Great project delivery goes beyond efficiency, blending precision, clarity, and empathy to build trust and lasting client partnerships.
Too many firms treat project delivery like a checklist: hit the deadlines, control the budget, and call it a win. That’s the bare minimum. The firms that lead the industry know better. Project delivery is more than efficiency – it’s about the entire experience, from the first client handshake and long after a ribbon is cut at a grand opening. Strong delivery combines efficiency with an experience that owners value. Miss either one, and the project falls short.
ISG, an architecture, engineering, environmental, and planning firm, has built a delivery model that treats both as non-negotiable. Projects are managed with high expectations, building in adaptability as needs evolve, and our people are led with the same level of care. This requires educating owners and decision makers to ensure alignment for delivery and consensus on each party’s responsibilities.
Build trust.
Owners don’t live in our world every day. They are running cities, schools, or food production facilities that require their full attention. It’s not their job to know what comes next. That’s where a clear, customized plan comes in. Decision points are established early, with straightforward explanations of what each choice means for design, schedule, and budget. Our project leaders maintain focus on the client and teams’ goals, providing consistency that keeps projects on pace, minimizes surprises, and enables confident, timely decisions to strengthen results.
When owners are empowered and understand their role, they stop being passengers and start being partners. They move from watching a project unfold to co-creating it.
Five ways to build trust:
- Lead with empathy. Understand values, concerns, and priorities.
- Define the path early. Outline owner responsibilities, set decision points, establish escalation protocols, and agree on timelines so everyone knows what to expect.
- Speak their language. Ditch the jargon. The goal isn’t to “outsmart” everyone in the room. Make it relatable.
- Document and share. Every decision. Every milestone. No exceptions.
- Be available, with boundaries. Set communication expectations and honor them.
Be empathetic.
Guiding owners through the project requires active listening to truly understand opportunities, concerns, and challenges. By listening first, ISG identifies what drives each decision maker, what they value most, and where their concerns lie. We can then lead from this fine-tuned perspective.
Empathy is a performance advantage. For internal teams, it creates clarity on expectations and allows groups to sprint when needed. With project partners, it builds trust, knowing ISG will represent their interests in every meeting, whether side-by-side or states apart. This reliability turns working relationships into lasting partnerships.
The result? Projects stay on track. Deliverables arrive on time. Quality goes up. Profitability follows. Most importantly, the experience leaves a lasting impression – owners carry it with them and continue sharing the results well beyond the ribbon cutting.
Provide clarity.
Roles, responsibilities, and timelines are never left open to interpretation. Early in discovery, decision makers are identified, responsibilities are defined, and stakeholder engagement is scheduled to avoid costly delays. Every decision is documented, shared, and referenced as the project evolves. This becomes the accountability backbone; without it, scope creeps and alignment crumbles.
- Manage change. Define how shifts in scope impact schedule and cost.
- Structure meetings. Clarify who attends, how often, and for what purpose.
- Design to construction. Set when and how design decisions are made.
Owners need to know what’s coming, when it’s coming, and the cost implications of any changes. With this level of clarity and accountability, surprises are minimized, and projects stay on course.
Deliver experience.
Great project delivery is about more than the time it took to make it to the finish line, it’s about how you performed along the way and who’s alongside you in the final stretch. Firms that master both experience and efficiency win more work, build stronger teams, and create long-term partnerships.
It’s more than a framework. What it really comes down to is building the right relationships and reinforcing the behaviors to create successful and memorable project experiences that clients keep coming back for.
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Tiara Marcus is a project management practice group leader at ISG. Connect with her on LinkedIn. |