Handling conflicting situations – Stakeholders Vs Business
Scenario
These are scenarios where some senior stakeholders have personal agenda which contradicts with the success of the project. A few examples are:
You will run across people whose main objective is to GROW AT A FAST PACE. Their single focused agenda is their own self progress. They do not really care for the success of the project. They just need to complete a task and move on. The project's success or failure is a side-effect in their pursuit of individual success. However, for the project manager the project's success is the only objective.
There are certain people whose main objective is to impress a big boss. In this process, they tend to make decisions that provide rosy picture today, but will lead to long term failure of the project and ultimately customer dissatisfaction.
You will also run across certain people who just want to increase their team size. They will push a project manager to incorrectly inflate project budget thereby hiring more resources. This will again be detrimental for the overall success of the project and the organization as a whole, since this impacts profit margin.
As a Fresh Project Manager
I was just a lamb following the herd over the cliff. I did not have the courage to challenge the decisions as I thought I was too low in the hierarchy. Many people exploited my innocence and got what they wanted at my expense. The interesting fact is, I did not even realize it until sometime in future way after the project was completed. This is where having a trusted mentor really helps.
With a Salt -N- Pepper Look & Many More Battle Wounds
After working for a few years, a project manager builds a reputation for himself/herself. I strongly recommend to exploit this. Hope you heard the saying "When you are in Rome, be a Roman!". Apply the same principle. If you see something malicious happening, highlight it, fight it and even go the extent of saying that you will not work on this project even if it means your job is at risk. Because of your reputation, people will understand your seriousness on the topic and either they will change their plans OR they will find other ways to get what they need. In either case, your project success is secured. Always be prepared to call a spade-a-spade. This builds a perception that you are a no-nonsense person. Trust me, this helps you a lot in your career growth. Do not be afraid to escalate to senior management.
An alternate approach is to have the person take ownership. If you are forced to take a decision that is potentially bad for the project, then clearly document the ownership and make sufficient noise about it. Make sure senior management knows who is behind this decision.
By repeating this behaviour for a few projects, you will soon end up in a situation where people will not bother you with such scenarios! They will realize it is not worth the effort to deal with you. They realize there is a high possibility that you will expose their hidden agenda.