How to overcome stakeholder challenges

Communications Management Leadership Stakeholder Management

Arsalan Qutbi Project Manager| Oil & Gas Sector United Kingdom, United Kingdom

Don’t be afraid to ask your stakeholders these questions directly. Keep the lines of stakeholder communication open to anticipate any resistance and adjust accordingly.

What are their most pressing business needs?
What is the best way to communicate with them?
What information or details do they want or need?
Do they fully understand your work, or do they need some extra explanation?
Who influences them?
Who do they influence?
What are they responsible for?
Who do they report to?

Scenario 1:

You’re a project manager for a software development company working on a significant upgrade for a client’s system. A key stakeholder on the client’s side has become increasingly challenging to work with. This stakeholder is resistant to change, frequently questions your team’s decisions, and often demands changes that are outside the project’s scope. This dynamic is putting your team on edge, forcing them to use valuable time to address outside requests, and requiring that they spend extra time negotiating small changes.

Here’s how you could overcome these challenges:

Start by understanding stakeholder concerns — dedicate one-on-one time to discussing their views on the project. This will allow you to strengthen and manage your stakeholder relationship, better understand their expectations, and perhaps discover why they are resisting elements of the project. You should also continue to communicate clearly the project’s scope and limitations so they understand the reasons your team is making particular decisions. When you involve the stakeholder in the decision-making process, it can help reduce their resistance to change. Finally, if you continue to experience issues with the stakeholder that are holding up the project, higher management or other influential stakeholders could help address stakeholder concerns.

Scenario 2:

You’re working at a digital marketing agency as a project manager, tasked with a major website redesign for a client. One significant stakeholder is an executive at the client’s company and has a frustrating habit of demanding changes at the last minute, many of which contradict previous instructions. This is causing confusion for your team and delays for the project. Without effective stakeholder management strategies, your project is at risk of running over the deadline.

Here’s how you could overcome these challenges:

The first step in stakeholder management is always to set up time to communicate directly with the difficult stakeholder to help you understand their perspective and expectations, and to clarify any misunderstandings about the project’s scope. Clearly communicate the impact of last-minute change requests on the project’s resources and timeline, so the stakeholder can better understand the trade-offs required when extra requests are made.
You should also establish a formal change management process whereby the stakeholder can submit change requests with sufficient justification and ample time to complete them. While it might be counterintuitive, giving the stakeholder a larger role in planning or reviewing pieces of the project might help them take responsibility for the project and better gatekeep the timeline and resources.
These scenarios demonstrate an important lesson in successful stakeholder management: Listen to your stakeholders and strive to meet their needs — difficult or not. Ensuring they’re feeling heard, valued, and appreciated grows stakeholder support and trust. Building relationships and understanding motivation takes time and effort but will make your job easier in the long run. Projects are more successful when everyone is on board!

Posted: May 12, 2025 9:32 AM (Updated by author: May 12, 2025 9:33 AM)

Kimberly Whitby

PMI Team Member

Online Community Specialist| PMI Newtown Square, Pa, United States

Hello Arsalan - Thanks for sharing these tips? Do you have a particular question for our community members? To help you get the most out of your community experience, we’ve put together some tips for creating an engaging post:

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Posted: May 14, 2025 10:17 AM

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How to overcome stakeholder challenges

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