Stakeholder Questions and Concerns are Indicators of a Successful Change Management Effort

Leaders often get worried when stakeholders start asking questions and raising concerns about an important initiative. However, stakeholders raising such questions and concerns is typically a sign that things are going well.

Organizational and project leaders often get worried when stakeholders start asking questions and raising concerns about important initiatives. Leaders see this as a sign that a project’s change management effort is failing and resistance to an initiative is increasing. While there are times when this is the case, stakeholders asking questions and raising concerns is much more likely to signal that a project’s change management effort is working well than that it is failing.

There are times when leaders should be concerned about stakeholders asking questions and raising concerns about an initiative. When stakeholders continually ask questions and raise concerns about an aspect of a project that has been previously addressed, it is can be a sign of a major point of resistance or a significant communication failure. Similarly, stakeholders asking questions and raising concerns late in a project or right before a significant change is to occur can be a sign of poorly executed change management effort.

While there are situations in which stakeholders asking questions and raising concerns about an initiative is rightfully worrisome, silence from stakeholders is often a sign of much bigger problems. Asking questions and raising concerns indicates stakeholders are engaged with a project. They are trying to understand what the project means for them and their organization, and they are pointing out things about the project that they find potentially problematic. Simply put, asking questions and raising concerns is what good stakeholder engagement looks like. It is a crucial step in the change management process and should typically be viewed as a sign that a project’s change management effort is going well.

Even though stakeholders asking questions and raising concerns about an initiative is usually a good sign, it is not always comfortable to deal with – especially when the questions and concerns being raised are valid and might have a real impact on the execution of a major project. It is for this reason that many organizational and project leaders prefer stakeholder silence to serious engagement. In fact, some leaders seem to believe that the purpose of change management is to deal with stakeholder questions and concerns in a manner that creates an environment for a project to proceed without “distractions” from stakeholders. This view of change management is exceptionally dangerous.

Stakeholder silence typically does not indicate support for an initiative. It indicates a lack of desire on the part of stakeholders to engage with a project. This lack of engagement may stem from stakeholders not understanding or caring about a project, or it might stem from them feeling that organizational and project leaders do not want to hear their questions and concerns.

Regardless of why it happens, stakeholders not asking questions and raising concerns about an initiative is typically a sign that a project’s change management effort is failing. It does not mean stakeholders support a project. It means they are not engaged, and this almost always results in decreased stakeholder support and adoption of a project’s outcomes, which in turn reduces a project’s return on investment.

Stakeholders asking questions and raising concerns about major initiatives can feel uncomfortable, but it is most often not a sign of a problem. In fact, it typically signals just the opposite. Stakeholders who are asking questions and raising concerns about an initiative are actively engaged with the project. This engagement is a critical step in building stakeholder support and should be encouraged and welcomed as a sign that the project’s change management effort is working well.