Set appropriate expectations with stakeholders on the rules of engagement

Whether you are studying for the PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP) exam or leading complex risk management projects, setting appropriate expectations with stakeholders regarding the rules of engagement is a critical skill to be mastered. It forms the basis for clear and effective communication, a crucial aspect of successful risk management.

Understanding Stakeholders and Their Expectations

Stakeholders are individuals or groups impacted by the project outcomes. These can include project sponsors, customers, team members, shareholders, suppliers, and others. Understanding their expectations and managing them effectively is a vital aspect of project and risk management.

As a PMI-RMP, you are expected to recognize that different stakeholders can have different expectations, both regarding the project outcome and the risk management process. For example, a project sponsor may be primarily concerned with high-level strategic risks while a team member might be more concerned with operational risks that could affect their daily work.

Defining Rules of Engagement

Rules of engagement define how project stakeholders will interact, communicate and participate in project-related decisions. They can vary widely based on the organization’s culture, the complexity of the project, the nature of the risks and the stakeholder’s specific roles and responsibilities.

Key elements of the rules of engagement may include:

• Communications: How, when, and what type of information will be communicated to stakeholders? For example, will there be regular written reports, email updates, or meetings?
• Participation: How will stakeholders be involved in risk identification, assessment, and response planning? Who will be responsible for making key decisions about risk management strategies?
• Responsibilities: Who is responsible for what in risk management? This could range from identifying and reporting potential risks to developing and implementing response strategies.
• Conflict Resolution: How will disagreements or conflicts be resolved? This is particularly important in project risk management where different stakeholders may have different perspectives on the level of risk acceptable.

Setting Stakeholders’ Expectations

In line with the PMI-RMP exam content and wider best practices in risk management, here are some key steps in setting appropriate expectations with stakeholders on the rules of engagement.

• Early engagement: Engage stakeholders early in the project and involve them in defining the rules of engagement. This helps to build ownership and engagement, as well as helping to ensure that the rules of engagement are realistic and acceptable to all parties.
• Clear communication: Clearly communicate the defined rules of engagement to all stakeholders. This should include not only what the rules are but also why they are as they are, and the benefits they provide in terms of effective risk management.
• Training and support: Where necessary, provide training or other support to help stakeholders meet their responsibilities under the rules of engagement. This could be particularly important where stakeholders have limited experience in risk management or where the project or risks are complex.
• Regular review and adaptation: Regularly review how well the rules of engagement are working and adapt them as necessary. This is in line with the PMI-RMP philosophy of continual improvement in risk management.
• Use of risk management tools: Utilize risk management tools, such as Risk Breakdown Structures (RBS) and Risk Registers, to facilitate stakeholder understanding and engagement.

Example: Consider a technology upgrade project. The project stakeholders include the project sponsor, the information technology team, the impacted business users, and the technology suppliers.

The project manager, as a PMI-RMP, sets out clear rules of engagement around risk management. This includes regular risk updates in the project status report, a bi-weekly risk review meeting with key stakeholders, and the use of a shared online risk register for risk identification and tracking.

In this way, each stakeholder understands their roles and responsibilities, feels part of the risk management process, and is sufficiently informed and able to contribute to risk decisions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, setting appropriate expectations with stakeholders on the rules of engagement is an essential aspect of effective risk management. As a PMI-RMP, your role is to ensure that these expectations are clearly defined, communicated, and managed throughout the project lifecycle. This will help you to build positive relationships with your stakeholders, facilitate their active involvement in risk management, and increase the chances of your project’s success.