“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME SOONER?”
Every project manager I know has been asked this question, either by an internal or external client.
Many things can go wrong behind the scenes of a project, and usually it’s best to keep them behind the scenes. Your client doesn’t need to know you don’t like your co-worker or that one member of your team is notoriously late. Unearthing every internal issue can easily cause a rocky client relationship—and project.
Sometimes, however, internal issues should be shared. Here’s advice on when—and how—to do it.
Someone on the project team just quit.
If a client-facing member of the team is leaving, your client is going to notice.
A few years ago, I was managing a project for a large customer. The entire team was dedicated to this project because the client wanted consistency. When one of the key players announced she was resigning, the account manager and I decided to identify a suitable replacement and form a transition plan before notifying the client. We didn’t have a lot of time and worked in a frenzy to make it happen, but to the client it was a successful, well-organized transition that created very little disruption.
The client didn’t need exposure to our frenzy, and neither does yours. Nobody wants to hear, “We’re figuring it out.” A focused plan will maintain the client’s confidence in the team and your organization.
Be sure to let the client know about outbound team members as soon as possible, but make sure you have a plan in place when you do. Say that while you’re sorry to see him or her go, you’re confident the replacement is ready to pick up where he or she left off. Explain the transition plan and move forward as though the replacement was always there. Try to minimize the number of times you tell the replacement, “I know you’re still getting up to speed on this…” in front of the client. That, too, will instill doubt.
You’re most likely going to miss a deadline.
We all play a game of chicken in this area from time to time. There’s a point when the deadline is at risk that you may say to yourself, “This is either going to work out perfectly or be a complete disaster.” That’s usually the right moment to let the client in on the potential issue.
I once wrestled with another project manager for a highly sought-after resource. We found a compromise in which the resource’s time on-site with my client would be cut in half and the delivery of his solution would most likely be a few days late.
The resource promised me he could still deliver the solution on time. I knew that might not happen, but I didn’t mention my fears to the client. I had to deliver the news that the resource’s time on-site was going to be cut and didn’t want to risk further upset by mentioning the risk of the missed deadline. In the meantime, I worked out an alternative plan to minimize impact. When my resource did, in fact, miss the deadline, I presented the alternative.
I was immediately met with the dreaded question, “When did you realize we were at risk?” Then the follow-up question, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
The client didn’t care nearly as much about the missed deadline as he did about the lack of communication. He felt left in the dark, and his suspicions plagued the rest of the project. Who could blame him?
The lesson: When a deadline is at risk, communicate it to your client. Develop an alternative plan and walk the client through it. This will demonstrate you are behaving proactively and are able to recognize and mitigate risk.
If you have a more collaborative client, you can go into the conversation with some suggestions for how you would like to handle this moving forward. It will allow you to openly work on mitigating the risk by coming up with an alternative, and the client will feel more comfortable by having a voice in how the issue is handled.
The project was over budget before it started.
Another common problem faced by project managers today is being handed a project that wasn’t budgeted appropriately. This is a tough position that, unfortunately, is sometimes left for the project manager to handle. In this case, bring it up as soon as possible, but have your thoughts very well organized. Convey the issues to the client (preferably in a private phone call rather than a group setting, like a kickoff call) with an explanation of what you believe is not accounted for in the current scope and budget of the project, and how you would like to handle it (one suggestion would be to go through a formal reconciliation process).
There is one critical element to delivering bad news: Bring the client solutions, not problems. If you come to the table with bad news, the situation will usually quickly diffuse itself the moment you start discussing the solution to the problem. As a project manager, your client expects you to call out issues and risks. It’s where the real value of a project manager lies. Communicating appropriate issues that affect your client in a timely manner will protect your client relationship and your integrity as a project manager, and most important, will help make for a successful project and a happy client. PM
Meredith Zehnder, PMP, is a senior project manager at Lyons Consulting Group, Chicago, Illinois, USA.