Key Strategies to Deal with Difficult Stakeholders & Project Conflicts

Who are stakeholders?

Any individual or organization can be a stakeholder in a project, provided they have an interest or are affected by the project’s result. A few common examples of project stakeholders include customers, employees, investors, suppliers, government agencies, team members, and shareholders.

The importance of stakeholder satisfaction is often not fully realized. If there is a significant gap between stakeholder expectations and project outcomes, it may eventually lead to conflicts and even complete project failure.

When Do Stakeholders Become Difficult To Manage?

Now that we know who the stakeholders are, let us understand when they become difficult to manage. Here are a few situations where conflict with stakeholders is possible:

Irrational expectations

Companies may come across stakeholders with unrealistic expectations, and when those are not met, dissatisfaction and conflict arise.

Let’s say stakeholders have an irrational expectation of the construction work of a building getting over within a very short time. Disagreements are bound to happen if the project manager does not inform or convince the stakeholder of the project’s realistic timeline.

Varying interests

Some stakeholders might have different interests, which may not align with the goals and objectives of the project. For example, environmental agencies might have an issue if a company wants to build roads in remote locations through a forest area. They can argue that the damage to nature will have a more severe impact than the development and connectivity promised by the company.

Detached behavior

Some stakeholders can be very laid back and detached from the project. They might not create any trouble otherwise, but when it comes to giving feedback or communication, it’s challenging to get through them. This causes delay and confusion, making it difficult to cater to their needs.

Biased towards change

Organizations may face stakeholders who are old-school and who may resist changes. Let us consider a situation where an organization designing and supplying content for schools decides to develop teaching materials accessible through the company’s app. Some teachers who are not used to technology and are more comfortable with the traditional teaching method might resist this new change.

Emotionally invested

Another stakeholder who might be difficult to manage is the emotionally invested ones. These stakeholders have significant involvement and emotionally get attached to a cause, which when disrupted by a specific project, can result in protest and conflict.

For example, animal rights activists can be highly emotional and strictly against animal testing. Therefore, a beauty brand might land in trouble for the practice of testing its products on animals.

Competitive market

Sometimes, stakeholders are driven by the competitive market and put unnecessary pressure to achieve a certain standard without considering its practicality.

How to Manage Difficult Stakeholders and Navigate Project Conflicts?

Stakeholders management is undeniably a key factor in the smooth completion of a project. Even the most challenging stakeholders will have quite some share of control and decision-making powers. Therefore, going into conflicts with the stakeholders is not wise.

For the sake of the efficient operation of the project, it’s better to enlighten yourself about the tactics for managing difficult stakeholders. Let us discuss a few strategies to navigate conflicts with difficult stakeholders.

1. Identifying and understanding the stakeholders

The first and foremost step is to know your stakeholders. This will help in understanding their needs and expectations better. The most traditional way of doing that will be creating a list of stakeholders like individuals, organizations, groups, or agencies which could be affected by the project or have an interest in the same.

The next step could be sorting out the stakeholders according to the level of their influence. This will help in prioritizing the stakeholders and putting in efforts accordingly.

Analyzing their needs and expectations also becomes more manageable. This way, the project manager can plan all the possible conflicts that can arise and how to mitigate those risks.

2. Being efficient in communication

Communication is crucial in navigating project conflicts arising from dissatisfied and non-agreeable stakeholders. To make any communication constructive, you need to become an active listener.

Give your stakeholders total freedom to express their concerns, grievances, needs, and expectations. Listening to them attentively will make them feel valued, building trust between you and them.

Next, communicate your solution to their problems in simple language. Be clear about how much is feasible and suggest different alternatives if required. Communicate at every step for better understanding and lesser confusion.

Based on each stakeholder’s influence, project managers need to determine the frequency of communication with them. If an atmosphere of trust and cooperation can be created through proper communication, then managing difficult stakeholders becomes easier.

3. Being empathetic

Empathy can be a great way to manage difficult stakeholders. Understanding their point of view and acknowledging their concerns and frustrations is essential. Instead of trying to prove your point, listen to their viewpoint and empathize with their situation. This will help mellow down the conflict and give you time to resolve the problem.

The communication should be respectful and handled sensitively. It is better to focus on common ground and find a solution rather than being dismissive and stubborn.

For example, suppose you are working on a construction project. The project was at a standstill due to the pandemic, and things are not picking up even post-pandemic. The flat owners are truly upset about the excessive delay. In such a situation, you can empathize with the stakeholder’s situation and employ more laborers to enable faster project completion.

4. Managing expectations

Conflicts with stakeholders mainly arise when expectations still need to be met. Managing expectations is a salient skill that can help avoid unwanted situations with the stakeholders.

The best way to prevent unreasonable expectations is to remain transparent. Discussing project goals, objectives, timelines, costs, future challenges, and potential delays beforehand is advisable. This helps the stakeholders understand the project’s scope well and prepare them for unseen changes.

Changes are unavoidable in a project, but transparency and timely communication can avoid conflicts related to high expectations.

Project managers should set certain milestones, and after the completion of each milestone, they must update the stakeholders about the progress through meetings. This will allow stakeholders to keep track of the project, and they will know what to expect in the future.

For example, In a construction project, the project manager should set different milestones like laying the foundation, flooring, framework, pipelines, electrical fittings, etc.

After each milestone, they should communicate with the stakeholders and discuss to find out whether everyone is on the same page.

If a stakeholder raises concerns, you should be able to provide all the required information and assurance so that expectations are managed smoothly.

5. More involvement

When stakeholders are not just bystanders and are involved in decision-making for certain aspects of the project, there is a lower chance of conflict. More project involvement can help build better relations with the stakeholders.

Project managers can form a committee where the stakeholders can make crucial decisions and discuss probable solutions to future challenges.

Let’s say there is a project to build a shopping mall in a locality that may take up an open space used as a children’s park. Local people should be involved in decisions like what alternative solution can be provided to children as a playing ground. This involvement will help in bypassing potential conflicts with the stakeholders.

As a project manager, you can conduct surveys and gather feedback to highlight any issue during the project and discuss the solutions with the stakeholders. This is also an effective way to make the stakeholders feel valued and assure them that they are being heard.

6. Keeping commitments

Stakeholders expect commitments to be taken seriously. Conflicts and frustrations from the stakeholders’ end are quite natural when one fails to keep a promise.

The project manager must clearly communicate key commitments like project deadlines, outcomes, possible risks, budget, etc. It is of utmost importance that integrity is there while making commitments, and a clear intention of keeping them should be present.

If any problem arises, the stakeholders should be informed, and the project manager should take accountability for the unwanted situation.

Owning the mistakes and taking steps to rectify them can ease the tension among the stakeholders. These actions and gestures help strengthen the bond with the stakeholders and enable the navigation of potential conflicts.

In Conclusion

Stakeholders are an integral part of any project. They have an immense influence on a project and must be handled tactfully. It is impossible to foresee every challenge, but some can be predicted through constant monitoring. Dealing with difficult stakeholders requires patience and great communication skills, with the additional skill of identifying potential risks of conflicts.