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ISSUE #33

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What's your experience with stakeholder meetings?

Rushed, stressful, or perhaps just a sea of blank faces looking at their phones?

I’ve shared previously that stakeholder management is the number one challenge raised by Project Managers who’ve joined the PPM Community.

It’s not surprising, for these simple reasons.

1. They’re always in a more senior position than you.
2. They’re often disconnected from either your company or from your immediate team, so the relationship is lacking.
3. When you present/report to them, it feels like a big event as it’s not happening as often as your other project meetings.

The result, we treat these stakeholders as if they’re all knowing, but remember, they’re humans like you 🙂

They worry, they want to help (most of them) they don’t know it all and, in many cases, they have a stakeholder to report to as well.

Ineffective communication is a primary contributor to failure in the majority of projects, so don’t do what you think is needed, e.g, what you did on the last project, always look to find out what communication works best for them and what matters to them.

How do you do this?

You ask them 😊

Here are a few other tips to help.

1. Mirror Their Language

Don’t try to sound overly impressive with PM jargon. Be careful to notice words you would never use in conversation and remove them. Capture the three metrics your stakeholders actually care about and mirror their specific language in your updates. If they can get it in under a minute, they’ll stay engaged.

2. Use a Consistent Rhythm

Predictability reduces frustration and questions sent before you’re ready to answer them. If stakeholders know they’ll hear from you every Friday at 3 PM, they won’t chase you on Wednesday. It builds a habit of reading your updates rather than reacting to them.

3. Create Psychological Safety

Be brave enough to ask for feedback from your stakeholders or share a moment of uncertainty. Encourage them to provide feedback on what they think could be a problem or what their experience is of running a project like this previously. You never know what help you might receive.

4. Build a "Close down" Approach from Day One

Alignment often fails towards the end of a project as the final few weeks of a project are treated the same as the re,st of it. Create a close-down approach explaining how the final weeks of the project will play out.

5. Offer Choices, Not Battles

When there is a disagreement try not to worry and when this happens, present 2–3 viable options with clear trade-offs. This moves the conversation from more work to what matters most. This keeps you in control and shows you’re leading the project, not just reacting to what is asked of you.

Stakeholder alignment isn't about ticking boxes. It's about communicating intentionally with structure, clarity, and respect for everyone’s effort.

Simplify the communication, more is always better, and remember, they probably have similar worries to you, so do the classic put yourself in their shoes, just without their salary unfortunately.

Have a great week,

Ben 💪🏼