Mastering Project Delivery: Meeting Stakeholder and Customer Expectations

Every stakeholder comes with their own set of expectations and it’s impossible to meet all of them. Instead, it’s more effective to focus on managing these expectations.

Before a meeting, many organizations will establish clear expectations about how people should talk with each other. These include respecting differing viewpoints and allowing space for diverse voices. It’s similar to the rules you might find on the wall of a gym: don’t compare yourself to others, don’t try to lift anything too heavy and prioritize technique over intensity.

By setting these expectations in advance and creating a shared narrative among the group, we can effectively manage expectations.

The inspiration for this came from a TEDx talk on cultural intelligence by Julia Middleton, founder and Chief Executive of the Common Purpose Charitable Trust.

In a business, you often have to manage various cultures and the differing expectations that arise from different areas. The primary expectation is the project’s ‘core’; if you lose sight of the core, you won’t deliver what’s expected. The wants and desires represent the ‘flex’. It’s essential to test how much these elements matter to the project’s success.

Creating a culture where everyone understands what their core is and where they’re willing to flex requires numerous conversations. Establishing a shared understanding of ‘core’ and ‘flex’ helps us recognize the consequences of pushing too far from a project’s core requirements.

My family has a fun exercise we call ‘happy farm’, where we plan a magical day out filled with fluffy cats, a café, a place to park our bikes and more. Our expectations for what this happy farm will look like continue to grow.

Similarly, our clients often have a vision of the ideal outcome they’re aiming for. However, much of this vision may not be essential and this where the ‘happy farm’ concept comes into play – helping to distinguish between needs, wants and desires. The key to meeting expectations is to understand what’s core to stakeholders and align with that, rather than trying to conform with their vision of a ‘happy farm’.

When discussing expectations, we often focus on delivering the final product. But, in project management, one of the biggest expectations to manage is the mindset surrounding change.

Consider the classic U-shaped change diagram: you start a project, enter a ‘pit of despair’ where you doubt you’ll ever deliver it and then experience a moment of revelation when your team comes together. At times, you might feel as though you’re going in circles – one day believing it’s the best project ever, the next thinking it’ll never succeed.

A more effective way to manage expectations during a change programme or project is to think of it as navigating a ‘change house’. This house features a sun deck, rooms of contentment, confusion and denial, a cellar of despair, a pit of paralysis and a revolving door of reality. Throughout a project, you’ll likely find yourself in each of these areas but don’t become stuck in any one of them, as each has its own challenges. It’s essential, therefore, to check in with one another and ask where people are within the change house.

Relationships in a project aren’t simply represented as straight lines on an organization chart. We have multiple connections and each connection influences the others. Since it’s impossible to meet the expectations of everyone involved, we must find ways to determine which expectations we should prioritize.

As I mentioned in a previous webinar, there is a core group of individuals – the 3% – who influence 85 to 90% of those within your project ecosystem. This 3% may change depending on the issue at hand and it’s not always who you might expect. While senior leadership teams often pick the wrong people, talking to someone within an organization’s roots – part of “the shadow organization” – will reveal exactly who this influential 3% is.

It’s crucial to recognize these people and work with them to understand the needs of their business area. These trusted individuals speak the language of their community and can effectively manage communication and feedback with their counterparts. Then, the rest of the organization will follow, ultimately making your job much easier.

I’ve previously discussed logic models, which are used by the UK Government and others to track their desired impact – their goals and objectives. These are broken down into different requirements, such as outcomes – your strategic objectives and KPIs – and outputs, the tangible results you can observe.

For a simple project, where you expect the team to perform specific activities and deliver particular results, you can capture requirements at the activity level and oversight is more stringent. In such cases, managing expectations may only need to occur at the delivery level as that may be the extent of the necessary oversight.

On larger projects, where the deliverables are more clearly defined, requirements are managed at the output level. However, this can be more challenging to articulate and may require additional effort to determine if objectives have been met – and it is crucial to document these requirements.

Requirements management is an ongoing process that needs proper change control processes.

It’s important to manage what’s realistic for your team or project to deliver. Much of expectation management involves difficult conversations. Therefore, a plan of action is essential if you decide to make any changes.

Be clear about who is responsible for each requirement. Additionally, identify the people you need to co-create with – those who will influence how the change will take shape and those you need to shape it with.

Projects change. Being clear about who’s on your team and what you’re delivering is crucial for managing expectations. If everyone buys into this, you’ll have a clear pathway to delivery.

A communications strategy is essential for managing expectations. With stakeholders pulling in different directions, it’s crucial to establish trusted feedback channels.

For example, the context in which you deliver can often change faster than the project can keep up and having clear feedback loops is vital. Again, engaging with the 3% means you’ll gain insights into what’s working, allowing you to adjust the project’s requirements to better align with the situation on the ground.

Cross-cultural issues can also arise. Just because you communicate something doesn’t guarantee everyone will interpret it in the same way; people often filter messages through their own lenses and experiences. Identifying and communicating what’s core is a fundamental element of effective communications strategies.

‘Mastering Project Delivery’ is one of our masterclass series on Mastering Project Success, available to all PeopleCert Plus members.