Have the hard conversations - NOW!

No one wants to be the bearer of bad news, but putting off the hard conversation only makes it harder the longer you wait. While having them can be difficult, they are necessary in order to address important issues and move your project forward. These conversations require vulnerability and honesty, but they will ultimately lead to better outcomes and a stronger relationship with your clients. Doing this regularly, before the problems grow, will ultimately benefit your team in several ways.

Identify and Address Problems

Having hard conversations can be an effective way to identify and address problems or issues that will impact your project. These conversations often require you to be open and honest, which can help to surface underlying problems that may not be immediately obvious. By addressing these problems directly, it can be easier to find solutions and prevent them from escalating and causing larger issues down the line. Ultimately, this will lead to more efficient and successful projects.

Build Trust

Having hard conversations can help to build trust within the project team and with your clients by demonstrating a willingness to address difficult issues and concerns directly. When stakeholders feel that their concerns are being heard and taken seriously, it can help to build confidence in the team. It will help to create a culture of transparency and honesty within your company, which will foster stronger relationships and improve overall team cohesion.

Make Difficult Decisions

Every project has competing constraints and priorities, such as delivery deadlines, budgets, and feature sets. Juggling those can be precarious at best, but having open and honest conversations about them is an important tool in helping to make difficult decisions. By addressing these issues head-on, it can be easier to consider all of the options so you can move forward with an informed decision. These conversations can also identify any underlying concerns or issues that may affect the decision-making process. This ensures that decisions are made in a strategic and transparent manner.

Achieve Better Results

Ultimately, having hard conversations can lead to better outcomes for the project. By addressing problems and issues early on, it can be easier to prevent them from escalating and causing larger problems down the line. This can help to ensure the project stays on track and meets its goals.

The ultimate goal is to achieve better outcomes for your projects. By addressing problems and issues early on, it’s easier to prevent them from escalating or cascading into larger problems down the line. Having open and honest communication can help to build trust and transparency within the team, which fosters stronger relationships and improve overall team cohesion. This ultimately leads to a more efficient and successful project. Having hard conversations may be uncomfortable in the short term, but they will pay off in the long run.

Engage Can Help

Engage is a client expectation management tool that can help you recognize when to have difficult conversations by providing better client portals, scorecards, and status reporting.  Give it a try.  It's free for your first 3 projects!