The importance of communication

Communication is a key skill for every role in the C-suite, but for a Chief Delivery Officer (and for anyone leading delivery teams) communication is so important that it merits its own discussion.

Communication skills are vital for anyone responsible for delivery, but the Chief Delivery Officer gives leadership for how it's done, setting the example for others to follow, providing a model and giving support.

It's a multidimensional quality, involving spoken and written communication, high competence in asking questions, excellence in listening, deep emotional intelligence, strong capability in presenting coherently to large audiences, facilitating in workshops, giving leadership to teams, talking openly with groups, and sharing in one-to-one contexts also.

The breadth of communication skills #

Excellence in communication is an essential quality for a CDO.

👉 The CDO needs to give clarity at all points of a project's lifecycle, so that everyone with a concern can understand what's being done currently, what's already been done, what's going to be done next, what will be done in due course, what won't be done — and why.

👉 You will need to offer understanding, making hard or complex subjects, often technical ones, intelligible and engaging for non-specialists, frequently with the aim of winning hearts and minds for taking a particular path together.

👉 The CDO needs to be able to translate things between contexts, to talk in the appropriate language of the audience, so that everyone can understand what they need know and can help in the way that is needed, whether that's the customer themselves or their project team, the stakeholders of the project, the delivery team themselves, other parts of the company (in product, say, or design, technology or engineering, UX, sales, or wherever), or the company's management or exec team.

👉 The ability to pitch at an appropriate level is essential. When bringing a team together, the CDO will need to pitch the project and its goals to bring people onboard. Especially at early stages of a delivery project, but equally at later points too, the CDO will need to present the way the delivery team (and wider business) understands the customer's problem(s) and the solution(s) to address it.

👉 The CDO will need to be credible when communicating with business decision-makers, both on the customer's side and C-suite or leadership team itself, presenting the objectives, the route to take to get there, together with the rationale, the implications, the risks and the benefits.

👉 The CDO needs to communicate with experts effectively and credibly, whether on a given subject matter, a technology or platform, a process, or something else, understanding their domain, seeking clarification and conformation and absorbing that knowledge to make use of it as appropriate.

👉 A CDO will need to lean on a deep emotional intelligence, understanding what individuals, team members and whole groups both want and need. In particular, the CDO will need to be able to perceive often what is not being said, to project one's self into another person's experience and discern how they may be feeling, how things will be heard from their point of view, or the challenges they may be facing. Often times, it is important to do this ahead of time, to anticipate how things could land and to act in advance accordingly and with wisdom.

A Chief Delivery Officer needs an unusually comprehensive skillset in this area of communication.

This overview is a helpful way to start understanding the subject, but we'll turn now to look at what this means in the different settings of service and project delivery, what communication skills are required in the context of:

• the customers
• leading the delivery team
• drawing together 'one team' to deliver projects
• supporting individuals
• the wider business

One thing to consider first, though.

Communication with multiple intelligences #

In the 1970s and '80s, developmental psychologist Howard Gardner proposed the idea that human intelligence shows signs of several distinguishable different types, rather than having a singular general intelligence. To capture the full range of abilities and talents that people possess, Gardner proposed that individuals might display strengths, preferences, or particular competencies in a set of intelligence types he had identified:

1. Visual–spatial
2. Linguistic–verbal
3. Logical–mathematical
4. Body–kinaesthetic
5. Musical
6. Interpersonal
7. Intrapersonal
8. Naturalistic

A ninth, 'existential–moral' has also been proposed.

Usually, people will favour anything from 2 to 4 of these types. Most will make use of all to some degree, though everyone will undoubtedly find some particularly hard. Rarely would anyone depend on one type alone.

There's no need to discuss Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences fully here (though reading further on multiple intelligences could be rewarding), and certainly the thesis has important criticisms that should temper an overblown enthusiasm for the concept.

Nonetheless, there are some helpful insights to learn and absorb without needing to adopt Gardner's theory wholesale.

• People are not uniform. What works well for one person will not work well for another.
• This simple-powerful understanding is as important in communication as it is in any other work task.
  • In the knowledge economy, even more so.
• It is also as important for people en masse, in group settings, as it is on an individual scale.
• In essence, this means that the medium and context of what is being covered is every bit as important as the subject itself. For example:
  • Some will absorb things by being told; others just can't do that at all.
  • Some need to touch or move a thing to understand it; others need to see it visually.
  • Some comprehend things by talking them over; others need to take them away and work with it in their own time.
  • And so on.
• When communicating, either individually or en masse, with synchronously (in real time, in a meeting or event, say) or asynchronously (catching up in a recording, reading a document or email or message, say), it's helpful to conceive of several ways to put across the subject or the important information.
  • If you only communicate in spoken work, in person, then that makes things difficult for those who need time and space to read.
  • If you only communicate in words then that makes things difficult for those who need to see pictures and diagrams.
  • If you only present things once in a static form then that makes things hard for people who need to interact with a thing to understand it.
  • And so on.

Effective communicators will use multiple modes of communicating simultaneously so that their audience will be able to engage in the form that works best for them. They may even use modes of communication that can be used at the time and afterwards as well.

Gifted communicators will know their audience and perceive their favoured intelligence type(s) and speak with them in that mode.

The most gifted communicators will have their audience think that they are speaking with someone like them — the person sounds like them because their communication is fully rounded and makes strong and healthy use simultaneously of as many modes as possible.

Communication with customers #

During the delivery phase of any work for customers, the organisation's relationship to it's clients is at its closest. It's vital, then, that the type and quality of communication at this stage is at its highest point.

This is a core duty for a CDO, which means communication of this type has to also be a core skill. The CDO chooses the language, the style, and the format of communication for delivery teams, and this is both a reflection and a representation of the personality of the business.

What we're talking about here is professionalism in communication with customers.

Communicating how with customers #

There's two distinct phases of working with customers, and two modes of communication that go with them.

At the early stages, the project doesn't have a plan, when you are seeking understanding.

At the later stages, the project does have a plan and the delivery work is underway, when you are seeking agreement and healthy decision-making.

In terms of communication, that means:

At the earliest stages of projects #

At this point, you are seeking understanding — trying to learn as much as possible in order to understand the objective of the work. This understanding will shape the plans that are needed to achieve those objectives, and to give you a healthy way to deal with the inevitable stuff that's unforeseen.

• deep and patient listening
  • to the expertise of your clients
  • to the experts in your delivery team
• asking thoroughgoing questions
• playing it back to be confident in what you've learnt
• checking, validating and revalidating
• interpreting and analysing what you've heard …
• … so you can turn that into valid plans
• … and checking and rechecking the plans are actually valid (more on this later!)

At later stages of projects #

Now, the mode of communication shifts towards informing the customer and agreeing together on the path forward.

At this stage, issues arise. As the leader of the delivery efforts, your task is to makes sure you have a healthy way to handle those issues, a way that maintains momentum and does not lose sight of the objective. We'll talk about this in more depth elsewhere.

• explaining
  • the goals and objectives
  • the starting place
  • and the plan for getting from here to there
• portraying what has been done
• describing what will be done next
• preparing what will be done in due course
• accounting for what won't be done
• … and why
• giving clarity on issues and challenges that arise
• … and facilitating the decisions that need to be made about them

There are lots of ways to do this, and the means you choose will depend on lots of things:

• the type of project
• the size (and length) of the project
• the sector or industry for the project
• the persona of the business
• the needs of the delivery team
• your personality and preference(s)
• and more

Project planning itself is a big subject, so we'll discuss the arena of planning later.

Building 'one team' #

A primary objective of your communication as CDO is to bring diverse and divergent skills and expertise together into 'one team' — you and your people, the customer and their people, and suppliers and their people — and enable them to work together towards the shared objective of the project.

Remember, you are not trying to be the expert in the sector, whatever that might be — government or commerce or transport, or anything else. Your clients are the experts in their industry. Similarly, third-party suppliers are part of the 'one team' of the project specifically for the expertise they bring.

The 'one team' for the project needs to agree easy ways to coordinate their activities, communicate progress and collaborate. Transparency and openness within the team is a key trait — you can help achieve this by putting the shared objective at the centre of the team, such that the barriers that distinguish groups within the team are less relevant than the outcomes you're all working towards.

We'll return to this in more depth elsewhere in the handbook.

A note on frequency #

An important component of how you communicate with customers is about the frequency of your communication. Here's some rules of thumb or things to consider on the question of frequency.

Firstly, more transparency is always better than less, and full transparency is the optimum.

Most projects go wrong because problems are hidden or withheld until it's too late to do anything about them. The more transparent you are able to be, the earlier you talk about problems, the clearer you can discuss them, then the better placed you are to understand the issues, decide what to do about them, and then take actions that will work, as one team.

Secondly, frequent communication makes it easier to make sure things are clear for everyone involved, helps to prevent misunderstanding, and enables the project work to stay on the right track.

Thirdly, though, a lot of that will be determined by personalities. Part of your role is making sure your delivery team have what they need to get stuff done, and that often means time to focus. So, while a shared direct messaging channel (e.g. Slack) can seem helpful, if you have particularly chatty, verbose, or opinionated clients that can cause problems. In cases like this, you may need to protect your team's ability to focus and find a different means for clear and frequent communication with the customer.

Communicating what with customers #

We'll cover many of the specifics in later sections of this Handbook, but for now the things you should have in mind might include:

• the persona you use in written communication
  • especially in emails, but also,
  • templated items (e.g. 'welcome' packs and messages; slide decks; start/end of sprint/phase documents; etc.), and
  • in written documents (e.g. reports; schedule/scope of work documents; technical documentation; etc.), and
  • in more off-the-cuff formats such in direct messaging platforms (e.g. Slack, etc.)
• the meetings you arrange, including
  • the names you choose to use for those events (e.g. kick-off; inception; workshop; consultation; show-and-tell; project status; stakeholder review; etc.), and
  • the frequency of them
  • the openness of and audiences for them
• the tools you use
  • open shared folders for project documents
  • project management tools with graphical and/or configurable interfaces for different audiences
  • slide decks from meetings that you share directly and/or export to a permanent document
  • sprint/phase start and end documents
  • key reports at key moments in the overall progress
  • specific reports or data for key stakeholders

We'll return to all of these at various points elsewhere in the Handbook.

Communication inside the business #

Whatever business you join, regardless of whether its a company you've known from outside or in a sector you're familiar with, you mustn't assume that you understand it from the off. Even if you're moving within the same industry, the business itself will be unique and distinctive.

It's vital that you take time to understand the company and the way it works — its orientation and focus, its qualities and culture, the structures and team members within it, and so on — if you are going to be able to talk sensibly and coherently to the experts, specialists, practitioners, and key stakeholders in the business.

This is about understanding how the company pulls together towards its common goal. It's not about trying to become an expert in areas where others are already experts — strength doesn't come from everyone being the same. Rather, it's about comprehending how the matrix team works in the business. And it's about working out how you can help the company get the best from its expertise and capabilities when delivering things for its clients.

Communicating how with the business #

When you join the business, then, you'll need to spend time with particular subject matter experts in the business. That' i's definitely those involved in delivering the services or products that the business offers. But it will absolutely include numerous others as well.

• The CEO and/or founders, to understand the essence of the business, where it's come from and where it's going, and the specifics of its plans for next 6 months, year, 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years.
• The Chief Operating Officer (COO) and/or managing director (MD), to understand the key processes and frameworks for how the business runs
• The Chief Technology Officer (CTO), to understand the technologies, architectures, technical choices, technical limitations, lifecycles, and so on for what the company does and can do.
• The Chief Data Officer (the other CDO!), to understand the data climate, requirements, insights, and so on of what the business understands about itself and its customers.
• The Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), along with the heads of marketing, sales, and customer success (such as a Chief Customer Officer), to understand how the company presents itself to the outside, communicates and interacts with prospective customers, the commercial goals and/or drivers, etc.
• The Chief People Officer (CPO) or other head of personnel role, to understand the culture and behaviours of the business, how the company treats its people, the hiring processes, and so on.
• You may also consider meeting with some of the board members, particular the chair, if the board is especially active or has a particular stakeholder or reporting needs.
• If the company has an international dimension, you'll probably also want to talk with the CEO/MD of each region (EMEA, NA or Americas, LATAM, APAC, Aus/NZ, etc.)

When you're joining the business, try to spend this time together in person where possible, even if that means travelling to be together. And schedule an extended amount of time together, to really understand each other's worlds and particular perspective.

And there are numerous other key people to connect with, depending on the kind (and size!) of business you're joining:

• If it's a digital service or SaaS product business:
  • the technical leads and technical architects, both frontend and backend
  • the Chief Product Officer, or other head of product role
  • the Chief Design Officer, or other design lead
  • the user research lead
  • engineering manager(s)
  • the head of the support function
• If it's a design service business, or a marketing or branding agency, say:
  • The Creative Director and/or Chief Design Officer
  • The Strategy Director, or other strategy lead role
  • those in technical leadership roles, if/where that is a significant part of the design offering

And there's plenty of other examples besides, of course.

Keep on communicating with the business #

Having made these connections, you'll need to consider how you maintain them. This will be different for each person and each role in the business. That said, it will be important for you to look out for opportunities to talk, to find times when people can be kept informed, and to be conscious of situations and contexts where people should be involved or consulted.

Wherever there's a crossover, or it's likely you'll need to pull on the expertise or time of someone wearing a particular hat, make sure you put in time so that your communication with them is at its best.

Have a regular diary booking.
Meet up in person.
Have lunch together.
Etc.

Pay attention to things like regular demonstrations happening in other teams as well — get yourself invited along; find a chance to ask some pertinent questions; follow up on the things other people ask.

It's probably a good idea to consult the Chief Technology and Chief Data Officers regularly, especially for client projects with a significant technical dimension — they'll have important things to say about design, architecture, security, maintainability, and so on.

It's also a smart approach to talk plenty and often with the Commercial and Customer Office team leads — to understand what the pipeline looks like, what customer relationships are like outside the delivery phase, any alteration or shifts in strategy, and so on.

You may also want to consider scheduling a regular check-in with some key people, such as the product director, creative director, technical leads, engineering managers, and so on — these are people with roles that probably have quite a bit of overlap with your concerns.