Clients often ask whether initiating proactive stakeholder engagement is beneficial when community awareness and activism can delay or threaten approvals. It’s the classic dilemma for project managers of commercial-at-risk projects.

Earlier we discussed the merits of proactive engagement to ‘get a read’ on community interest and issues, as part of professional project management. This has risks, but there are latent stakeholder related risks on every project where people live and work nearby. Here we look at a short practice example.

When working in procurement roles, it surprised us how often successful tenderers didn’t seek feedback about their submission. Instead, they focused on contract terms and scope, while requesting further detail to assist their mobilisation. While this is understandable, valuable insight can be missed.