🌆 ACE Club Digest - A Take On Stakeholder Management

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A Take On Stakeholder Management

The most critical skill for any AEC leader isn't technical knowledge—it's the ability to effectively manage stakeholders

Early in my (Sawyer’s) career I was a junior owner’s rep supporting the conversion of a 19th century textile mill into 90 or so apartments. The project was running smoothly until one month life threw us some major curveballs.

• The utility company would be at least a month late installing a new transformer required to feed power to the building

• Required asbestos abatement greatly exceeded our budgeted cost and timeline

• Demolition on an unsound section of the structure — a critical path — would take weeks longer than expected due to a miscommunication with the demolition sub

Suddenly, our relaxed weekly construction meetings became pressurized. Whether or not we completed the project anywhere close to on time and on budget now depended entirely on the team’s ability to execute flawlessly with 0 margin for error.

Now you might think that the way out of this mess was tighter scheduling and intense micro-management of everyone along the critical path. It wasn’t.

The solution was actually found in better stakeholder management.

What is stakeholder management and who needs to do it? (hint, everyone)

Your stakeholders will probably include owners, investors, architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, regulators, end users, and community members. Effectively managing them to complete work on time and on budget, without losing their trust in you or their commitment to partnership is no easy feat.

And it’s everyone‘s job, whether you’re a designer, PM or MEP engineer.

The fundamental principle behind stakeholder management is the fact that projects rarely fail because of technical problems; they most often fail because of people problems.

Good stakeholder management requires:

• Understanding each stakeholder's priorities, constraints, and interests

• Communicating effectively and appropriately based on those interests

• Fostering trust through transparency and accountability

• Anticipating and addressing concerns before they become project-stopping issues

What happens when stakeholder management goes wrong?

You can imagine the nightmare scenario - yelling, unanswered phone messages, lawsuits…

But most of the time the consequences of bad stakeholder management are more subtle. Partners who feel overlooked and undervalued. Lack of buy-in on key decisions. Rework and blame assignment.

The cascading effects of poor stakeholder management show up in budget overruns and missed deadlines.

In my experience, poor stakeholder management often manifests as information silos—where critical information is trapped within one team or discipline. The mechanical engineer doesn't tell the architect about a required equipment clearance. The owner doesn't inform the contractor about a planned tenant improvement. The contractor doesn't alert the owner about a supply chain issue. Each omission creates ripples that grow into waves of delay and cost.

Perhaps most damaging is the erosion of trust and commitment to partnership within project teams.

When stakeholder management breaks down, people become defensive, withhold information for fear of blame, and stop bringing forward creative solutions. The project environment shifts from collaborative to adversarial, with each party looking out for their own interests rather than the project's success.

How did stakeholder management save the day?

Okay, back to my story.

We squeezed every drop of efficiency out of the schedule and drove our GC and sub partners as much as possible. But it turned out that no matter how hard we pushed, hitting our target occupancy date just wasn’t in the cards.

However, my boss was a master at stakeholder management. Within a week he started dozens of conversations.

• We met early with financing partners to set expectations and minimize surprise

• We brought our architect and GC together to brainstorm creative workarounds

• We had several hard, but necessary, conversations with our GC about contracts and change orders. They weren’t fun meetings, but ultimately helped us all get aligned on expectations, and keep moving forward playing for the same team.

• We started backchannel conversations with the utility and regulators

As a result of all of our coordination, the project finished without a hitch (though there were a few close calls). What could have been a 3 or 4 month overrun was only 30 days.

Best of all, we maintained our relationships with people who would become long-term partners on future projects.

What my boss understood was that technical solutions alone wouldn't solve our timing problems. He knew that with transparent communication and a shared understanding of challenges, our stakeholders would become problem-solvers rather than obstacles.

Tips for stakeholder management

I’ll leave you from some hard-won tips for effective stakeholder management that have served me well in the worlds of AEC and tech:

• Understand each stakeholder's definition of "success” from the outset

• Communicate critical updates early — a little pain today becomes far worse later

• Always close the loop on conversations and commitments

• Focus on solutions, not fault-finding

• Be transparent about constraints — hiding limitations only leads to unrealistic expectations

Featured Member & Project

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🖼️ Call for designs

• LF25 Commemorative Poster Design Contest - Beginning in 2025, Living Future will be producing an annual commemorative poster for our flagship event, and they are looking for a winning design. The designer chosen will have their byline printed on the back of the poster, along with the sponsor of the poster and Letterpress PDX. Submit by March 15!

👨‍🏫 Upcoming AEC Courses & Events

• (3/15) Design for Fire Resilience, a Reimagine Buildings Conference - register here

• (3/12-3/13) NY Build conference - register here

📰 Our favorite reads, listens & watches

• Passive House Secrets from the Mindful Builder Podcast teaches us that passive house construction requires a symbiotic relationship between builders, architects and engineers

• In this provocative article, Brad Hargreaves wonders, because it’s possible that the next decade will bring us a shrinking America. In that context, it's worth asking: will we still need to build things?

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Until next time,

Emma & Sawyer