Dealing with a skeptical senior stakeholder on project risks. How can you effectively address their concerns?

Stakeholder management is a critical aspect of any project or business initiative. It involves identifying, understanding, and effectively managing relationships with individuals or groups who have a vested interest in the project’s outcome. In any given project, this will include investors, employees, suppliers, and the community at large. Identifying the stakeholders who will be impacted by your project. Managing the needs and expectations of stakeholders is the key to the success of a project. It’s critical that you invest time in identifying, prioritizing, and assessing your project stakeholders to build a strong stakeholder management plan.

While I agree with all the formal answers I would like to serve a bit of a reality check. There happen to be senior stakeholders whom are carried away on their impetus. Don’t get me wrong… usually they are executives. They are responsible for a ton and they have a ton of draws on their time. Much like myself they tend to make decisions fast and move on to the next issue. This is all well and good but PMs and Risk MGRs must cultivate the relationship where they can slow that train for a moment and get past the “quick” response and get a sincere, considered answer. It is in the best interest of the stakeholders to listen and if presented with seriousness they should listen. Being trustworthy and knowledgeable goes a long way!

All stakeholders risks concerns are critical in Project Planning and should not be taken for granted to agree with balanced opinion principles. Where the concerned risks are not captured in Project Risks Profiling and Assessment, the concerned risks impact analysis should be given priority. If the impact is high, the risks should be appreciated with practical mitigants. The risks practical mitigants should be communicated and discussed to address the concerns of the stakeholders with their concurrence and inputs. The process should be documented in the Project Approval Stage prior to execution.

Skepticism is always very interesting in a project and - if well managed - can be very helpful in the way the project should be driven. Skepticism can stem from various angles : experience, fear of changes or also lack of knowledge. Active listening in a first step is indeed to my view the most appropriate tool as it welcome criticism that - when constructive - is instrumental in a project. Active listening will permit the project manager to 1) identify the root cause(s) of the skepticism, 2) capture from it the potential obstacle that could make the project unachievable and 3) give comfort to the skeptic person that he/she is listened and therefore included in the journey.

I would add : ask for feedback/comments from the intervenant in order to engage him in the action, which will make him feel he is actor of the project.

One way of finding the right risk mitigation measures is to have the risk register updated with the exhaustive list of project/business risks. Reviewing the risk register at regular intervals to track the probability of occurrence of a risk and the impact of the risk. Once the risks are identified, the mitigation measures can be driven by the project manager and the PMO.

Trust is the essence ! It can be summarized as follows: Trust = (credibility + reliability + intimacy)/ self-orientation Credibility in the sense of transparency, reliability in the sense of coherence.

Communication takes place continuously through out the project life cycle. For senior skeptical stakeholders, communication takes place periodically to keep them informed and updated on the project plan, project risks / constraints, progress, and final results. Through communication in both formal reports and informal catch-ups, the stakeholders and the project team are forging a relationship in which there is a collaborative effort for improvement and success.

Implication, empowerment will make them acting and therefore feeling they are active part of the process and progress. Win-win approach !