Communication for Project Managers Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Project Managers, Senior Project Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CS-103

Before you join: Participants should have experience contributing to or managing projects and should understand basic project terms such as scope, milestones, risks, issues and stakeholders.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Projects lose time when stakeholders receive the wrong level of detail, decisions remain implicit, risks are reported too late, or teams interpret the same message differently. Project managers must communicate upward to sponsors, laterally to functional managers and suppliers, and directly to delivery teams. They also need to handle disagreement, secure decisions, report exceptions and maintain trust when scope, priorities or timelines change.

This five-day course develops the communication methods project managers use to manage those demands. Participants analyse stakeholders using salience and interest–influence models, build communication requirements matrices, choose appropriate channels and structure clear messages for different audiences. They practise active listening, questioning, facilitation, executive briefing, status reporting, influence, negotiation, feedback and conflict conversations. The course also addresses remote communication, time-zone coordination, accessibility and cultural differences affecting project work.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with realistic project cases, group analysis, simulations and individual application planning. Cases reflect situations such as a delayed technology implementation, a public-sector programme requiring sponsor approval, and a cross-functional operational change. Participants leave with a completed Project Communication Playbook containing stakeholder analysis, a communication plan, meeting structures, escalation routes, reporting formats and a 30-day application plan. The course is available as instructor-led classroom training in 50+ cities or live online. Participants receive a certificate of completion.

It is suited to project managers and project professionals who already manage project communications but need a more deliberate, consistent approach to stakeholder engagement, decision-making and difficult conversations.

What you will be able to do

  • Develop a stakeholder communication plan using salience, influence and communication requirements analyses
  • Tailor project messages for sponsors, delivery teams, suppliers and operational stakeholders
  • Use active listening, structured questioning and paraphrasing to uncover concerns and assumptions
  • Facilitate meetings that produce decisions, actions, owners and recorded commitments
  • Create concise status reports, dashboards and executive decision briefings
  • Apply principled negotiation and influence techniques to gain stakeholder commitment
  • Conduct feedback and conflict conversations using SBI, DESC and Thomas-Kilmann methods
  • Produce a reusable Project Communication Playbook and 30-day application plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence leading sponsor, team and supplier conversations
  • Clearer executive updates that secure timely decisions
  • Practical scripts for addressing missed commitments and difficult behaviour
  • Reduced time spent resolving misunderstandings and repeated explanations
  • A personal communication plan for current project priorities

For your organisation

  • Earlier escalation of risks, dependencies and decisions requiring management attention
  • More consistent project reporting across teams and workstreams
  • Fewer delays caused by unclear ownership, assumptions and decision rights
  • Better sponsor visibility of progress, exceptions and required actions
  • Improved collaboration between project, business, technical and supplier teams

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can diagnose common project communication failures and identify their personal communication patterns.

  • Communication breakdown patterns traced to unclear ownership, assumptions and decision rights
  • Sender–message–channel–receiver model used to diagnose project misunderstandings
  • Encoding, decoding and noise examined in technical and business messages
  • Communication styles identified through observable preferences, pace and information needs
  • Johari Window used to distinguish known, hidden and blind information
  • Project communication self-assessment against stakeholder feedback and incident patterns

Participants can segment stakeholders and select communication approaches suited to their interests and authority.

  • Stakeholder salience model maps power, legitimacy and urgency
  • Interest–influence matrix prioritises communication effort and executive attention
  • Stakeholder interviews uncover success criteria, constraints, fears and preferred channels
  • Persona cards capture audience knowledge, authority, language and decision needs
  • RACI matrix clarifies accountable owners, consulted experts and informed parties
  • Opposition mapping distinguishes blockers, sceptics, advocates and undecided stakeholders

Participants can build a project communication plan with defined audiences, channels, timing and escalation routes.

  • PMBOK communication management processes translated into a usable project plan
  • Communication requirements matrix links audiences, messages, channels, frequency and owners
  • Channel selection balances richness, urgency, confidentiality, reach and auditability
  • Escalation paths specify thresholds, recipients, response times and decision authority
  • Information radiators differentiate operational visibility from formal reporting obligations
  • Version control prevents conflicting status reports, decisions and baseline documents

Participants can listen actively and use questions to surface facts, assumptions, concerns and underlying needs.

  • Active listening uses paraphrasing, summarising, probing and emotional labelling
  • Open, closed and funnel questions uncover facts, assumptions and concerns
  • Question ladders move from symptoms to causes, impacts and options
  • Silence, pauses and wait time improve responses during sensitive discussions
  • Non-verbal cues interpreted cautiously without assigning unsupported motives
  • Listening logs separate observations, interpretations, questions and agreed actions

Participants can structure clear project messages and lead meetings that produce agreed actions and decisions.

  • Message maps organise headline, supporting evidence, implications and requested action
  • BLUF structure presents bottom line, rationale and required decision
  • Plain-language editing removes jargon, ambiguity, hedging and overloaded sentences
  • Agenda design states purpose, outcomes, preparation and timed discussion blocks
  • Facilitation techniques manage airtime, digressions, disagreement and unresolved items
  • Meeting minutes record decisions, owners, deadlines, dependencies and dissent
  • Action registers distinguish commitments, recommendations, risks and open questions

Participants can prepare evidence-based project updates that focus leaders on decisions and exceptions.

  • RAG status criteria defined with evidence thresholds and escalation triggers
  • One-page dashboards connect scope, schedule, cost, risk and decisions
  • Exception reporting focuses senior attention on variance, impact and required action
  • Data storytelling pairs trend evidence with causes, forecast and recommendation
  • RAID logs communicate risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies consistently
  • Executive briefings distinguish information, endorsement requests and decision papers

Participants can influence stakeholders, negotiate trade-offs and secure clear project commitments.

  • Stakeholder influence strategies match interests, incentives, authority and resistance
  • Principled negotiation separates people, interests, options and objective criteria
  • Framing techniques present trade-offs through outcomes, risks, costs and choices
  • Pre-wiring builds understanding before formal governance and steering meetings
  • Decision logs capture alternatives, criteria, approvers, rationale and consequences
  • Commitment language tests ownership, timing, resources and acceptance conditions

Participants can address performance concerns, disagreement and conflict while maintaining productive working relationships.

  • SBI feedback frames situation, behaviour and observable project impact
  • DESC script prepares assertive requests, boundaries and consequences
  • Thomas-Kilmann modes selected according to stakes, relationships and time
  • Crucial conversations separate facts, stories, feelings and requests
  • De-escalation language acknowledges concerns while returning discussion to evidence
  • Conflict agreements define issue, interests, options, actions and follow-up

Participants can design inclusive communication routines for distributed and culturally diverse project teams.

  • Communication charters establish response norms, channels, availability and escalation
  • Remote meeting design assigns roles, participation methods and decision checkpoints
  • Async updates use concise context, progress, blockers, requests and deadlines
  • Time-zone protocols protect handovers, meeting equity and response expectations
  • Cultural intelligence examines directness, hierarchy, face-saving and silence
  • Accessible communication considers language proficiency, captions, formats and visual clarity

Participants can consolidate course methods into a practical communication plan for their current project work.

  • Project Communication Playbook consolidates stakeholder, channel, meeting and escalation choices
  • Message rehearsal tests clarity, likely objections, evidence and requested decisions
  • Personal triggers identified through feedback patterns, pressure points and recovery tactics
  • Thirty-day application plan schedules conversations, reports and stakeholder check-ins
  • Peer review criteria assess audience fit, clarity, actionability and credibility
  • Success measures track decision latency, rework, attendance and stakeholder confidence

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Project Communication Playbook template
  2. Stakeholder salience and interest–influence analysis
  3. Communication requirements matrix
  4. Executive status report and decision briefing templates
  5. Meeting agenda, minutes and action register templates
  6. Thirty-day communication application plan

Who should attend

  • Project Managers — need clearer stakeholder alignment, reporting and decision processes
  • Senior Project Managers — need stronger influence with sponsors and senior stakeholders
  • Programme Managers — coordinate communication across interdependent projects and workstreams
  • Project Coordinators — support meetings, reporting, action tracking and stakeholder follow-up
  • PMO Managers — set practical communication standards for project teams
  • Technical Leads — explain delivery risks, trade-offs and dependencies to non-technical audiences

Skills and tools covered

Stakeholder communication planningExecutive message designMeeting facilitationProject status reportingConflict resolutionRemote communication

Tools and standards

PMBOK Guide, RACI matrix, Stakeholder Salience Model, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by case work, group analysis, simulations and structured reflection. Participants practise turning project information into stakeholder-specific messages, chairing decision-focused meetings, responding to objections and handling conflict conversations. Cases are adapted to the cohort’s sectors and project contexts. Individual application planning connects the methods to live stakeholders, upcoming reports and planned meetings. Instructor feedback focuses on clarity, audience fit, evidence, tone and requested action.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience contributing to or managing projects and should understand basic project terms such as scope, milestones, risks, issues and stakeholders. They should be ready to discuss communication situations from their own work, including meetings, reporting and stakeholder relationships. No formal project management qualification is required. Participants do not need prior training in communication theory, negotiation or conflict management. The course does not require specialist software, financial analysis expertise or prior experience leading large programmes.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic project work and have some experience participating in project meetings, reporting or stakeholder communication. No formal project management qualification or prior communication training is required.

Bring details of a current or recent project, including key stakeholders, recurring meetings and communication difficulties. You may also bring an anonymised status report, meeting agenda or stakeholder map for use during application planning.

The course is designed primarily for project managers, senior project managers, programme managers, project coordinators and PMO staff. It also suits technical leads who need to communicate project risks and choices to business stakeholders.

This course applies communication methods to project situations: stakeholder analysis, status reporting, governance meetings, escalation, scope trade-offs and delivery conflict. General communication courses may cover presentation or interpersonal skills without these project management applications.

Participants build a Project Communication Playbook based on a current project and identify specific conversations, reports and meetings to improve. The 30-day application plan provides a practical sequence for putting the methods into use.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The five days cover ten modules in teaching order, with time allocated to instruction, project cases, group work, simulations, feedback and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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