Step One: Bridge the Technology DivideThe reality is that overall women tend to have less experience with technology than their male counterparts, whether we are talking about computer technology or auto technology. Instructors who are successful in retaining female students recognize that they need to start with the basics during the beginning of the semester so that the less experienced students get the basic building blocks needed to be successful (this is helpful to male students missing those basics too). So that might mean an introduction to tool identification and use or the basics of navigating the Internet. Instructors should also provide open lab time for students in need of additional hands-on experience. If possible, staff the lab with a senior female student, women are often more comfortable asking questions of other women in a male-dominated field. For some best practice case study examples that illustrate these concepts look at the Cisco Gender Initiative’s Best Practice Case Studies developed by the Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Science (IWITTS) (1).Step Two: Collaborative Learning in the Technology ClassroomMany female students lack confidence in the classroom and this negatively impacts their learning ability. There are several reasons for this: first, overall, male students have more experience with technology, especially hands-on labs; second, male students tend to boast of their accomplishments while females tend to think that they are doing poorly even when they are doing well; third, male students tend to dominate in classroom discussions and lab activities.Technology instructors can overcome these factors by using collaborative group methods in the classroom designed to increase student learning, interaction and support of each other. Some examples of these group methods are: 1) grade students in teams as well as individually; 2) put female students in positions of leadership in the classroom; 3) assign students to teams or pairs rather than leaving it up to them to pick their partners; 4) have female students work together in labs during the beginning of the semester; 5) enlist the help of whiz kids with the teaching of their fellow students, providing them with a constructive outlet for their talents.Step Three: Contextual LearningThe recent adage that women are from Mars and men are from Venus is alive and well in the technology classroom — women and men have different learning styles when it comes to technology. Most men are excited by the technology itself — how fast it is, the number of gigabytes, the size of the engine. Most women are engaged by how the technology will be used — how quickly the network will run, how much information can be stored, how far the vehicle can go without refueling. These Mars and Venus differences have implications for the class curriculum: female students will better understand technical concepts in the classroom when they understand the context for them. Don’t front load your computer programming classes with writing computer code with no context for this if you want to retain most of your female students. For more information on this subject including off-the-shelf curriculums for teaching contextual technology read IWITTS’s Making Math and Technology Courses User Friendly to Women and Minorities: An Annotated Bibliography (2).Step Four: The Math FactorMost technology courses require an understanding of applied math. Many women and girls are fearful of math and have had negative experiences in the math classroom. This phenomenon is so common that courses and curriculum on math anxiety for women are in place around the country. The key to success in teaching most females math is — like technology — contextual and group learning. Fortunately many off-the-shelf curriculums exist for teaching math contextually, see IWITTS’s bibliography linked above. Many technology courses at the two-year college level have math prerequisites that are unrelated to the technology coursework and omit the applied math that will be needed. Technology courses should only require math that is relevant to their courses and/or develop contextual math modules to add to their curriculum.Step Five: Connect the Women in Your Classes with Other WomenA female mentor or peer support network can help your students stay the course when they are feeling discouraged and can provide helpful tips for succeeding in a predominantly male environment. There are many on-line and real-time associations for women in technology, connect your female students to them. See the Career Links on WomenTechWorld.org for a list of some of these networks. Also, WomenTechTalk on WomenTechWorld.org — a free listserv for women in technology and students — provides a combination of support and expert career panels to it’s over 200 members from across the U.S.

Have you ever been on the side of the conversation where all you heard was a voice like Charlie Brown’s teacher? “Wa-wa-waa-wwaa.” (That’d be funny if you watched more Charlie Brown.)Or how about listening to your date? Yada, yada, blah, blah, Cubs game, blah, blah, beer, blah, blah, pizza.Or what about when your favorite project team member enters your office. He says, “Hi. Got a real problem I could use some help with. I’m having a tough time understanding the project requirements on this deliverable.” And you hear, “Blah, blah, blah, problem, blah, blah, tough, blah.”It’s not that you don’t mean to understand your date or your project team member–it’s just that you’re not listening. You’ve got a bazillion things racing through your head, you’re focused on seven different projects, and the baseball steroid hearings were so frightening that you can’t decide how your fantasy baseball league will shape up. (That’s shape up, not shoot up.)Communication, as you can tell from the above, is more than just talking. Communication is also listening. When it comes to project management, communication takes up 90% of a project manager’s time. That’s right–90% of your time.I communicated something to you and you did what I asked. If only projects were that easy! Sometimes you, the project manager, have to do a lot of begging and pleading, like I did above, just to get your project team members to do what they need to do. You know what needs to be done and you need to transfer that knowledge to your project team members. And then they go do it.Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work.Real communication is about transferring knowledge. You know something and you tell someone else, and then they know it. But it doesn’t always work that way, does it? Communication is tough. There are two big categories of communications: written and oral.The Written WordWritten stuff, like this article, can seem to be direct. I write. My editor edits. You read. But what if I’m not clear in my writing? What if you don’t get my jokes? Or my grammar and punctuation is so poor that you miss the point? Communication fails.This is true in your life, too. Imagine that you sent an email to Susan, a team member. Here’s one draft of your email:Susan,I need a project team member who knows what Oracle is all about. You are smart, talented, on time, and savvy. Team members who are not like you admit to knowing nothing about Oracle. Our project is horrible when you’re away. This project is going great.Best,Your favorite Project ManagerWow! Susan sounds fantastic. But is that what you really wanted to say to Susan? What if your punctuation was so bad that Susan got the wrong message? Here’s what you meant to say:Susan,I need a project team member who knows what Oracle is. All about you are smart, talented, on time, and savvy team members who are not like you. Admit to knowing nothing about Oracle! Our project is horrible. When you’re away, this project is going great.Best,Your favorite Project ManagerYikes!Alright, so this is an extreme example, but I’d bet dollars to donuts you’ve added some sarcasm, a joke, or a comment that came off the wrong way in an email message and mushroomed into a huge problem. The point is that written communication has its challenges within a project. Email is great. I love it and use it every day, but when the message is muddy in any written message, it can have large ramifications.Say It Like You Mean ItSo if written communication has its challenges, verbal communications must be great, right? We know better. Think back to your teenage days, when your folks would say that it’s not what you say, but how you say it. Well, that’s what my dad would tell me. And, as usual, he was right.Dad was telling me, teaching me, about paralingual communications. Paralingual describes the pitch, tone, and inflections in the speaker’s voice that affect the message. Can you think of all the different ways a project team member can say, “Sure. I’ll get right on it.” I bet you’ve heard them all.And then there’s the nonverbal communication–all that body language. (For Olivia Newton-John fans: Let me hear your body talk.) Posture, facial expression, shoulders, tugging on the ears, crossed arms, hand signals accentuate or reply to the message you’re hearing.Ready for another statistic? Good. About 55% of all communication is nonverbal. If this is true, and I believe it to be true, you can see why phone calls, broadcast videos, and teleconferences aren’t as effective as face-to-face meetings.You’ve been in meetings and witnessed team members’ expressions when you’ve shared good or bad news. And then you’ve reacted to the expressions on their faces, right? You’ve modified your message for clarity, you’ve asked them if they’ve got a freakin’ problem, you’ve continued with your spiel because they’re nodding their heads in agreement with you.Just to be clear, and I want to be clear, a verbal message is affected by three major things:· The message itself· Paralingual attributes of the message· Nonverbal communicationTo be a great communicator takes experience. To be an effective communicator, you must ask questions. Do you understand me? Questions help the project team, the audience, your date, ask for clarification, deeper understanding, and an exact transfer of knowledge.One approach, sometimes called “parroting,” requires the speaker to ask the project team to repeat the message in their own words. For example:YOU: We’ve got to get this application developed by the end of the week or you’re all fired. Now, Jim, tell me what this means.JIM: You’re an idiot?YOU: No, you’re fired. Sally?SALLY: We’ve got to get this software developed by Friday or we’ll be joining Jim at Wal-Mart.YOU: That’s it. Get out. Get it done.Parroting can be demeaning, especially for Jim, but it’s effective. You can be a bit more subtle than what I’ve presented here, by asking the audience if they’re clear on the message, and then asking questions based on what you’ve presented.But What About Planning?Thanks for asking. Of course you have to plan to communicate. Communication planning comes down to this key question: Who needs what information, when do they need it, and in what modality?Who needs what? This tackles two major issues in any project. “Who” describes the stakeholders with whom you and your project team need to communicate. “What” describes the information that they’ll need.Not all of your stakeholders will need the same information. Sure, that sounds obvious, but have you ever met one of those moron project managers (yes, the guy a few cubes from you) who sends out all project information to everyone who’s even heard of his project? This guy thinks he’s covering all of his bases because everyone has all of the information. The problem with this approach is the same problem with giving your cat the whole bag of cat food at once: Only give what’s needed or things will get messy.One tool that can help the project manager and the project team to determine who needs to participate in communications is a simple communication matrix. A communication matrix is a table of all the project stakeholders in both the row and column headings. A check in the intersection of the two stakeholders represent that these two stakeholders will need to communicate.The hard part, the planning part, is determining what information is needed between the two stakeholders. Usually the major communications needs will be obvious; functional managers need to know information related to their employees on your project, such as schedules and time accountability. The project sponsor and key stakeholders need information on the project status, finances, and any variances in cost and time. You’ll need to work with your project team and the stakeholders to determine the more involved communication demands.You’ll also have to tackle the “when” problem. Depending on the stakeholders, information needs vary between daily, weekly, monthly, and “based on conditions in the project.” For example, your project sponsor may ask for weekly status reports, but the project champion may ask for status reports just once a month.The secret is to schedule and, if possible, automate the communication demands as much as possible. Yes, automate. If your project-management information system is worth much, you can create macros, templates, even auto-generate reports on a regular schedule. Think of the time you’ll save (and can invest in your fantasy baseball league) by automating communications. Many project managers I meet don’t automate, don’t schedule, and don’t use a communication matrix. And then these project managers forget who needs what and when they need it. And then everyone whines. Please.Now for the modality. Some communications can be accomplished in a quick email. Others require an extensive spreadsheet, report, and executive summaries. Some communication is expected in quick, ad hoc meetings, while other needs may mean business suits and, gosh, PowerPoint slideshows. The point is simple: Give stakeholders the information they need in the modality they’ll be expecting.Communication Is Also ListeningTime to shut up. You’ve planned for communications and now you’re following your plan. But you have to listen to what’s being said. I don’t know about you, but I have two ears and one mouth. I’ve heard that this means I should listen twice as much as I talk. I have to listen to understand and receive the messages being sent to me.As a project manager, you have scores of communication channels. And within your project there are potentially hundreds of communication channels. The larger the project, the greater opportunity for communications to break down. Here’s a nifty formula to show you just how many opportunities there are for communication to fail: (N*(N-1))/2. That’s N times N-1 divided by 2. N represents all the key stakeholders.Wanna try it? Let’s say we have a project with 10 stakeholders, including you, the project manager. That’d be 10 times 9, a big 90. Divide that by 2 and you’ve got 45 communication channels. Now ask yourself, “What’s for lunch?” Sorry. Ask yourself, “How many stakeholders are on my project?” A bunch, I bet.Go ahead and try this formula on one of your projects. I’ll wait.See how the possibilities for communication failure just came into focus? Scary.So, to be effective, we’ve got to listen to what’s coming at us, what’s being discussed among our project team, and what they’re telling our stakeholders. You, the project manager, must be at the center of communications; you have to be the communications hub.Now do you believe that communication takes up 90% of a project manager’s time?