successful project management - Commonwealth of Learning

Clarity and audibility of expression
Are you aware that we are so used to hearing our voice that we tend to pay little
attention to how we sound when we speak. This is because in everyday social
interaction we get by in our conversations without paying much attention to what we
communicate and how we communicate it. However, in order for those we interact
with in the context of a project to understand us, what we communicate must be clear
while at the same time we must be heard (clarity and audibility). A distance education
project for which an institution invests financial, IT, human and other resources
should be perceived as a serious matter. As manager of the project you cannot,
therefore, afford not to be heard because you are unable to articulate issues clearly.
You should pay attention to what you say and how you say it. This includes diction,
pitch, volume, tone, and pace. Never mind this jargon because we are going to clarify
it in a moment.
Diction
Diction refers to how you say what you say, that is, whether you pronounce words
and sentences clearly or not. This is an issue in many countries where English, the
language through which interaction for projects is a second, or even a third language.
Even among speakers of the same mother tongue, there are dialect variations of the
first language (L1) that influence the way English words are pronounced. This
situation is exacerbated in circumstances where the team is made up of members
from different nationalities. A typical case can be cited from a particular DE institution
in Southern Africa where an Indian professional headed a project and the team
membership comprised people whose first languages were Setswana (Botswana),
KiSwahili (Uganda), Nyanja (Malawi), Shona (Zimbabwe), and Ibo (Nigeria). As you
will appreciate, this situation can be complex especially that the people pronounce
English words differently.
So, how does the project manager deal with such a situation to ensure clarity and
audibility?
• Firstly, it is necessary to acknowledge the differences in pronunciation, and
assure participants that it is not a disadvantage, but rather an advantage
since members will benefit from the differences.
• Secondly, when making a presentation, you should occasionally check if you
are speaking clearly by asking for feedback.
• Thirdly, ask one member to summarise what you have already said.
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