NEHA CHATURVEDIStructural Engineer-| AECOM New Delhi, Delhi, India
Today one of my colleagues asked me what to do If the key stakeholders of the project goes on a silent mode and do not response to necessary decision making emails. I told him to do a root cause analysis for this response of stakeholders. But he didn’t appeared to be satisfied. What better response or suggestion I could have given him? Saving Changes...
As your coworker discovered, you must always be careful about how you escalate a problem. It can make you look bad to as many levels of management as you escalated it to.
It is extremely common for functional managers to want to take more control in what is intended as a strong matrix org. Sometimes they want to act as a SME because that is what they were before a manger. Sometimes they believe they should have the authority and everyone should do it their way.
The manager trying to exert control is an inevitable issue as a PM you will face your entire career. Working with those people is a skill you have to learn and you will always be meeting new people so you will never stop being challenged by it. Saving Changes...
I have had this experience before and one thing that I did to overcome this issue was to cc by direct boss into the email threads so that my boss was aware of the thread of communication and what decisions needed to be taken. It wasn't long before my colleague in question realised this and responded directly to my emails and without the need for my boss to be cc'ed on our emails. Saving Changes...
Lonnie PacelliAuthor & President| ProjectManagementAdvisor.comBellevue, Wa, United States
If a stakeholder has gone silent it's likely the project isn't at or near the top of his or her pain point list. It's not a question of the project being important on an absolute basis, it's more a question of the project being important relative to other problems on the stakeholder's list. Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Like Daire, I have had success including the person's manager on the distribution list. When I do that, I also include my own manager. Make sure you brief your manager as she will likely be contacted by the other manager.
Escalation should also be a last resort. You should exhaust all other options before following your communications management plan escalation process. Saving Changes...
Wade HarshmanScrum Master| GDITIndianapolis, In, United States
First, make sure your stakeholder isn't away on a work trip or vacation. (Don't laugh, it happens.)
Then, escalate the communication to the stakeholder. Send a follow-up email, try a phone call, go to her office, etc. No need to be rude; recognize that your priorities are not necessarily your stakeholder's priorities, you just need confirmation that the stakeholder got your message. You may need to schedule a follow-up to focus on the issue, or...
Third, you may need to escalate the issue itself and bypass that particular stakeholder, especially if that stakeholder has no interest in your issue or if you have an urgent need that requires an immediate decision. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean you go to the stakeholder's boss. It could mean going below the stakeholder, to an administrative assistant or a peer. It could also mean going to an alternative stakeholder.
If you find a particular stakeholder has generally lost all interest in a project, it may be time to update your stakeholder analysis. A good tool is the Power/Interest grid, rating stakeholders by the interest they have in your project and the power they have to influence your project. Perhaps your stakeholder has changed from a high power / high interest stakeholder to a high power / low interest stakeholder. When stakeholder's interest levels changes, your interaction with them will change, too. Saving Changes...
A practical note on elevating by CC'ing the manager(s). People who get large volumes of emails often set a rule to move emails where they are listed as a CC to another folder for if and when then ever need it. Don't expect them to be read.
...
1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Jun 17, 2019 5:58 PM
Stéphane Parent
...
I don't care if the copied manager reads it, Keith. In the instances when I did it, it motivated the recipient to respond to me.
Saving Changes...
Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
Jun 17, 2019 3:41 PM
Replying to Keith Novak
...
A practical note on elevating by CC'ing the manager(s). People who get large volumes of emails often set a rule to move emails where they are listed as a CC to another folder for if and when then ever need it. Don't expect them to be read.
I don't care if the copied manager reads it, Keith. In the instances when I did it, it motivated the recipient to respond to me.
...
1 reply by Keith Novak
Jun 17, 2019 7:29 PM
Keith Novak
...
I do the same thing, for the same reason. I'm just pointing out to others how that doesn't necessarily mean the manager knows about it, even if I flag it as urgent, put Response Required in the subject line, etc. I once naively thought that all my important emails were read by the addressees.
When I get more direct, I put the manager in the To line and the unresponsive person in the CC line, along with my own management. The email that had the manager in the CC line is now a record of prior efforts to resolve the issue.
I don't care if the copied manager reads it, Keith. In the instances when I did it, it motivated the recipient to respond to me.
I do the same thing, for the same reason. I'm just pointing out to others how that doesn't necessarily mean the manager knows about it, even if I flag it as urgent, put Response Required in the subject line, etc. I once naively thought that all my important emails were read by the addressees.
When I get more direct, I put the manager in the To line and the unresponsive person in the CC line, along with my own management. The email that had the manager in the CC line is now a record of prior efforts to resolve the issue. Saving Changes...
Anton OosthuizenSenior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self EmployedPretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Sometimes we forget that the reason why any stakeholder goes into silent mode is to avoid taking responsibility. While this is a common trait from a weak manager it is a natural human trait when people need to make a difficult decision or communicate bad news. We procrastinate until, in some cases, we just do not do it.
Maybe try to identify an event/milestone after which the stakeholder became silent. Were they asked to commit to something? Remember that you cannot be held accountable if you did not accept responsibility and a good way of doing this (in a bad way) is to become silent. Saving Changes...
