June 04 2025 at 02:16AM
Build your Skills: Fabulous Failures in Project Management
Stakeholders, some roar, some whisper, and some just nod, until it's too late.
A few years ago, I was leading a promising mixed-use development project. The design was progressing smoothly, the team was energized, and our stakeholder engagement looked solid, at least on paper. One facilities stakeholder stood out for their consistency: they attended every meeting, nodded along supportively, and never once raised an issue. I took that as a good sign.
It wasn’t.
As we wrapped up the 80% design phase and prepared for execution, that same stakeholder suddenly voiced major concerns. Their team had been worried for weeks about service access and maintenance zones, but hadn’t said a word. Why? “We assumed you’d figure it out”.
What followed was an urgent scramble to redesign critical parts of the project, long nights, and a painful lesson in reading between the lines.
Now, I treat silence as its own language, a signal that needs decoding. I don’t rely on head-nods anymore. I ask targeted questions, document feedback, and create space for even the quietest voices to speak up.
The takeaway? In stakeholder engagement, silence isn’t just absence, it’s ambiguity. And when left unchecked, it can derail even the best-laid plans. Stay curious, stay direct, and never underestimate what isn’t being said.
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