I realize the irony in the above question from a communications consultant who normally talks about the need for communicating. But there is a point where too much is not a good thing.

Perspective is the most important skill an effective communicator possesses. Whether you are working with a person on staff, a volunteer or a consultant, you are wise to listen! A great communicator will not tell you what you want to hear; he or she will advise you on what to do for your best chance of success.

For example, if you are rolling out a project, it is easy to think this is the most important topic for staff across your organization. Most of the time, it isn’t! There is a point where it may be, but an all-staff, all-information approach can backfire on you.

I love this excerpt from a post from Joseph Phillips, a certified project manager, and a savvy communicator:

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.