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Communications |
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All too often projects and programmes, both IT
and business-focussed, fail to deliver because of poor communications.
Problems arise, particularly in larger programmes, where the internal
communication within the team is poor, often because of people coming from
different disciplines or because they are scattered geographically. These
problems can result from a number of underlying causes, including use of
jargon and specialist abbreviations. Human nature dictates that the person
receiving the communication considers it a weakness to admit that they have
not understood and so they assume, often incorrectly, that they knew what
the other person was trying to say. Typical examples of such breakdowns in
communication are between people from the IT and business communities, who
speak quite different 'languages' and who often use the same abbreviations
to mean quite different things.
External communications are, of course, equally important. There is no point
in a project being on time, and on budget, if nobody is aware of the progress
made. All too often users and stakeholders are presented with deadlines that
could easily have been anticipated if the communications from the
project had been better. Good news is just as important as bad news. If
things are going well there is nothing wrong with sounding your own trumpet
and creating an environment in which people are looking forwrad to using the
new system or whatever the project is set to deliver.
I am often asked how someone with my
background came to be involved in helping people to improve their
communications. To me there is nothing more logical than applying my
knowledge and experiences of languages and linguistics to the challenge
presented by disparate communities who cannot speak to each other. I have
used my German and French skills throughout my career but generic language
skills can be equally applied to 'translating' betwen people who all use
English but who employ radically different terminology. This is achieved by
creating common glossaries, simplifying the terminology and eradicating
misunderstandings Below you will find examples of how I have appplied these
skills to practical situations: |
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Barclaycard |
The Sarbanes-Oxley programme was critical
to the bank and, with numerous operations around the UK and overseas, it was
vital to get a consistent message out to all colleagues at the same time,
from senior management to call centre operators. As head of the
communications workstream, I was responsible for creating awareness of
the issue across the company, using such memorable phrases as 'pull your SOX
up'. Because so many processes had to become SOX-compliant many people were
impacted and each had to be aware, in good time, of what was expected of
them and when. A project newsletter kept all major stakeholders aware of
developments, and of the timetable, and effective communications played an
important role in the project being delivered on time. |
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I identified that the advent of the single
currency was going to be a major issue for companies across the eurozone and
for Financial Services companies within the City. As Director
of euroTRANSFORMATION Services, I was personally responsible for mobilising the company
and ensuring that a common message was delivered to all clients. Externally,
I used a number oif different channels (articles, TV, radio and books) to
get the message out, to UK Plc, that time was of the essence and that the
extent of the challenge should not be underestimated. |
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