What are the best methods to mitigate a risk that arise from dealing with stakeholders that change previous agreements, believing and trying to make others believe that colleagues owe them?

Pavel Tolkunov Marketing Project Manager Berlin, Germany

Quitting is not an option since such attitude was vastly adopted by many national businesses and should be dealt with on many levels.

Posted: Dec 1, 2020 1:46 AM

Sort By:

< 1 2 >

Emilio Reyes-Hernandez Owner| ER Projects & Engineering Consulting Naples, Fl, United States

Dec 02, 2020 1:48 AM

Replying to Pavel Tolkunov

...

Highly appreciate your replies.
I believe sending a follow-up email could be indeed very useful on most occasions. Since preparing something in writing at or after the meeting would make it too official and could meet rejection and in some cases sense of distrust, email could be the solution.
And agreeing on the rules of writing core agreements down at kick-off meetings is a great idea, especially in case with new teams. The rules if agreed by all could be changed latter on.

Pavel,
If you find preparing something in writing may become an issue with the client, of course an email could be the solution and if you don't get a response in a reasonable time, maybe a follow up phone call would help, specially if you keep a call log with a brief summary of each conversation. the key is leave a paper track of all significant communications, just in case you might need it handy at some point during or after the project life. Trust me, I have been there, done that, and keeping a good record have saved my day more than a couple of times, however it is of course your call.
Regards,

Posted: Dec 4, 2020 2:38 PM

Bob Cunningham West Boylston, Ma, United States

Dec 03, 2020 11:23 AM

Replying to Peter Rapin

...

Note that there is a chance of the issue becoming confrontational. This gives rise to a new set of risks. From a project delivery perspective confrontation is not an effective management tool. You have to find a way to accommodate yet not become a door mat. Always aim for a win-win resolution looking at the long picture.

Great point Peter. Let me add to that a bit.

If the company assigns me to be responsible for a project, I cannot have it undermined. If you are an engineer on a drafting board and the manager scribbles all over your drawing, how would you react? Obviously you need diplomacy - but your whole job is to make sure this project gets handled in a specific way and if someone back-door undermines it, there needs to be some type of confrontation. When I have had to make these types of confrontations, I have always come away being more respected. After all, why hire me to perform a function if you are going to undermine me?

Everyone's style is different, and I can count the number of confrontations with top management on one hand for the decades of my career. But there are times we need to be strong about defending our project. If they hire me for a job - to have a project executed optimally - then occasionally I will need to demonstrate my strength and determination to not let anyone undermine what I'm supposed to be doing. Negotiation, in all of its forms, is a key component of successful project management.

Posted: Dec 4, 2020 3:49 PM

< 1 2 >

Please login or join to reply

What are the best methods to mitigate a risk that arise from dealing with stakeholders that change previous agreements, believing and trying to make others believe that colleagues owe them?

Sponsors

Vendor Events

Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data

Newsletters