How do we challenge our business strategy as project managers?

Business Intelligence Change Management Strategy

Gwenola Michaud

Community Champion

Project Manager & Advisor| Geosciences & Monitoring Consulting Milano, Italy

In many organizations, we spend time focusing on our customers, market landscape, competitors, and technologies. Yet, the business strategy often remains unchanged.

In a continuously evolving world, the question is how do we challenge the status quo of our business strategy?

And more specifically for us as project professionals: When should we start questioning whether the current strategy is still valid?

What signals or indicators do you look for to trigger that reflection?

Looking forward to hearing your insights and experiences.

Posted: Mar 30, 2026 4:19 AM

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Lissette Indhira Pimentel Sosa

Community Champion

Program Manager| HARPER SRL Santo Domingo / Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic

When results don’t match expectations, adoption is low, or priorities keep shifting, those are signals something may not be aligned. That’s usually when I bring it up, linking what we’re seeing in execution to what the strategy was supposed to achieve.

Posted: Mar 30, 2026 7:51 PM

Aaron Porter

Community Champion

IT Director| Blade HQ Payson, UT, United States

I want to start with "Unfortunately" but I don't think it always is. It's not uncommon for project managers to complain about how little influence they have. To be fair, I'm not sure want ALL project managers challenging strategic business decisions. For myself, I can look back and see times when I complained about strategic direction, only to realize now that there was a lot I wasn't aware of at the time, and I was wrong. Not wrong to question, but wrong about my conclusions.

In my current role, I start questioning things when I can see that people are doubling down on strategies that are obviously not working. A little business acumen can go a long way. A new project manager can learn by questioning to understand, but experience is helpful if you are questioning to challenge. Being perceived as someone worth listening to is even more helpful.

I find it's good to question constantly. I find that how and who you question is equally as important. Sometimes you're questioning so you can learn something new, sometimes you're questioning because your spidey-sense is telling you that something is wrong. This might look like research until you develop a thesis that you can then share with someone with greater insight to refine what you're seeing into something that can be clearly evaluated. Your questioning may never go beyond research and improving your own awareness.

IF it's in your wheelhouse to raise the question of whether the current strategy is still valid, defining the right problem to solve and solution options with potential tradeoffs BEFORE you publicly challenge the strategy will usually work in your favor. IF you're in an environment where this would be seen as overstepping, challenging the status quo might be the right thing to do, but make sure you understand any consequences and effectively identify the potential risks and what you can do about them. I'm not opposed to asking uncomfortable questions - sometimes they're needed - but you need to do more than make people uncomfortable.

Posted: Mar 30, 2026 9:45 PM

Syed Ashir Riaz

Community Champion

AI-Powered Social Media Strategist

As project managers, we should question the strategy when results don’t align with goals or when customer needs start to change. If projects deliver outputs but not real business value, it’s a clear signal to rethink.

A strong PM ensures the strategy stays relevant, not just followed.

Posted: Mar 31, 2026 1:46 AM

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How do we challenge our business strategy as project managers?

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