Here are key highlights from our Project Management Masterclass v11.0 with Mr. Nana K.A Quansah.
Always know that whenever you open your mouth to speak, you are consciously or unconsciously categorized into one of these 3 domains of communicators:
- Awkward Communicators: Struggle with clarity, delivery, or engagement.
- Pretty Good Communicators: Clear and functional, but may lack strong persuasive punch or presence.
- Natural Communicators: Effortlessly connect, engage, and inspire their audience.
These communication categories are not an attachment to one’s personality, and as such one can be very friendly and still communicate awkwardly, because communication is both an Art and a Science.
1. The Core Elements of Delivery: VBW
Now, how one ends up in any of these categories is dependent on how they use their VBW (Voice, Body, Words):
- 1. Voice: Pacing, tone, pitch, projection, and vocal variety.
- 2. Body: Posture, eye contact, facial expressions, and hand gestures.
- 3. Words: Vocabulary choice, structural clarity, conciseness, and message framing.
2. Modeling Structures of Delivery
Excelling in using your voice, body, and words can be traced into these 3 modeling structures that in the long run influence our delivery whenever we communicate:
| Self-Efficacy | A task-specific belief in your ability to execute a particular action or achieve a particular outcome (coined by Albert Bandura). It’s narrow and situational: you can have high self-efficacy in public speaking but low self-efficacy in fixing a car engine. |
| Self-Esteem | An evaluative judgment of your overall worth as a person. It’s emotional and identity-based, not tied to any single skill. Someone can have high self-esteem while still doubting their ability to do a specific task well. • Inferiority Complex: Low self-esteem. • Ideal Self-Image: Balanced, healthy self-esteem (The Ideal State). • Superiority Complex: Inflated self-esteem. Note: Both low and inflated self-esteem are detrimental states. Strive for the ideal self-image. |
| Self-Confidence | The broadest and most behavioral of the three—an overall trust in your abilities and judgment, usually expressed outwardly (posture, tone, decisiveness). It sits between self-efficacy and self-esteem: it’s shaped by accumulated self-efficacy experiences and reinforced by self-esteem. |
Key Takeaway: Most people never become pretty good or natural communicators because they lack Self-Awareness.
3. The Business Impact of Effective Communication
As Project Managers and Leaders, communicating with confidence and clarity is non-negotiable in driving impact across our organizations and industry:
- 55% Critical Success Factor: According to a PMI article published in 2013, 55% of project managers say effective communication to all stakeholders is the most critical success factor in project management.
- 71% Project Success Rate: PMI’s Pulse of the Profession found that 71% of highly effective communicators delivered their projects on time and within budget, compared to their minimally communicative peers.
Beware of Unconscious Incompetence—where you don’t know what you don’t know. Improving your communication skills ensures you never fall into this trap.
4. The PREP Framework for Structured Communication
Here is a simple framework proven to deliver stunning presentations, speeches, and engaging conversations:
| P | Present Your Point | State your main point or key thesis clearly and concisely from the start. |
| R | State Your Reason | Explain the underlying why, rationale, or supporting logic behind your point. |
| E | Share An Example | Illustrate with a real-world story, case study, metric, or concrete instance. |
| P | Restate Your Point | Reiterate your core takeaway to enforce memory retention and call to action. |
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but was built everyday.”
Your communication skills demand your attention. Invest in learning how to speak well and you can sell yourself well too!
Written by Nana K.A Quansah
Speaker, Masterclass v11.0
