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1. Keeping track of the team

Identifying who is on the team, their contact details and their role within the project is helpful in establishing a communication strategy and ensuring that all are included within the process. Keeping this up to date as the project runs, and distributing this information is also key. A proforma to help gather and store this information is available as Team Member Background Information  In PDF format

2. Keeping the team informed of project progress

List contact information, tasks to be done and responsibilities, project documents and so on, all in one place. Make sure you review where the project is with reference to the project document on a regular basis and disseminate that to all participants. Having a single list of tasks, and a list of those responsible for these tasks, can also be a useful resource within a project.

3. Anticipate time spent on communication

…collaboration is inherently more time-consuming – and hence resource-consuming and costly – than non-collaborative activities’ (Huxham, 1996)

4. Formal v. informal

Communication strategies may be more informal in small teams of researchers that have built up trust. The level of formality/informality needs to be identified

It is still vital to keep written records of agreements and plans for work however. In new or large groups communication must be frequent and structured.

5. Agree how decisions will be reached

It is important to agree and commit to a strategy for communicating as a project team.

Consider options. Having a communication strategy that people haven’t had an opportunity to agree on, or who aren’t fully aware of, will mean that communication won’t be effective.

6. Ensure people commit to communication

Not communicating is the surest way to undermine trust. If communication is failing, address the issues quickly and either find alternatives or emphasise the need to communicate. The need to answer emails promptly, and attend meetings, needs to be established in consortium agreements, and actions taken on failure to comply need to be identified.

Review the communication strategies after key stages, identify the best strategies for the remainder of the project based on experience. Be flexible, but be clear about the changed procedures.

7. Version control

Always add version numbers and dates to the header of documents, and update these each time a new version of a document is disseminated. Drafts should have a ‘0’ version number, to indicate that they are still ‘in beta’, ie in development. 1, 2, 3 etc. are reserved for release versions. Save each version with a different filename (that includes either the version number or the date). Page numbers help too. With international projects it might help to know that the metadata standard for recording dates is YYYY-MM-DD.

 

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