COURSE 4 – PROJECT EXECUTION: RUNNING THE PROJECT QUIZ ANSWERS

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1 Week 5: Effective Project Communication
2 EFFECTIVE PROJECT COMMUNICATION INTRODUCTION
3 TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: PROJECT COMMUNICATION
4 PRACTICE QUIZ: TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: EFFECTIVE MEETINGS
5 PROJECT EXECUTION: RUNNING THE PROJECT WEEKLY CHALLENGE 5
6 Effective Project Communication conclusion
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Week 5:  Effective Project Communication

EFFECTIVE PROJECT COMMUNICATION INTRODUCTION

It is precisely this that ChatGPT states for proud members of project stakeholders and teams:

“Communication is key, very effective communication within a project team being important for most projects’ success. Such communications will convey to all involved parties the person’s focus, be it the completion tasks, deadlines, and, generally, understanding of each person’s role.”

“Google’s Project Management: Professional Certificate on Coursera goes through much breath, not only to learn clearly-effective communication tools, methods, and processes of project management, but on areas like organizing and facilitating meetings, decision-making strategies, conflict resolution, best practices for status reporting, stakeholder management-let alone.”

This program has to offer some major strategies in delivering messages in any project environment.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Comment on tools benefiting project team communication.
  • Organizing and conducting meetings properly will guarantee the success of a project.
  • Learn the best practices of project status updates for stakeholders and team members.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: PROJECT COMMUNICATION

1. How should a project team communicate?

  • The project team should stick to email communication since it is standard practice in business.
  • The project team should communicate regularly and in various ways. (CORRECT)
  • The project team should use one mode of communication and rely on it consistently.
  • The project team should switch communication tools frequently to increase engagement.

Correct: The project team should use different methods of communication to ensure effective collaboration. Email, virtual meetings, and even project management tools can serve as possible options for communication. All these will allow the team members to stay connected, provide relevant information, and work in sync throughout all project phases.

2. Which of the following communication tools could a project manager use to create a project tracking report?

      • Asana (CORRECT)
      • Google Meet
      • Slack
      • Zoom

Correct: Asana is a workplace management and collaboration platform where project managers plan, track, and report project progress. It helps keep teams organized and on schedule. Suitable for remote teams, it provides a central collaboration and updates-communication in real time-coworkers to ensure smooth project execution.

3. What are the benefits of communication tools for project managers and project teams? Select all that apply.

  • They help project teams measure individual success compared to others on the team.
  • They offer various ways to properly format communication. (CORRECT)
  • They provide clarity and consistency of project details like key dates, tasks, and milestones. (CORRECT)
  • They share external user access to financial, business, and user data files.

The project manager would need to communicate certain things with the team at one time or the other in many different ways. With good formatting of communication, the team members can digest the information in a less cumbersome manner, keeping them more engaged and informed. Communication tools can facilitate such effective sharing of this information.

Communication tools will also help project managers to format for sharing. When project managers use communication tools to provide clarification and constancy on important project details, the project managers are better able to empower their teams to provide effective guidance and feedback bringing their efforts closer to the desired level of engagement.

4. What information should you include in the subject field of an email? Select all that apply.

  • What the email is about (CORRECT)
  • Whether the email requires an immediate response (CORRECT)
  • Whether the email is urgent (CORRECT)
  • What your job title and contact information is

Making it simple and clear: A subject should say what the email is about. Especially if it is urgent or needed a response, state this in the subject line and also the very first line of the email.

Your request should be written in the subject line of every email. Be sure that it’s clear what the subject is, particularly if the email needs to be responded to at once, what it’s about, and how urgent it is.

Business email is, therefore, the most standardized communicative medium; hence it means that the average worker receives a considerably high number of emails every day. Efficient communication thus requires efficient and reduced sending of emails followed by the clear and very direct subject of every email. This shows the extent of an issue, the urgency, and the expectations of a response.

5. What is timeboxing?

  • Inviting meeting participants who can contribute to the discussion
  • Ending a meeting early to give participants their time back
  • Starting and ending a meeting on time
  • Setting a time limit for discussion of a given topic (CORRECT)

Correct: Thus, timeboxing would mean setting expectations on how much time participants would take for each topic, plus a few bonus minutes for every discussion. This practically removes the overload from the agenda and allows for as frank as thorough a discussion as possible within the given time constraint.

6. Which of the following are tasks for a meeting moderator? Select all that apply.

  • Focus on presenting a topic
  • Determine the topic of the meeting
  • Guide the meeting (CORRECT)
  • Help participants ask questions in real time (CORRECT)

Meeting moderation takes such time in keeping with the attendance and the urgency of a meeting, it allows the presenter to focus on what he is supposed to deliver off the cuff, instead of dividing his attention for half of the time into keeping the discussion.

The same way, the meeting moderator can rattle questions through participants when someone makes a presentation. It will maintain the presenter on his topic even under difficult questions from some and will have to respond to needs from the other participants.

PRACTICE QUIZ: TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE: EFFECTIVE MEETINGS

1. Fill in the blank: For a project manager to organize an effective meeting, they must carefully select all attendees and prioritize meeting topics in a(n) _____.

  • project plan
  • communication plan
  • schedule
  • agenda (CORRECT)

Correct: A meeting agenda specifies the important subjects of the meeting with the purpose itself and the expectations clearly spelled out. A well written agenda needs to be prepared by the project manager and well in advance sent to all the attendees. This will ensure that an organized and purpose-driven meeting takes place.

2. Which of the following statements best describe effective meetings?

  • They are clear, important, relevant, and frequent.
  • They are virtual, quick, frequent, and straightforward.
  • They are in-person, engaging, motivational, and anticipated.
  • They are structured, intentional, collaborative, and inclusive. (CORRECT)

Correct: Ultimately, successful meetings would always have all the following features: whether they are small, big, planned, or impromptu. Fully utilizing the elements in organizing and designing a meeting involves a lot of mindful and intentional effort from the project manager.

3. What are some actions to take to ensure productivity during a meeting? Select all that apply.

  • Capture key points, action items, and decisions. (CORRECT)
  • Encourage participation. (CORRECT)
  • Prepare an agenda.
  • Determine the need for the meeting.
  • Email a recap of key decisions to participants
  • Practice and demonstrate active listening. (CORRECT)

Acquisition but recording items, allotting the actions to the corresponding superiors, noting important points, and decisions; spreading notes to the partakers of the meeting, then fix another appointment when necessary.

Every participant should be given time to speak during the meeting, and this should equally apply to people who are remote. It might be good to ask a question such as, “What does everyone think?” for wider participation.

During meetings, it is good to model active listening to show engagement. Use verbal cues such as, “That makes sense. Tell us more,” signalling that you are listening, as well as non-verbal signals, blinking and head nods for effective encouragement.

4. Why is it important to clearly state a meeting’s purpose and expectations in the agenda? Select all that apply.

  • To keep participants focused on the right topics (CORRECT)
  • To ensure everyone understands why they’re attending (CORRECT)
  • To help meeting attendees prepare (CORRECT)
  • To replace a meeting with a detailed communication

Meetings typically have a few purposes: making a decision, assigning an action to a person or group, pitching an idea, or working on a number of other things. The reason for having a meeting defines what should be the meeting’s purpose-the goal of the meeting as well as what the team will discuss. In turn keeps participants to the correct subjects.

No meeting should take place without clear, articulated purposes, outcomes, and expectations. Hence, once the attendees view the invite and agenda, it becomes more readily evident as to why they have been summoned.

It is good practice sharing a meeting agenda ahead with participants. This informs attendees on meeting goals and expectations enabling better preparation.

5. As a project manager, you recently shifted priorities due to a new expedited deliverables schedule. You decide to implement a new communication method to regularly track the project team on this very tight schedule. Which of the following is the most effective and timely communication method to ensure a successful project outcome?

  • Daily status meeting (CORRECT)
  • Kick-off meetings
  • Stakeholder meetings
  • Weekly email updates

Correct: A group meets every day to talk about updates, what’s been accomplished, any roadblocks and next stages in progress.

PROJECT EXECUTION: RUNNING THE PROJECT WEEKLY CHALLENGE 5

1. When communicating with your team, it’s important to remember that people process information and learn in various ways. What do these ways include? Select all that apply.

  • Listening (CORRECT)
  • Email
  • Watching (CORRECT)
  • Doing (CORRECT)

Some people learn best through listening. Therefore, always communicate with them in person or through phones as possible.

Some individuals learn better by watching someone else perform a task and copying their actions.

There are still some who learn best hands-on. Do permit them to practice the skill directly as the only way of mastering it.

2. What are potential downsides of using instant messaging? Select all that apply.

  • Quick response
  • Distraction (CORRECT)
  • Informality (CORRECT)
  • Difficult to track (CORRECT)

Instant chatting is too much distraction from work.

It promotes a use of casual language instead of the formal lingo when the situation calls for it.

It makes difficult searching for specific information in older messages after long back and forth messaging.

3. Which of the following elements do effective meetings always have in common? Select all that apply.

  • Structured (CORRECT)
  • Anticipated
  • Collaborative (CORRECT)
  • Inclusive (CORRECT)
  • Intentional (CORRECT)

An effective meeting is also structured. This means starting and stopping on time, determining who to invite, what subject to meet about, and establishing the name of the notetaker.

All effective meetings will be collaborative. This means working together to create something.

All effective meetings will also be inclusive. This means the project manager makes sure that people who might otherwise go unrecognized or marginalized are included.

All of them – effective meetings – will be intentional. They give the project manager a place to lay down the reason and expectations, all of which have to be included in the meeting agenda and the invitation so that everyone gets clear on the purpose of their visit.

4. Which three of the following are ways to make a meeting more collaborative?

  • Let participants respond in their preferred communication style (CORRECT)
  • Have a digital, shared meeting document (CORRECT)
  • Ensure the agenda isn’t full of presentations where participants are talked at (CORRECT)
  • Set a timebox for a meeting comment period
  • Allow participants to set the meeting’s purpose and expectation

5. Which meeting type is the official beginning of the project and serves as a way to align the team’s understanding of the project goals with actual plans and procedures.

  • Project review
  • Status update
  • Stakeholder review
  • Project kick-off (CORRECT)

6. Which of the following is a best practice when trying to clearly state what you want in an email?

  • List your request in the last paragraph of the email.
  • Avoid associating calls-to-action with your request.
  • Use acronyms whenever possible to keep the email short.
  • Include your request in the subject line of the email. (CORRECT)

7. Which of the following may help you create an inclusive team environment in meetings? Select all that apply.

  • Formalize initial check-ins for the group. (CORRECT)
  • Use images that reflect the diversity of the world. (CORRECT)
  • Give everyone your full attention. (CORRECT)
  • Encourage participants to share a single, similar perspective.

8. What can be done before a meeting to facilitate a more productive meeting? Select all that apply.

  • Invite only the people who need to be there and contribute to the meeting goals. (CORRECT)
  • Prepare an agenda that states the purpose and goals of the meeting. (CORRECT)
  • Set aside time to prepare for the meeting and review necessary materials. (CORRECT)
  • Recap key action items and share with participants.

9. What does a project manager have to communicate clearly when managing team documents? Select all that apply.

  • Who originally created the documents
  • How documents are used (CORRECT)
  • How often the documents get updated (CORRECT)
  • Who has access to the documents

10. In what type of meeting does the project manager meet with participants one-on-one in order to cover topics most relevant to them and to better understand their concerns?

  • Retrospective
  • Status update
  • Project kick-off
  • Stakeholder review (CORRECT)

11. Who is ultimately responsible for coordinating incoming and outgoing communication, connecting individuals to necessary information, and tracking who needs to receive what information and when?

  • Project team members
  • Stakeholders
  • The client
  • The project manager (CORRECT)

12.  Fill in the blank: A key component of inclusivity is ensuring your meetings and presentations are _____.

  • during normal business hours
  • in person
  • recorded
  • accessible (CORRECT)

Correct: Making your meetings and presentations accessible will go a long way in supporting inclusivity.

13. What actions may help make a meeting accessible for someone with a hearing impairment? Select all that apply.

  • Include all the information presented in a spoken presentation on slides. (CORRECT)
  • Speak loudly and slowly.
  • Face the person you are speaking with. (CORRECT)
  • Add closed captions or subtitles to videos. (CORRECT)

14. The use, access, or sharing of what types of confidential or need-to-know information is likely prohibited unless you’re given permission? Select all that apply.

  • Customer service contact information
  • User data (CORRECT)
  • Internal information about your organization’s products and services (CORRECT)
  • Financial and business data (CORRECT)

Terms and conditions of your organization describe that you may not share user data to any other sources except your organization.

Apart from this, any information regarding the products and services of the organization is kept confidential unless prior approval has been obtained from the organization.

The organization prohibits their employees from leaking any financial and business data outside the premises of the organization without consent or authorization.

15. Fill in the blank: _____ meetings have an agenda, time limit, and designated notetaker.

  • Broadcast
  • Informal
  • Structured (CORRECT)
  • Impromptu

Correct: Thus, these stages describe how a group passed through several stages to finally transform themselves into a highly functioning work unit.

16. Which of the following is a best practice when trying to structure your writing in an email?

  • Use bullets to make the email easier to scan. (CORRECT)
  • Avoid including hyperlinks to additional information.
  • Combine multiple paragraphs into one large paragraph.
  • Put the email’s main idea in the last sentence.

17. In a status update meeting, what questions does the project manager typically address? Select all that apply.

  • What lessons can the team learn about what’s going well?
  • How many tasks have been completed and how many remain? (CORRECT)
  • Are there any new costs that affect the bottom line? (CORRECT)
  • Is the team behind schedule, ahead of schedule, or on-schedule? (CORRECT)
  • Are there any current or anticipated issues? (CORRECT)

18. In what type of meeting does the agenda include topics such as lessons learned about what’s going well, what the team should keep doing, and what can be improved?

  • Status update
  • Project kick-off
  • Retrospective (CORRECT)
  • Stakeholder review

19. Why should you send any pre-reading materials in advance of a meeting?

  • Everyone is prepared to participate (CORRECT)
  • Skip over that information in your meeting
  • Provide a summary for you during the meeting (CORRECT)
  • Save time going over unimportant information (CORRECT)
  •  

20. What can be done during a meeting to facilitate a more productive meeting? Select all that apply.

  • Clearly state the meeting’s goals at the beginning of the meeting. (CORRECT)
  • Practice active listening and non-verbal communication. (CORRECT)
  • Encourage everyone to participate, including remote participants. (CORRECT)
  • Discourage open-ended and personal questions.

21. In what type of meeting does the project manager typically discuss how many tasks have been completed, whether the team is on schedule, and any current issues?

  • Status update (CORRECT)
  • Project kick-off
  • Stakeholder review
  • Retrospective

22. Which three of the following are benefits of work management and collaboration tools, such as Asana and Smartsheet?

  • Make sharing information and documents easy (CORRECT)
  • Send instant messages to teammates
  • Run effective meetings
  • Complete work in real time (CORRECT)
  • Focus communication within the context of specific tasks (CORRECT)

23. According to a Google study, productive meetings have what three elements in common?

  • At length of at least 30 minutes, active participation from attendees, and the correct attendees
  • Active participation from attendees, a clear and concise agenda, and the correct attendees (CORRECT)
  • A clear and concise agenda, the participation of three or fewer participants, and the correct attendees
  • No personal discussion, a length of at least 30 minutes, and a clear and concise agenda

24. When you create an email, in what section should you clearly state what the email is about?

  • Header
  • Subject line (CORRECT)
  • First line of the email
  • Closing line of the email

While a team does have a safe forum where such discussions can be held, it still follows that the team must also feel safe enough to question some processes and workflows.

One lets the entire team know that they are valued and welcomed into the process of gathering feedback.

25. Which of the following are key reasons to meet with stakeholders? Select all that apply.

  • Provide daily project updates
  • Make a decision or resolve a major issue (CORRECT)
  • Seek out and listen to feedback (CORRECT)
  • Present a project update (CORRECT)

26. Which of the following is a best practice when trying to keep your content concise in an email?

  • Leave out key information in the email so that the reader has engaging questions.
  • Send the same email content to both executives and teammates.
  • Remove any details in the email that don’t contribute to your readers’ needs. (CORRECT)
  • Think of all questions the reader may have and answer them in the email.

27. Fill in the blank: In order to set clear meeting expectations, help attendees prepare, keep everyone focused on the right topics, and clarify meeting expectations and goals, your meeting should have a(n) _____.

  • leader
  • agenda (CORRECT)
  • timeline
  • guest speaker

28. Which type of meeting is typically more formal, starts with a project update, and may include a decision to resolve a major issue?

  • Project kick-off
  • Status update
  • Stakeholder review (CORRECT)
  • Retrospective

29. What actions may help make a presentation accessible for someone with a visual impairment? Select all that apply.

  • Provide an accessible electronic format of the presentation. (CORRECT)
  • Describe all meaningful graphics in the presentation. (CORRECT)
  • Use a large font size (minimum 22 points). (CORRECT)
  • Use low-contrast colors.

30. Fill in the blank: A project review meeting is also called a _____.

  • Retrospective (CORRECT)
  • stakeholder review
  • status update
  • reflection

31. Which of the following are benefits of work management and collaboration tools, such as Asana and Smartsheet? Select all that apply.

  • Focus communication within the context of specific tasks (CORRECT)
  • Complete work in real time (CORRECT)
  • Make sharing information and documents easy (CORRECT)

32. Which of the following are ways to make a meeting more collaborative? Select all that apply.

  •  Let participants respond in their preferred communication style (CORRECT)
  •  Ensure the agenda isn’t full of presentations where participants are talked at (CORRECT)
  •  Have a digital, shared meeting document (CORRECT)

33. Which of the following can be a tool to communicate information with your team members quickly?

  • Keypoint slides
  • Instant messaging (CORRECT)
  • Video conferencing. 
  • Google Docs

34. A project manager schedules a meeting with their team members. What can they include in the description of the meeting to ensure it is structured and intentional?

  • Stakeholder feedback on the team members
  • Team members’ opinions of each other
  • The budget and timeline of the project 
  • The agenda and task priorities of the project (CORRECT)

35. Why should you send any pre-reading materials for a meeting in advance?

  • To be prepared to skip over that information in your meeting
  • To ensure everyone is prepared to participate (CORRECT)
  • To provide a summary for you during the meeting
  • To save time going over unimportant information

36. A project manager starts a project and schedules a project kickoff meeting. What should be on the meeting’s agenda?

  • The goals and plan for the project (CORRECT)
  • Reflections from a past project
  • Team members’ feedback on stakeholders
  • Daily check-in updates and blockers from the team

37. When writing an email, a project manager converts a large paragraph into bullet points to make the message look nicer. What email best practice are they using?

  • Ask important questions.
  • State what you want clearly.
  • Add more details to the email. 
  • Create more structure. (CORRECT)

38. A project manager schedules a recurring meeting with team members across different time zones. What best practice can they employ to ensure the meeting is productive?

  • Keep the meeting time for all team members exactly the same for the duration of the project. 
  • Alternate the meeting time across time zones so that all team members feel equal priority. (CORRECT)
  • Prioritize the stakeholder’s availability when scheduling the meeting. 
  • Keep the meeting times as early as possible for the project manager.

39. You schedule a daily meeting with team members to review their tasks and the project schedule. What type of meeting would be helpful?

  • Project kickoff
  • Retrospective
  • Stakeholder review
  • Status update (CORRECT)

40. A project manager presents slides in a meeting and includes closed captioning for each video. How are they practicing inclusivity in the meeting?

  • They are helping team members with hearing loss understand what is in the spoken presentation. (CORRECT)
  • They are speaking fast to get through material quickly. 
  • They are making the presentation more interesting by including videos.
  • They are aiming to impress the stakeholders.

41. What general rule should you follow when scheduling a status update meeting with your team?

  • The meeting should have a fixed agenda. (CORRECT)
  • The meeting agenda should be flexible because team members need to voice their concerns.
  • The team members should be able to discuss issues as long as they need to during the meeting.
  • The team members should be allowed to add items to the agenda as needed. 

42. A project manager decides to schedule a stakeholder review meeting. What should be the first item on their agenda?

  • The budget increase for a project
  • An overall status update of the project (CORRECT)
  • The issues for the project
  • Resource planning for the project

43. A project manager notices that two team members typically don’t speak up during meetings. What can they do to ensure everyone collaborates during the meeting? 

  • Invite leadership to meetings to encourage team members to speak. 
  • Document the team members’ behavior to discuss during reviews.
  • Trust that the team members will eventually speak up. 
  • Go around the room and ask for each team member’s feedback. (CORRECT)

44. What can a project manager do after a meeting to facilitate a more productive meeting?

  • Send out an email for attendees with a key summary and action items. (CORRECT)
  • Allow team members to comment on issues in a separate call. 
  • Send a quiz to team members to understand how much information they retain.
  • Schedule one-on-ones with team members who did not talk during the meeting. 

45. A project manager wants to review team performance on a project while also celebrating the project’s completion. What kind of meeting can they schedule?

  • Project kickoff
  • Retrospective (CORRECT)
  • Project update
  • Stakeholder review

Effective Project Communication conclusion

One of the most important ingredients of a good project manager is team communication. Know how to use appropriate tools of messaging and collaboration, and organize and lead meetings effectively!

Alongside that, it is very important to know how to provide brief yet clear project updates to all stakeholders. This course addresses these basic abilities that turn you into a competent project manager who can ensure projects succeed through good team communication. Join now on Coursera.org!

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