan.

When creating a plan, project managers should follow these five steps:

Decide your objectives: What will be the purpose of your communication? You may use
some communication tools for awareness, such as a status report. Others may require action,
such as requiring a sponsor to authorize spending or a customer to approve project testing.

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Determine your audience: Who are the stakeholders in this project? You should make an
extensive list of everyone involved. Consider anyone impacted by the project or who
influences its success. This list should include team members, sponsors, customers, and other
interested parties.

Write your message: What will the message be for each type of communication? This is the
actual content that will be shared. Key components to be communicated include scope,
schedule, budget, objectives, risks, and deliverables.

Choose your channel: How will the message be delivered? Will it be a formal report
emailed out to all stakeholders? Or will it be an informal verbal debrief during a team
meeting?

Set a timeline: When will you deliver your message? Do your stakeholders require weekly or
monthly reports? Is there a deadline to meet? Consider varying time zones and employee
schedules here.

Your project communication management plan should be detailed enough to lay out why
you’re sending a message, who you’re sending it to, what specific information will be sent,
how you’re going to send it, and when.

Involving your stakeholders in the creation of this plan is important. You need to understand
their communication preferences and expectations. If you over communicate, they may stop
paying attention. But, if you under-communicate, it can lead to misunderstandings and issues.

The golden rule here is that, to be a good communicator, you need to be a good listener. It
may seem obvious, but Harvard Business Review points out that listening are an overlooked
leadership tool. Pay attention to all the factors and take every opinion into account before
creating your project communication management plan.

Manage project communication

Once the project communication management plan has been created and approved, it’s the
project manager’s job to ensure it’s carried out successfully. This means the plan needs to be
reviewed and updated on a regular basis to reflect any changes to the project or its
stakeholders. The project manager also has to manage the execution of the project
communication management plan. This includes:

1. Collection and analysis of data

2. Creation of messages for communication
3. Transmission or distribution of communications
4. Storage of any communication reports, files, or documents
5. Retrieval of any stored communications
6. Disposal of any old communications upon project closure or a set date

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What are the two parts of project communication management?

Project Communications Management consists of two parts. The first part is developing a
strategy to ensure communication is effective for stakeholders. The second part is carrying
out the activities necessary to implement the communication strategy.

1.2. Types of stakeholder communication

A strategic approach to communication is the key, deploying the three general classes of
communication; reporting, project relations and directed communication at the right
times, to influence the right stakeholders in the best way to assist in achieving a successful
outcome.

a. Directed communication

Directed communication is hard work and needs to be focused on the important stakeholders
(both positive and negative) with whom you need to cause a specific effect. This includes
providing direction to your team members and suppliers and influencing the attitude or
expectations of other key stakeholders.

Directed communication needs to be planned, which means you need to know precisely what
effect you are seeking and then work out how to achieve the effect. This usually means you
want the stakeholder to start to do something, do something differently or stop doing
something. Some of the tactics that can be used to make your communication effective
include:

 WIFM – ‘what is in it for me’ – try to align your needs with something the
Stakeholder desires (this is called Mutuality).

• WIFMF – ‘what is in it for my friend’ – if there is no practical WIFM is there

something the stakeholders friends or colleagues, or the overall organisation may
benefit from?

• Using your network to build peer pressure through the stakeholder’s network of
contacts. It’s hard to hold out against a group.

• Delivering information incrementally in a carefully planned way with different

people playing different roles in the communication plan.

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 • Making as much information as possible open to ‘pull’ communication in a project
‘web portal’ and then directing the specific stakeholder to the information you
want them to respond to (this works for reports as well).

Directed communication is hard work and needs to be carefully focused on the stakeholders
that matter at any point in time and have a specific purpose (frequently a different ‘purpose’
for each of the key stakeholders). A regular review of the stakeholder community is essential
to reassess the relative priorities of all new and existing stakeholders, to understand if your
communication efforts are being successful (change tactics if not) and to best focus your
communication effort going forward.

b. Project relations

Project relations (PR) similar to normal PR but focused on your project and stakeholders. PR
or marketing is probably the most underrated and underused communication process. It
includes all of the broadcast communications needed to provide information about your
project to the wider stakeholder community, both to market the value of the project and to
prevent information ‘black holes’ developing that breed misinformation and rumour.

The power of social media to feed on rumours and amplify bad news is massive and it is
nearly impossible to kill rumours once they have started even if the information being
circulated is completely false. Once a perception of a disaster is created in a person’s mind,
the tendency to reject any other information is innate “they would say that wouldn’t they….”

Effective PR using a range of available mediums including web portals and social media can
mitigate (but cannot eliminate) this type of negative influence in your stakeholder
community, both within the organisation and externally. The challenge is to be first, to be
understood and to be credible. Some of the options include:

• Project newsletters (or blogs) with positive, benefits focused information and
accomplishments.

• Travelling road shows and awareness building sessions that people can attend at
various locations to explain the project and benefits.

• Testimonials that describe how the project deliverables provided value. To build
excitement and get people to read your PR, consider contests with simple prizes or a
project countdown-until-live date.

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 • Being open to ‘pull’ communication, by placing useful information such as
frequently-asked questions (FAQ) and project documentation in a common repository,
directory or website that people can access subject to appropriate security processes.

• Making sure your team are ‘on-message’ and have a good ‘elevator pitch’ that
explains the project and its benefits in 30 seconds – you never know when someone
will have a minute to talk to the CEO.

• Investing in project memorabilia/collectables with project name or image portrayed,

such as pins, pencils, Frisbees, cups, T-shirts, etc. The project team members and their
personal networks are one of your greatest assets – make them proud to ‘show off’ the
project (this helps with team building too).

Developing an effective PR campaign is a skilled communications process designed to build

buy-in and enthusiasm for the work you are undertaking and the deliverables it will produce.
It is well worth the effort on almost every project! It is far easier to create a good first
impression than to try to change an already formed bad impression among your stakeholders,
and is particularly important if your project is going to change how people do their jobs –
your project will experience far lower levels of opposition and the change manager will thank
you.

c. Reporting

Reporting fulfils two useful purposes:

Firstly it demonstrates you are running your project properly, project managers are expected
to produce reports and have schedules, etc., issuing reports shows that you are conforming to
expectations.

Secondly, copying a report to a person can back up the overall PR effort and keeps you in
touch with them for when more significant communications are needed. You cannot avoid
reports; they are required by your company and often by law. You simply create them as
needed. Some examples include:

 Project status reports.

 Minutes of meetings with your sponsor or project steering committee.
 Required reports to shareholders or your Board of Directors.

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  Government mandated reports, safety reports, audit reports, etc.

The information in reports is typically pushed (i.e., sent directly to) to recipients and whilst
this creates a consistent set of data in a time series of themselves reports are not
communication, although information in a report can be used as part of a purposeful
communication.

Some final thoughts:

 Effective communication needs to be designed to be effective within the stakeholder’s

culture. This means learning how the person operates and what is normal for them –
you need to communicate within their paradigm. And you need regular testing of the
overall communication process to make sure it’s working effectively.
 Building this type of communication environment designed to support project success
requires a strategic approach, the pay-back is less time spent firefighting and dealing
with ad hoc enquiries.
 Most managers accept Philip Crosby’s maxim ‘quality is free’, I would argue so is the
cost of effective stakeholder engagement.
 Don’t be lulled/ soothed into a false sense of security just because everything in your
stakeholder environment is currently peaceful and productive. A ‘big mission’ or
crisis can override culture for a short time and make a group seem like a
homogeneous team but once the pressure is off people revert to their normal
behaviours and unexpected issues can emerge – constant vigilance and maintenance
of key relationships is critical to achieving final success.

Finally, the common stakeholder communication mediums could include:

 Regular meetings via video or in person

 Emails
 Phone calls
 Presentations
 Newsletters
 Notice boards
 Annual or monthly progress reports
 Press releases

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What are the types of project communications?

Communication Styles Differences

Interactive Communication Pull Communication

Media to Video conferences, phones, meetings, websites, knowledge repositories,

communicate etc. bulletin boards, etc.

An important meeting with stakeholders Browsing through websites for

Example
over a video conference information

The Importance of Communication in Project Management

Project teams often overlook aspects of communication. This is a fatal mistake and dooms
some projects from the start. Learn how to improve communication within your project team.

In most project teams, communication lives in emails and spreadsheets for project
management. When the client asks to push a deadline forward through email, it has to be
manually updated to a board or a sheet to which every team member has access. If an
individual is not aware of such a change, tasks remain unfinished.

1.3. Communication competence

Communicative competence is the ability to achieve communicative goals in a socially

appropriate manner. It is organized and goal-oriented, i.e. it includes the ability to select and
apply skills that are appropriate and effective in the respective context.

Communication competence in project stakeholder communication management respect

cultural differences and sensitivities. Maintain a tone that is encouraging and positive. Be
clear and concise with messaging regardless of the delivery medium used. Be aware of
common communication challenges, such as diffusing negative emotions or conflict.

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1.4. Aspects of successful/effective communication

For communication to be effective, it must be clear, correct, complete, concise, and

compassionate (5 C’s). We consider these to be the 5 C's of communication, though they
may vary depending on who you're asking.

Effective communication is the process of exchanging ideas, thoughts, opinions, knowledge,

and data so that the message is received and understood with clarity and purpose. When we
communicate effectively, both the sender and receiver feel satisfied.

Communication occurs in many forms, including verbal and non-verbal, written, visual, and
listening. It can occur in person, on the internet (on forums, social media, and websites), over
the phone (through apps, calls, and video), or by mail.

Effective communication depends on:

 Language and tone of voice

 Questioning and listening skills
 Usage of non-verbal communication: a) Body language b) Facial expressions c) Eye
contact with the audience d) Position in the room

How to be successful at project communication management?

Excellent communication is a critical component of project success. In fact, poor

communication is one of the main reasons a project can fail. Project communication
management ensures that does not happen.

Successful project managers use formal and informal communication methods across various
channels. This helps increase the chances that messages are received. Use simple language,
stick to relevant topics, keep messages concise, and include all information in one place to
reduce your chances of communication failure.

The following communication management skills can also increase a project manager’s
chances of success:

 Strong active listening skills

 Proficient writing skills
 Excellent speaking ability
 Asking questions and probing for more information

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  Setting and managing expectations
 Motivating people to become and stay engaged
 Conflict resolution skills
 The ability to summarize and recap what you’ve heard
What are the five processes of project communication?

How to improve project communication management across the project lifecycle?

 Project phase 1: Initiation. This is a huge, critical project phase, and we won't be
getting into the process here. ...
 Project phase 2: Planning. ...
 Project phases 3 and 4: Execution and Monitoring. ...
 Project phase 5: Closing.
What are the project communication processes?

Project Communications Management includes the processes that are required to ensure
timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval,
management, control, monitoring, and the ultimate disposition of project information.

What is good project communication?

Effective communication in project management requires the use of clear and concise
language, active listening, and the ability to tailor communication to the audience. Project
managers must also be able to adapt their communication style to different situations and
audiences.

What are the elements of project communication?

In this article, we will cover the key components of a project communication plan, including
identifying stakeholders, defining communication goals and strategies, determining
communication channels, establishing a communication schedule, and assigning
communication responsibilities.

What are the 7 C's of project communication?

The seven C's are: clear, correct, complete, concrete, concise, considered and courteous.

What are the six C's of project communication?

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They are Clear, Concise, Correct, Contextual, Concrete and Caring. Becoming adept at
harnessing the Six C's also makes you a more compelling individual and not just a
compelling communicator.

What are the responsibilities of project communication?

Ninety percent of a project manager’s job is communicating. The communication

responsibilities include identifying the stakeholders, planning what communications will be
appropriate, distributing and receiving information, managing stakeholders’ expectations, and
providing performance reporting.

What are the 4 basic processes of communication?

The communication process is made up of four key components. Those components include
encoding, medium of transmission (channel), decoding, and feedback.

What are five ways to improve project communication?

Five Ways to Improve Project Communication

 Practice active listening. When we think about improving our communication, we

often think about the words we speak. ...
 Keep your project management teams small. ...
 Use more interactive communication. ...
 Focus on your nonverbal skills. ...
 Plan your project meetings.
Why is effective communication important in project management?

Without a sufficient project communication plan, it’s impossible to keep all responsible
parties up-to-date on the changing status of the project. There’s a lack of transparency which
eventually leads to inefficient, counterproductive decisions that will hinder the aims of the
project in question.

With effective communications in place, it’s easy to maintain transparency across all parts of
project management so that the best decisions are made, which will translate into efficient
project delivery.

How does communication fail in projects?

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When your communication strategy fails to function the way it’s supposed to, it affects the
quality of the work delivered and leaves your clients dissatisfied.

Here are some reasons why communication fails in most project teams:

1. Inadequate planning
If you fail to plan out a suitable communications strategy, you’ll end up with an unpleasant
scenario where the wrong channels are used at the wrong time. For example, if email is the
sole medium of communication in project management, then urgent requests won’t be
addressed in time. It’s important to establish a proper project management plan for different
purposes.

2. Lack of transparency
When team members are not aware of updates and the project’s progress, communication
gaps arise. Not everyone needs access to everything but creating a culture of trust and
transparency within the project team ensures that team members share their opinions and
concerns.

3. Failure to refine over time

No matter how fitting your project management communication strategy proves to be today,
along the line, you’ll discover scenarios you never planned for. Failure to refine your project
management communications strategy over time will result in having a communications
blueprint that’s ill-suited to handle the growing needs of your project management process.

Three steps in project management communication process

When setting up a project management communication process, there are necessary

constituent procedures that should be put in place to ensure that you have an effective
communication outfit set up for success from the get-go.

1. Plan communication

Before you start any project, it’s necessary that a project communication plan is in place to
help determine how relevant information is passed along to relevant staff and systems.

The process of planning your communication management strategy should include defining:

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  A communications management tool that’ll serve as the center of your team’s
knowledge management. Use project collaboration tools to share documents and
feedback and to keep track of the status.
 A communications management chain or workflow that spells out clearly how the
information generated at each stage of the project is conveyed to where it’s needed.
Project communications management staff that’ll be responsible for conveying
information at every stage.

2. Manage communication

Once a project communication strategy is in place, the next step is to put it to work conveying
insights from where they’re generated in the project management process to where they’re
processed and applied by responsible staff in the following process.

Apart from fulfilling the use, it’s created for, actually putting a project management
communication strategy to work helps reveal shortcomings in your project management
strategy that may hinder your project management needs so you can plug them right away.

3. Monitor communication

Analyse your project collaboration strategy once in a while to uncover what’s working and
what’s not. Ensure that messages were sent and received using the intended channels and if
they were understood. Find where the gaps are in the early stages so they don’t end up
creating chaos at the end.

Key factors in project management communication

Within the wider bracket of your project management communication process, there are
several factors that define how effectively your communication strategy performs. Therefore,
in order to optimize for success, the following are some of the factors, an effective
communication process must center around:

The key factors in project management communication are:

 Objectives
Every message that is sent out in the project management process either to internal teams or
to external stakeholders should have a specific project objective attached to it so the recipient
can take action and close the loop.

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  Audience
The audience in question refers to the recipient(s) (internal or external) of any messages sent
out in the project management communication process. One primary objective of every
message sent out to an audience must be to convey meaning as easily as possible so the
audience can take appropriate action with minimal or no friction.

 Message
Messages sent out to project management stakeholders must be tailored both to convey
meaning to the audience in an ideal fashion and as well, in a manner that’s within the
capability of the originating stakeholder/source of the message.

 Channels
Clearly define communication channels for keeping stakeholders in the loop regarding any
project under management.

How to create a project communication plan?

Project management communication plan helps you communicate with the project teams and
stakeholders. It also determines how information is shared and delivered to everyone who is
involved with the project. Now that you know how an effective communication process is
critical to a project’s success, there are steps you can take to create and maintain an effective
project management communication plan that works for your needs. These include:

1. Analyse your needs. Consult relevant staff and find out exactly what they need to do their
best work.

2. Assign responsible staff to undertake specific parts of the process.

3. Analyse your communications process to uncover any stages where upgrades or

improvements may be needed for optimum productivity.

4. Keep iterating your communication process to stay relevant to your needs.

With the guidelines we’ve offered you above, detailing how to set up and manage an
effective project management communication plan, there are as well, widely-accepted project
management best practices you can incorporate at the different levels of your project
management communication process to create a project management system that works for
stakeholders to get work done as seamlessly as possible.

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The four steps on how to write a project management communication are:

1. Fill in as many variables as possible

Don’t leave any stakeholders guessing the (i). what, (ii). who, (iii). why, (iv). how, or (v).
where any information is passed along to them. Stakeholders must be able to grasp the
meaning and make decisions as soon as information gets to their stage of the process.

This way, there’s consensus without sacrificing time from actually getting work done.

2. Build for your team

Ultimately, it’s your team that’ll eventually have to use whatever strategy you create so it’s
best to keep their considerations and feedback at every point of building a communication
process.

3. Be flexible

Keep what works no matter how aged it is; toss out what doesn’t work no matter how trendy
it is, or how much effort has gone into it. Prioritize for efficiency and actually solve real-life
communications problems.

4. Choose the right tools

Using the right project communication tools to communicate is critical for a project’s
success. You can use,

 Emails,
 Chat software,
 In-person meetings,
 Project collaboration tools, or
 Combination of all of these.
Successful projects rely on effective communication

With effective communication practices and processes, you can eliminate misunderstandings
around project goals and objectives. There are going to be fewer conflicts. Team members
and stakeholders will be on the same page. Planning for communication means that you take
the time, early in the project planning process, to understand stakeholders and how they want

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to be communicated. This means they’re more engaged and committed to the success of the
project.

1.5. Communication essentials

Communication essentials convey ideas and information through the use of spoken language.
Convey ideas and information through the use of imagery or wordless cues. Communicate
effectively by summarizing and restating what you hear in your own words in order to
confirm the understanding of all parties. The five communication essentials are:

a. Written Communication

Convey ideas and information through the use of written language.

b. Oral Communication

Convey ideas and information through the use of spoken language.

c. Non-verbal and Visual Communication

Convey ideas and information through the use of imagery or wordless cues.

d. Active listening

Communicate effectively by summarizing and restating what you hear in your own words in
order to confirm the understanding of all parties. Active listening helps people to open up,
avoid misunderstandings, resolve conflicts and build trust.

e. Contextual Communication

Communicate effectively in different contexts, including those pertaining to various

populations, persons, situations, environments or sets of behaviors. This includes such
contexts as professional, cross-cultural, online, academic and crisis communication.

1.6. Understanding the recipient of the communication

The receiver is the recipient of the message and must translate the words into thoughts,
process the thoughts, and determine how to respond to the sender. A receiver's role in clear,
effective communication is an important one. In the communication process, the "receiver" is

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the listener, reader, or observer—that is, the individual (or the group of individuals) to whom
a message is directed. The receiver is also called the "audience" or decoder.

The person who initiates a message in the communication process is called the "sender." Put
simply, an "effective" message is one that's received in the way that the sender intended.
Problems can arise on both ends that prevent the intended message from getting through to
the receiver.

The communication process has seven essential elements. Here are seven elements that are
essential to successful communication.

1. Sender

The sender is the person who is trying to communicate a message.

The sender wants the other person to receive and understand his/her message. The intent of
the message is usually to get the other person(s) to do or understand something.

Unfortunately, in the transference of information, the other person(s) may not understand the
message the way the sender intended. In fact, it is not uncommon for the other person(s) to
respond in some affirmative manner communicating the message was received. This does not
mean the message was understood the way the sender intended.

2. Receiver

The receiver is the recipient of the message and must translate the words into thoughts,
process the thoughts, and determine how to respond to the sender. The challenge is that since
the receiver’s education and experience may be very different from the sender, words often
have different meanings.

3. Message

While you may carefully choose the words to speak, words alone represent a small
percentage of what is received by the other person. In fact, according to the literature, words
carry the least value in the message. Hence, what is said is not nearly as communicative as
body language and voice inflection. Even when no words are spoken, communication is
taking place. If a person frowns, does not make eye contact, or looks at his/her watch a
message is being sent…and it may not be the intended message.

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Consequently, it makes sense to pay attention to body language and voice inflection. This
takes more than casual watching and listening. It takes our full attention to be most effective.

An effective message is one where there is congruency, or agreement, between the words,
meaning, and emotion. Body language and voice inflection are essential in achieving
congruency.

4. Channel

Channel is the medium used by the sender to send the message to the receiver. This may be
in-person, via telephone, e-mail, text message, written correspondence or a third-party.

An important point to remember is that when communication is only verbal the most
important element of communication…body language…is left out. If the communication is
written, then both body language and voice inflection are left out.

Therefore, depending on the nature of the message to be sent, a sender will want to consider
which medium to use. More critical messages may require face-to-face meetings, while less
critical messages may be appropriately sent via a verbal or written message.

5. Noise

Noise refers to interference that takes place during the communication process. Both the
sender and receiver may be distracted by noise. Noise may come from internal (thoughts,
emotions, etc.) or external sources (radios, other conversations, etc.).

When encountering a noise, take steps to reduce the distraction. If the noise is internal, take
some time to refocus. Taking several deeps breathes can help. Excusing yourself to go get a
drink of water may be the mental break needed to clear the mind. If the noise is external,
then try to find a quieter location for the meeting. If necessary, consider rescheduling the
meeting for a time when there are fewer distractions.

6. Feedback

Feedback is the process of determining if the message has been properly received. This can
be initiated by the sender or receiver. The sender, for example, may ask the receiver to repeat
the message to confirm that the message was received as intended. On the other hand, a good
listener will provide feedback to confirm that he/she correctly received the message.
Feedback may occur in four ways:

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First, and probably most common, is paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is reciting back what the
other person said in your own words.

The second is summarizing. This involves making a brief statement of the key points and
feelings expressed by the other person.

The third is to reflect the feelings. The focus is not so much on the message as the emotions
behind the message. This is often an effective way to reflect empathy.

The fourth way is to reflect meaning. The focus of this type of feedback is to identify the
meaning being expressed by the other person. On occasion, a person says one thing, but it
carries a different meaning.

7. Context

Context is another way of taking into consideration the setting. Examples of context include:

 What is going through the other person’s mind when you show up? Did they just have
a blow-up with an employee or customer?
 What is the environment like? Is it noisy? Are there customers standing around?
 What was the nature of the last contact and how did that go?
 What cultural factors should be considered?
 Are there notes or helpful information from the person who took the initial call?

The communication process could be represented by the following communication model.

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 The communication model

1.7. Monitoring, implementation and measuring effectiveness of

communication
1.7.1. Monitoring stakeholder communication

This process used to be called ‘control communications’. It involves monitoring and

controlling project communications throughout the entire lifecycle. This may include the
confirmation of the following:

 Communications went out as planned

 They were received by the proper stakeholders
 Messages were understood
 Any relevant feedback was provided to the appropriate project members

The actual type of monitoring, including method and frequency, should be a part of the
project communication management plan. Manage and monitor communication effortlessly
in one platform.

1.7.2. Implementing stakeholder communication

Once you have created your stakeholder communication management plan, you need to put it
into action and follow it throughout the project lifecycle. To ensure successful
implementation, communicate regularly and consistently with your stakeholders according to
the agreed schedule and frequency.

You can use various methods and channels of communication, such as meetings, reports,
emails, newsletters, presentations, webinars, social media, or feedback forms. You should
also consider the resources, costs, and risks involved in each method and channel.

1.7.3. Measuring effectiveness of communication

Five steps to measure communication effectiveness are:

 Begin with a strategic focus.

 Outline priority objectives.
 Align on return on investment (ROI) targets.
 Select key performance indicators (KPI) measures.

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  Share actionable insights.

Others indicate that communication effectiveness could be measured by:

1. Setting objectives – defining SMART goals with quantifiable KPIs.

2. Check-ins assesses current performance at different timelines to track success in real time.

3. Analysing results – using both qualitative and quantitative measures.

The techniques to measure communication effectiveness are:

Open ended questions

Open-ended questions in employee surveys are used to capture employee sentiment in their
own words. These are usually optional rather than mandatory questions and can provide
valuable deeper insights into issues of interest or concern.

Avoiding bias

When surveys rely on employees to opt-in or 'self-select', you may hear from only those
people with an agenda motivating them to participate. Employ random sampling and
escalation options in your surveys to help ensure that data collected is representative of the
whole organization.

Focus groups

Face-to-face interviews and focus groups are often the best option for qualitative
communication measurement. Some of the challenges to consider with focus groups is
encouraging participation, plus managing attendance and required resources (people, venues,
catering etc.).

Discussion forums

Internal social media can be a rich source of insights into employee sentiment and attitudes.
Set up employee discussion forums to investigate specific issues. Monitor comments made in
discussion forums to gather qualitative measures of how employees are thinking, feeling and
behaving.

Control groups

Control groups involve isolating a group, such as employees in a single remote location, and
not communicating with them about a specific initiative or goal.

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Targeting features make it possible to pilot and pre-test communications within a specified
group of employees. You can then analyse how their actions differ from groups you have
communicated with.

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