Project Management Tip #1 – The Common Language Exercise

When working on any project, including arts education projects, the first and most important step to take with your team is to define a common language. When you say “success”, “vision”, “result”, what do you mean? When you say “arts” “education” “excellence” do you all share the same definition?

For a sector’s perspective on the issue, please refer to the related article: Defining arts education and decoding the tower of Babel

Establishing a common language is absolutely KEY to the success of your project (s), there is no way around it. Below is an exercise that can help you make your team understand how crucial it is to share a common language/vision before you break down and brainstorm with them the details of your own project’s language.

The common Language Exercise 

Download the exercise as a “ready to use” powerpoint here: The Common Language Exercise PowerPoint Template

1.  Works in pairs for the exercise
2. Give the following instructions:”One teammate takes a pen and a sheet of paper and look away from the screen. The other person must describe the drawing number 1 (on the screen or on a printed sheet), only using words. The goal is for the person not looking at the picture to draw something as close as possible from drawing 1 with only the verbal guidance of your teammate. Success = have the exact same drawing”.
3. Give each group only 2 minutes (time it! Project management is always time limited)
4. Make every group show their results and without debriefing, do the exact same exercise but switch roles and use drawing number 2.
5. Give each group only 2 minutes (time it! Project management is always time limited)

6. Make every group show their results and this time ask them: How was the exercise? Why was it more difficult to get successful results with drawing number 2?

The debriefing

Answers and debrief should lead to the fact that success was more difficult to achieve with drawing number 2 because we all know what a “square”, a “circle” or a line is but for certain shapes (which is always true for a project’s terminology) we do not have a common language, we all describe and understand it in our own way. This is of course why it is so important to agree on a common understanding that the team can refer to while working together and ensure they are on the same page when doing so.

Communication Communication Communication!

Getting and keeping everyone in the loop of the common vision is key to the success of the project and must be done not only at the beginning but must be nurtured at all time until you close the project (or indefinitely if you are an organisation).

Project Management is not only about tools and skills: project management is all about teamwork and human relationships.

(Charles Pellerin): Ultimately, in order to become a very effective project leader, one who does not have innate emotion-driven leadership will have to develop the necessary genuine ‘gratifying’ and ‘including’ behaviours to succeed, and be able to handle effectively larger, more complex project teams.

Written and compiled by Marie Sachet