In many conversations, discussions and meetings, the language and words spoken generally do not convey the whole story. Some would say that only 10 to 20% of the message in any conversation is actually conveyed through spoken words. There are facial expressions, tones of speech, hand gestures and, of course,... read more →
Jun
14
Jun
07
One of the most readily apparent challenges facing the development of a communications plan for any international project is determining the best way for the project to communicate across time zones. This is a problem which changes in complexity and impact as the time zones spread out, but, regardless of... read more →
May
31
So, here is a question for you to ponder, do you have communications equality in your project? does your project and corporate hierarchy, structure and access to communications tools and technology match your project's communication aims and processes... Many projects make bold claims of being open to input and contributions... read more →
May
24
Within communications in international projects, one often overlooked facet which can be easily addressed, requires complex and committed effort and can cause substantial damage if handled badly is the management of communication silos and other barriers affecting communications between the various international parties. One of the biggest influences on a... read more →
May
17
For most of the time the virtual teams approach has been used in the modern industrial world, which is really since the internet and computer technology reached a point where it could support multi centre work, one of the key aspects most heavily exploited has been the outsourcing of more labour... read more →
May
10
With natural disasters and disruptions seemingly occurring somewhere in the world every week, whether earthquake, flood, tornado or cyclone. In recognising this, I got to thinking about the way that international projects often rely on their communications, both the face to face component, and their often relatively formalised and centralised communication and power... read more →
May
03
The advent of the video conference should have marked a quantum change in the way international project coordination meetings are conducted, however, a combination of the technology initially being both extremely expensive and complex, along with the immature technology at its launch, made it difficult to access for the majority... read more →
Apr
26
Marginalisation is a real problem faced by many if not all virtual teams at some point. However you structure your virtual work teams, you will almost always find some groups who feel they have more and some groups less control over the way the project is run. There will be groups who get... read more →
Apr
19
When you select and engage with an international partner for the execution of your projects, whether internal or external, what discussions do you have regarding strategic alignment of your goals, desires and organisational requirements? If you don't have such discussions, have you considered, or even experienced first hand, the impact... read more →
Apr
12
We all have our little speech quirks, turns of phrase, specialist business and technical language and colloquialisms. They are the little things we often say without thinking, the things that make perfect sense to us and, usually, though not always, make as much sense to our colleagues. They can be... read more →