Difficult Conversations

Paul Pantzer - October 29, 2009

Communications Management Risk Management ProjectsAtWork

All the latest time-management and process-optimization tools in the world can’t make you stop procrastinating or hold a difficult conversation. Confronting the “elephant in the room” once a day, or even once a week, will make you a better project leader. Here are five practical tips for doing it today.

Recently I have been simplifying. I’ve been cleaning out a couple years’ worth of checklists, notepads and emails, and it made me think about where else I can apply it … beyond my cubicle, my truck and my basement. In this context, I remembered a bit of wisdom that has merit in project management: if you can identify one or two things you’re trying to avoid, such as a particular difficult conversation, you know you need to have, and do that today, you will become more valuable than you are today. Simple, right?

When thinking about project management in general and the management of risk in particular, this principle is especially useful. Often we know where the risk lies in our projects. We can more or less identify the “elephant in the room,” even if we don’t know how to deal with it. As project leaders, we have seen many of the same challenges come up again and again across multiple projects, clients and companies — managing change, risk and conflicting personalities, just to name a few. Sometimes …

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