Communication Skills for Project Managers | The Best Books

I’ll own up: this is one of my own project management books. And I think it’s the best.

I genuinely believe that this is the best book of its kind on the market. If you need to take a structured approach to stakeholder engagement on your project, and if you want to know all the basics and some of the advanced techniques, this is a comprehensive reference work. No serious project manager should be ignorant of the range of stakeholder analysis tools, how to plan your communication campaign, and the fundamentals of influence at all levels. There are free resources at: http://theinfluenceagenda.co.uk.

Top Pick for Project Managers

This is the nearest competitor book to The Influence Agenda. Lynda Bourne is a deep expert in Stakeholder Engagement, who has her own trademarked methodology. I’ll be honest and say I’ve not read this book, but her articles are always informative and thought-provoking.

This is a huge best seller about why some ideas ‘stick’, and how to make your messages sticky. I’ve placed this under stakeholder engagement, rather than persuasive communication, because, to me, it reads as a playbook on planning your stakeholder engagement campaign, when you need to win over commitment to your ideas.

This has become something of a business classic in the years since it was first published in 2007. So I highly recommend you read this.

Top Pick for Project Managers

I’ll start with one of mine, because it is so wide-ranging.

How to Speak so People Listen touches upon just about every component of spoken communication. It distills everything I have learned about conversation, difficult conversations, presentations, meetings, phone conversations, and even influencing. What I love most about it are the wonderful illustrations by artist and friend, Toni Goffe. And you can download tons of free resources and videos from the book’s website at: http://speaksopeoplelisten.co.uk

I love Leil Lowndes’ books. They have great titles (try How to Make Anyone Like You (US|UK), or even How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You (US|UK)).

But this is the one for good solid relationship-building conversation. All her books have lots (this one has 92) of short chapters, each giving a valuable tip in a clear way. And she has a talent for naming her tips so they will stick in your mind: ‘the big baby pivot’, ‘never the naked job’, and ‘commYOUnucation’ stuck in mine.

This is a serious book for serious professionals. Of all the books I read when learning about excellence in communication, this one had the most profound impact. It won’t give you easy tips and hints. Instead it will take you deep into how to make your conversations more profound and powerful. If you want to be a deep listener and make individual conversations transformative, this is for you. It’s a book for people committed to a respectful style of leadership.

If you need to draft structured, compelling business/organizational writing (and clue: you do) – this is THE book to read. I was trained in this back in the late 1990s, but I still apply the ideas. No ifs. No buts. This is GOOD.

Top Pick for Project Managers

The Harvard Business Review guides are typically excellent – as you’d expect from the premier academic business journal. In researching a book that would have good, basic advice that is widely recommended, this one came up again and again. So, sight unseen, and relying on recommendations and Amazon reviews, I offer this to you.

I have written four books in this series myself. When I started, the publisher gave me this one, as an example of one of the best. I’s full of really good advice that’s easy to assimilate. It may appeal to writers in British English more than users of US English (for whom I recommend the HBR book, above).

There’s a part of me that really wants this book. It’s one of the few here I don’t own, but it is so widely used and recommended by professionals and business people in the US, that I can’t not include it.

So, why don’t I buy it, as a professional writer. Because I’m British, by gosh, and I have my copies of Fowler (US|UK) and Partridge (US|UK).

Oops… I just bought it. It’s on its way!

This one is an absolute classic. I’ve written my own book on Influence (see below) which is good. But, if you want the science, from the man who has done more research into the psychology of influence than anyone else, get this book. It is excellent in every way. It’s readable, rigorous, and has loads of mini case studies to bring the book to life.

Beware: there is another book still in print called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. This is an earlier edition of the same book. The newer book, Influence: Science and Practice has more information, is printed on better paper, and is the one Cialdini recommends on his website.

In this book, I took all I knew about influence, distilled don to the most useful parts for managers, project managers, and business professionals, and wrote about it in the most clear and straightforward way I could. It is one of my three best-selling books.

As a project manager, this is ideal for you. My former boss – a very senior project practitioner – says the book provides ‘pragmatic, easy to follow steps to achieving brilliant influence’. Maybe I influenced him to say that. Maybe he said it because that’s what he thought. Either way, it suggests the book has plenty to teach you!

This is one of the most refreshing takes on influence and persuasion that I have come across. It was also the first book I bought by these authors (and two others are listed below).

This book is as much about behaviors as it is about words, but then… behavior is communication. What we do says as much as what we say. And, because a lot of the context of this book is around change, it is particularly valuable to Project Managers.

Top Pick for Project Managers

Here’s a book for a dedicated communicator. If you are someone who loves the power of language, then you’ll love any of Heinrichs’ books. And if you want to delve into the rhetorical skills of winning arguments, this is the best book on the topic I have found. It’s not a textbook, so it’s a pleasure to read. But you’ll learn a lot from this, I guarantee it.

As a project manager, you’ll often need to pass on uncomfortable messages, or confront awkward facts. If you want to learn from masters about how to prepare for and hold difficult conversations, there’s no better book than this one.

This book is like a companion piece to the previous one in my list (and the third by these authors). It steps up the pressure from difficult conversations to conflict resolution. And it’s another master class from which you can learn loads.

This is one of those ‘start here’ books. If you want the basics of how to understand and deal with difficult behavior in the workplace, here’s your starting place. While the two books above are ideal for Project Managers with experience, if you are new to the workplace, leading your first project, or struggling to understand the dynamics of difficult behavior… Start here.

Top Pick for Project Managers

This was the first book I read on presenting and speaking to an audience and it blew me away. It’s out of print now and can be hard to get hold of, but if you want t learn how to speak effectively, you should consider this for your collection.

What does the title mean? It’s a piece of history: Nikita Krushchev, General Secretary of the former Soviet Union, took off his shoe and banged it on the table at the UN General Assembly, to get attention. It worked.

I like books on formal speaking: standing in front of an audience with no slides, and letting the power of your words carry your message alone. This book won’t be for everyone. It was a close call between this and Max Atkinson’s ‘Lend Me Your Ears’ (US|UK). I chose this, because it is more about the subject than a how to.

For most Project Managers, the key skill of public speaking is giving a business presentation. And I know of no better guide book than this. Short, easy to read, lots of graphics, and sound advice. This book is not for mastering the art, but for taking it on. It’s in its second edition, which is always a good sign.

Top Pick for Project Managers

This is the first of two mastery-level books on business presentations.

Here, Carmine Gallo (also author of ‘Talk like TED‘ (US|UK) – but we prefer the book below) looks at what made Steve Jobs’ Apple product launch presentations so mesmerizing.

One of the best ways to learn to speak is to watch a variety of speakers and performers at TED.com. The TED organization (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) challenges experts in every field to give the best talk of their lives.

For the main TED conferences, speakers get extensive coaching. Largely, they perform at the peak level of professional speaking. So, here is a book on how they do it, by the founder of TED, Chris Anderson.