Building Trust for Project Success
From the Podcast: Summary of a recent Interview on
The Project Management Podcast
SERIES ARTICLE
By Cornelius Fichtner
Arizona, USA
(This article is based on The PM Podcast Episode 511, an interview with Barbara Kephart.)
Stakeholder management is often one of the most challenging aspects of project leadership. While engaged stakeholders can drive a project to success, disengaged or resistant ones can create roadblocks. In this episode of The PM Podcast, Barbara Kephart, a UC Berkeley-certified project manager known as the “C-Suite Whisperer,” shared expert strategies for building trust and fostering productive stakeholder relationships.
The Importance of Stakeholder Trust in Project Success
Barbara emphasizes that stakeholders are not just project participants. Instead, they are people with unique perspectives, concerns, and priorities. Successful stakeholder management requires more than just communication; it demands an understanding of power dynamics, active trust-building, and strategic engagement. When project managers establish credibility early and maintain transparency throughout the project lifecycle, they gain stakeholder support, mitigate conflicts, and reduce project risks.
However, many project managers struggle to effectively engage stakeholders. Some rely too much on formal processes without considering interpersonal dynamics, while others fail to anticipate shifting stakeholder needs. According to Barbara, project managers must approach stakeholders with a mix of structured methods (such as power-interest grids) and human-centric strategies that foster collaboration and buy-in.
Key Takeaways
- Trust is the foundation of stakeholder engagement – Without it, project managers risk resistance and misalignment.
- Power dynamics must be assessed early – Understanding stakeholder influence helps prioritize engagement efforts.
More…
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Editor’s note: The author Cornelius Fichtner, PMP, CSM is an author, speaker, course creator, and since 2005 host of the world-famous Project Management Podcast. In this new series, Cornelius provides a summary of a recent podcast on a topic that we think will be of interest to our readers. This article is based on The PM Podcast Episode 515, an interview with Bryan Barrow. For more, see his author profile at the end of this article.
How to cite this work: Fichtner, C. (2025). Managing Stakeholders, From the Podcast: Summary of a recent Interview on The Project Management Podcast, series article, PM World Journal, Volume XIV, Issue V, May, Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pmwj152-May2025-Fichtner-managing-stakeholders-episode-511.pdf
About the Author
Cornelius Fichtner
Arizona, USA
Cornelius Fichtner, PMP, CSM is an author, speaker, course creator, and host of the world-famous Project Management Podcast. He is also well known for creating one of the first and most renowned PMP Exam Simulators, offering PMP practice exams that have helped countless students effortlessly pass their PMP Exam.
He says that the main way he helps candidates pass their exams is by letting his enthusiasm for project management shine through during training. Students and podcast listeners often comment on how he can make an academic subject like PM theory come alive to motivate, excite, and inspire them with this ‘dry’ subject.
He is a past president of the PMIOC Chapter and a PMI-OC Fellow. He lives in Tucson, Arizona, USA, with his wife, cats, and their four computers. Cornelius can be contacted at cornelius.fichtner@osp-international.com
You can find The Project Management Podcast™ at https://www.project-management-podcast.com, and The Project Management PrepCast™ at https://www.project-management-prepcast.com. If you are preparing for your PMP exam, then take a look here: https://www.pm-exam-simulator.com.
To view other works by Cornelius Fichtner published in the PMWJ, visit his author showcase at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/cornelius-fichtner/
