6 Steps to Better Team Communication
December 31, 2016
Writing a grant proposal is rarely, if ever, a solo activity. Unless you are starting a nonprofit on your own and trying to land that first grant, preparing a grant takes multiple people.
Proposal teams can be configured different ways. You might have several people writing content, or maybe one person doing the bulk of the writing and a handful of people involved as reviewers. Either way, more than one person will be involved. For most grant applications, you’ll also need a finance person to prepare the budget unless it is a simple application requiring only a summary budget figure. You may also need help from HR staff to get copies of CVs for existing staff or to understand the process to post positions if the proposed project requires recruiting new staff.
All of these individuals—the writers, the reviewers, the finance people, the HR staff—require coordination. Central to that coordination is regular, clear communication. If you are planning to serve in the role as the team coordinator for a proposal, clear and effective communication (particularly written communication) is an essential skill you’ll need to cultivate.
Writing clear emails that actually get read takes practice.
HOW TO WRITE EMAILS THAT GET READ
Keep the emails short. If there is too much to share to keep it short, move some of the content to a Word document and attach it to the email, or consider holding in-person meetings or conference calls;
Use bullets to highlight key points so they don't get lost;
Keep paragraphs short. An email with lots of “white space” is easier to read and less overwhelming; and
Close the email with a summary of key points. If the email is simply informational, no action items, a bulleted list summarizing the main points will be adequate. If you need the reader to do something, end the email with a clear call to action (i.e. “Due Dates” or “Next Steps”).
Managing a proposal team can be challenging because the members may represent a variety of technical areas and have different communication preferences and work styles, and even (in the case of large proposal teams representing multiple partners) different employers. You may also have team members who work remotely and in a different time zone than the majority of team members. With all of these variables, communication within the team can quickly go awry, with deadlines misunderstood or not met, decisions around the proposal’s direction being misinterpreted or ignored, and persistent confusion around team roles.
SETTING YOUR TEAM UP FOR SUCCESS
No matter how great your organizational skills, miscommunications will still occur to some degree during the proposal-writing phase. You may find yourself repeatedly handling questions such as:
When is my section due?
When is the proposal due?
Who is on the proposal team?
How do I contact the other team members?
What is going on? I haven’t heard an update on the proposal in a while.
Where can I get a copy of the proposal?
Where can I get a copy of the proposal calendar?
Where can I get a copy of the funding opportunity announcement?
The following six communication strategies can help reduce questions like this and encourage better team communication and a more effective collaboration.
1. Discuss how team communication will be handled
After there has been a decision to move forward with a grant opportunity, you’ll want to schedule a meeting with all stakeholders as soon as possible to discuss the proposal calendar, roles for each team member, and the proposal strategy.
During this kick-off meeting, the team members should decide how they will communicate with one another. Some things to discuss include:
Are all communications going to be handled by email? If so, are all team members to be included in all communications, or are there going to be subgroups (e.g., anything related to the budget will go the finance and proposal leads only)?
If email is not going to be the main form of communication, what will be used? Is the group going to rely on a Web-based work platform such as Microsoft’s SharePoint to post questions and background content, store the proposal drafts, and manage the review process, etc.? If a Web-based worksite will be used, make sure everyone can access the site, that the site is secure, and that your files are regularly backed up. If SharePoint or something similar is chosen, it is important to confirm the willingness of the team members to use a Web-based site instead of relying on email.
How often will the group meet? Weekly? Daily check-ins? Are the meetings going to be in-person or by phone/Skype? What time will the meeting be, factoring in all the time zones represented by the group?
2. Collect and distribute contact information
At the launch meeting, if not before, you should create a team contact list. Information to collect includes name, email address, phone number and/or Skype address, role on the team, and organizational affiliation (if multiple partners are involved with the proposal). The contact list should be distributed to team members following the kick-off meeting. This will allow everyone time to look over the list and confirm that their information is complete and correct.
3. Maintain a proposal calendar with current due dates
A proposal calendar can be informal, such as a bulleted list with due dates and deliverables, or it can be a formal, weekly calendar with the due dates for each deliverable added under the appropriate date.
The bulleted list approach may be best if you are planning to use email for all team communications; a more traditional calendar works well if the proposal will be managed through a platform like SharePoint, which includes a customizable calendar feature. Regardless of the format you choose, it's important to keep the calendar up-to-date and to share the revised version with the team.
4. Send reminders of upcoming deadlines
Sending individual team members reminders of upcoming deadlines is usually appreciated, especially by those who may leave writing assignments to the last minute. However, it can be tricky to calibrate your reminders so you are sending the right number of reminders at the right time. Too many reminders may come across as nagging, while too few reminders, or reminders too close to the deadline, may not serve their intended purpose.
To help address these challenges, one approach is to go over how reminders will work during the initial team meeting, which will ensure there are no surprises during the proposal period. For example, you can notify the team that "email reminders will be sent out 3 days before every deadline."
5. Create an email template so team members learn what to expect from your communications
It doesn’t have to be a formal template, but a standardized flow for your email updates will help team members know what to expect from your communications and make it easier for them to scan the messages. As an example, you might find that an effective structure for emails consists of the following parts:
Reminder of upcoming deadlines
Summary of the most recent team meeting
Status report on the latest proposal draft
Updates on team members (e.g., change in contact information or schedules)
A copy of the current proposal calendar
Before you settle on an email template or outline, you may want to test different email formats for the first 1-2 weeks of the proposal process to find out what gets read and is most helpful to the team.
6. Keep the team members informed with regular status updates--even when there is nothing to report
Related to #5 above, if you committed to sending a weekly updates to the team at the kick-off meeting, send out the weekly update even when you don’t have any new information to share. A quick update that says “No new updates for this week—here are a few reminders of upcoming deadlines” will be appreciated. It will also prevent team members coming to you wondering what is going on because there was no update.
