Program Manager| HARPER SRLSanto Domingo / Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
Many projects now sit at the intersection of profit and purpose. Shareholders demand quick ROI, while communities, employees, and regulators expect sustainability, inclusivity, and long-term value. PMs are often the ones negotiating between these forces, sometimes without a clear mandate. How do you manage this balance in projects where not all value dimensions can be maximized at once?
PMO Leader | Speaker & Mentor | Content Leader – PMOGA Latin America
Hub| Catholic University of UruguayMontevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
This is achieved by prioritizing strategic dialogue and purpose-driven decision making. The project manager must facilitate agreements between parties, clarify shared value and adapt the approach according to the context. It is not about maximizing everything, but harmonizing the essentials to move forward with integrity and relevance. Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Lissette Indhira Pimentel Sosa This is a truly relevant and timely question — and one that lies at the heart of regenerative leadership and modern project strategy.
Balancing shareholder ROI with stakeholder trust and long-term sustainability requires more than trade-offs.
It requires clarity of purpose, ethical negotiation, and integrated decision-making models.
In my experience, I've found that not all value dimensions must be maximized, but they must be intentionally prioritized based on context, timing, and impact.
That’s where project managers can play a catalytic role — not just as executors, but as sensemakers and integrators.
I use a framework I call RCPCV™ — Gather → Clarify → Reflect → Commit → Verify — to guide decisions under pressure, especially when tensions emerge between short-term profit and long-term trust.
It helps teams make decisions that are regenerative, not just efficient.
Perhaps the real question is:
Are we equipping PMs with the ethical clarity, strategic fluency, and leadership support needed to navigate these intersections wisely?
1. Map and Prioritize Value Dimensions
Identify all value drivers and align with stakeholders on what matters most. Using visual tools like value matrices can solidify alignment on trade-offs and make them explicit early.
2. Anchor Trade-Offs in Strategy
Use the organization’s mission, ESG commitments, or long-term strategic goals to guide decisions. I go back to my company's values and their definitions quite a bit to attain alignment.
3. Facilitate Transparent Decisions
Create space for honest discussions about competing priorities, because they will crop up! I use impact matrixes comparing effort to impact to help stakeholders understand the implications of different paths.
4. Balance Metrics Across Dimensions
I track and report on both financial and non-financial KPIs (example: ROI vs brand perception). This keeps purpose-driven goals visible and accounted for alongside delivery metrics. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Important question, Lissette.
I do not have a general answer, and assume that it depends on the project and context.
Shareholders are a special type of stakeholders with ROI interests, related to commercial public companies they have shares of. If you move that concept to projects, you might end up with funders of projects, and not all of them are necessarily looking at ROI but at non-financial goals.
Another aspect is the timing, the output/result of a project is delivered at the end of the project and then the project success if judged by stakeholders. Yet, a ROI may require some time, sometimes years, after the project end to accumulate the income. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
From long time ago ROI is obsolete as an indicator to decide about to invest or not to invest. Other key thing is to understand that organizations invest in solutions, not in projects. One good reference for all of that is PMI´s value management guide, just a reference but the key is, from long time ago, to decide around value. For example, implementing things like lean portfolio management. Saving Changes...
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."
Community Champion
