How many engineers does it take to communicate a concept or idea to a team effectively? The answer is six; five to develop a collaborative communication system, and one to explain it.

As an engineer, I've heard my share of engineering jokes over the years. I know the story: we're poor communicators who chose engineering so we don't have to communicate. While there is often a grain of truth in any joke, what I've experienced as an entrepreneur and business leader in the field of project management is that communication is essential to the success of any project.

Communication is not a soft skill reserved for human-resource folks and marketing types. Instead, it is the skill of connection and understanding. It is what often makes the difference between a project's success or failure.

Five communication tips can guide you and help lead your next project to success.

Let's face it, things happen. Customers change their minds about what they thought they wanted, market forces change, new threats and opportunities arise, and new priorities surface. All of these changes can make the original goal of a project obsolete.

When creating a project agreement, make it a living document written knowing there will be changes. Make it a document that everyone understands and feels a part of. When you write a project agreement and simply file it, it doesn't breathe and set the stage for further communication and discussion throughout the project.

When a project is directed by agreement, project changes often mean a re-launch of the project. It's better to spend half a day re-launching based on the new project agreement than to create a final deliverable that no one wants, or to attempt to complete a project with inadequate resources and lack of support from the project sponsor.

When you're developing a new project plan from the new project agreement, you may also be able to use interim deliverables you've already created for the new project, ultimately shortening project cycle time.

We're humans. It's true that we don't always get along. The bad news is that an inability to work together towards a common goal can mean failure. The good news is that you can find the root of the cause and change behavior.

Look for these gnarly roots: lack of commitment, lack of interaction, and lack of interest in constructively resolving conflict. Many projects also lose and gain people during the execution of the project. When this happens, it is important that the team spend a half hour together developing their new team guidelines and meeting protocols. With any new people joining the team, it becomes a new team. Re-developing guidelines and protocols is done for the same reason it is done initially—to facilitate working relationships, to create a way to positively interact, and to prevent destructive conflict. Don't let 'new' deter you. Instead, let new people bring ideas and energy to the project.

How smart is your company? Industry standard project management practices require a critical project closeout phase that collects lessons learned and gives your organization powerful historical knowledge from across the enterprise. Think of it as giving every project a chance to take center stage and be a stand-up for the day. A company that can learn and grow, rather than continually repeat mistakes, will move faster. As an employee, it's frustrating to recreate the wheel. It's empowering when you see your work building upon that of others and vice versa.

People need to see, hear, smell, and taste success; even small victories have a big impact. It's important to communicate and show success with early adopters, so people will understand what you're doing and how they can be a part of the ongoing success.

For people to communicate openly, they have to be in an environment that's safe and allows for some blue-sky and off-beat thinking. If you foster an environment that shoots down ideas, then people will stop sharing ideas, and instead just take the path with least resistance. This is what we call mediocrity.

The next time you conjure up a stereotype of yourself as a non-communicator, think about communication as a business lubricant—one that makes systemic detours bearable and understandable to team members. Think of communication as a tool that clarifies, illuminates, and unifies, and ultimately brings you closer to the goal that is just ahead.