Succeeding in Internal Communications – Behind the Scenes with Effective Project Management

Rhonda J. Rathje, APR 

Welcome to “Succeeding in Internal Communications – Behind the Scenes with Effective Project Management.” 

As an Internal Communicator for your company, you not only need to know the ABCs of communications, but you must deliver and demonstrate results. Yet, many well-intended initiatives fail to deliver, despite the time and resources invested in them.

As the world becomes more complex, your business becomes more challenging. That means people need special tools, techniques and knowledge to handle their project management assignments, such as justifying your project, developing objectives and schedules, obtaining commitment from your team (stakeholders) for a project, delegating, holding people accountable and assessing the overall situation.

In fact, project management is noted as a top five competency considered most important for a successful Internal Communication (IC) practitioner. To further this point, project management skills are increasingly in demand.

Achieving excellence in project management will also help you:

• Improve your overall management skills, which will enhance your overall marketability
• Demonstrate that you mean business and you can get things done
• Deliver – results and outcomes – for your business
• Focus on the real work that needs to be done, thus helping you be more effective and value-added

That’s why you can also consider project management as an investment in yourself.

For some who have experience in project management, this course may serve as a refresher and provide you with new approaches to project managing. For those new to project management – as well as leading a project – you’ll learn valuable tips and tools to apply to your everyday work project.  For others, it will provide you with the essentials of basic project management skills so you can demonstrate your value to your organization.

As you progress through the course, you will be asked to apply what you have learned to a case study, develop a project plan and test your recall of the material presented.

This expert instructor provided all of the content and learning activities you will encounter in this course.  As this is an asynchronous course, it is designed to be a self-paced, independent-study program.  If you require guidance or assistance, the Academy team will be happy to help.  Use the "Questions" tab to post a new question.

Over the course of four lessons you will:

• Learn the various phases of project management and how to build a project description, along with a project plan
• Learn how a project manager can make or break a project, plus learn skills and tips necessary to be a successful project manager – communicating, leading and building a team
• Understand the fundamentals of a project so you can set realistic goals and objectives that are key to your project’s success
• Learn how to build, manage and direct an internal communications initiative through effective project management – how to create a plan, implement it, monitor progress, correct as necessary and deliver as promised
• Assess and monitor risks to a project and mitigate them
• Understand the challenges and opportunities of organizational dynamics in project management
• Discover the importance of communications to a better project and, thus, successful project management

After completing all lessons, you’ll know what it takes to be an effective and efficient project manager. You’ll improve a skillset that is increasingly important in today’s world, along with skills and tips that you can apply to your day-to-day communication tasks, as well as apply to any project you are assigned to lead.