Having the hard conversations
As a Project Manager, there will be difficult conversations with clients such as budget overruns, deadline misses, launch failures and contract disagreements. What follows are some methods to minimize the negative impact of these discussions:
Transparency
CivicActions is fiercely open, and we want to be transparent with clients as much as possible. While this may have a downside in the short term, over the longer term our clients grow to trust us. Feel free to share details with the client as it helps them to understand our inner workings and logic. The more they know about how we operate, the better.
Honesty & accuracy
Being honest and accurate in any conversations is an important element in gaining a client's trust. Being less than honest or inaccurate with a client will eventually be noticed and trust will decrease.
It's ok to fail
Failure is an important element of success. Taking responsibility for failure is a good first step to improvement. Retrospect on the failure with all involved. Make a plan that addresses failure points and execute that plan. Include the client in this process whenever possible.
Avoid surprises
Clients tend to not like surprises, because surprises are usually bad news. As soon as a risk is identified, surface it with the client and make them aware. Do this for big things and little things, because sometimes little things turn into big things.
It's ok to ask for team support to join any hard conversations
You don't have to have a hard conversation with a client by yourself. Ever. Bring in a peer or escalate as needed.