Talking About Risk Without Freaking People Out

Authored By Amy Ablitt

In the world of project management, one word has the power to send shivers down the spine of stakeholders and team members alike: risk. The very mention of it can cause anxiety, trigger defensive behaviours, or lead to unnecessary panic. Worse yet, it is often such a socially and professionally loaded word that it can shut people down and disengage them. Not what you want when trying to influence a team (who you don’t have any authority over), to do what you want them to do, at precisely the point in time you need them to!

However, risk is not the villain it can be made out to be. In fact, within the PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments) methodology, risk is an essential part of planning, controlling, and delivering successful projects.

So, how do we, as project managers, talk about risk in a productive, structured, and reassuring way—without freaking people out? I hope to share with you some clear techniques and personal insights, underpinned by PRINCE2 principles, for communicating about risk effectively, calmly, and constructively.

Understanding the Problem: Why Risk Conversations Go Sideways

Conversations about risk can go awry for a few key but straightforward reasons:

• In many people’s minds, risk is equated with failure. They assume that talking about risk means something has already gone wrong or is about to.
• Stakeholders fear blame. It’s a sad truth, and sometime flags to me that there is a lack of trust within an organisations culture, or a slightly broken honestly policy (but that is a conversation for another day) But in short, raising risks can be perceived as finger pointing, generally predicting doom or being an unnecessarily ‘Negative-Nelly’.
• Possible lack of structure or not tailored to the specific audience. We’ve all been there – sometimes without a clear framework and ready-to-present response options, risk discussions can feel chaotic or speculative.
• Raising with poor timing. Bringing up risks at the wrong moment, such as in a status report that is expected to be upbeat or when dropped into an uplifting team meeting during the AOB section, can somewhat sour the atmosphere. (And yes, I have done the latter.)

Frameworks for Risk Management

Now, each project management methodology addresses risk in its own way, but what is mutually agreeable is that risks should not be shied away from. Our role as project managers is mainly about not shying away from what is uncomfortable; it is to be disruptive, and luckily for me, this is possibly the part of my job that I enjoy the most.

PRINCE2, as an example, provides us with tools and structures to defuse these landmines and engage stakeholders in meaningful, tactical risk discussions. It addresses Risk Management as a formal theme that must be respected throughout the project lifecycle by taking five simple steps:

1. Identify: Recognising potential scenarios that may impact the project.
2. Assess: Evaluating each scenario based on the likelihood of it happening and the severity of its impact (severity being another word that evokes fear).
3. Plan: Developing actions in response to the scenario, based on how you wish the outcome to be steered.
4. Implement: Execute the plan.
5. Communicate: Continuously share information with stakeholders.

I would also like to add my points here, for completeness, based on my experience, which includes regular reviewing of risk environments and scoring, as well as organic education of your team, so that your stakeholders come to champion risk management rather than fear it – more on this later.

The Mindset Shift: Normalising Risk

With the grounding in our methodologies, let’s be honest, if you ask ten non-project managers (even the ones who claim to be project managers, just without any formal or professional training or qualifications – again, a conversation for another day), how they see risks, they will all likely say something negative. Therefore, one of the most powerful things a project manager can do for their team is to reframe risk as a neutral, if not, even a positive concept. This allows the structured approach of risk management to be embraced as a safety net – the Mystic Meg planning, if you will.

1. Educate Your Stakeholders

Start early by explaining what is meant by a ‘risk’. Emphasise that risk includes a whole spectrum of outcomes and impacts, not just threats.

For example: “When we talk about risk, we’re talking about any uncertainty. Sure, some risks could harm our timeline, but some might give us a chance to improve our outcomes, and others may even be to catch any surprises along the way if we do better than planned.”

Normalising language such as ‘impact’ and ‘severity’ in kick-off meetings, planning documents, progress meetings, and project reports will allow people to become more comfortable with the vocabulary and are therefore less likely to react emotionally.

2. Use Neutral Language

Avoid emotionally charged terms. Instead of saying, “There’s a high risk we’ll fail to deliver if the approval is not signed off on time” you could try: “If this approval were to be delayed, it may slow the next work packet being started, which could cause a potential delay in the delivery of component X.”

Although it is vitally important to be the voice of truth and transparency when building trust and understanding, using slightly gentler language when starting will maintain a constructive tone rather than a catastrophic one.

3. Make it Accessible

During a recent Project Management Skills workshop I conducted, when we reached the topic of Risk Management, every single person in the room had a similar conceptual understanding of what risk meant on paper. However, applying it to relatable, day-to-day situations helped them view the topic in a different light. I asked the group to visualise their morning routine and asked one person to share their movements with the group as an example, kindly.

On that particular morning, the young man had set off on his usual commute in his car when his navigation system alerted him to heavy traffic building on the route. This, I pointed out, is a team member raising a risk – with traffic building, the journey time could be elongated, and may impact (and possibly delay) your arrival time at the office. If this were to happen, there would be possible consequences that you may not wish to occur. I saw eyes widening.

Together, we walked through all the possible risk responses – we could accept the risk and continue on the same route, we could mitigate or reduce the likelihood of the risk and take a different path with a similar original journey time; we could even lessen the severity of the impact by calling ahead to the office and setting new expectations. By the end of the session, risk was being viewed as something completely new, it was the everyday reality, it was normal, and more importantly, it wasn’t an uncomfortable topic anymore.

Practical Techniques for Talking About Risk Calmly

1. Anchor Risk in the Business Case

Try to tie risk discussions back to the Business Case, which is one of the seven PRINCE2 principles. This reinforces that risks aren’t distractions and you aren’t trying to block progress, but they are, in fact, part of protecting the project’s viability, value, and continued business justification.

For example: “Our risk response strategy here is about preserving the targeted user benefits that the business case is built on.”

This helps stakeholders view risk management as part of achieving success, rather than a sign of failure. It also provides a glimpse into the broader picture. After all, our stakeholders will often only view things from a narrow perspective, so providing a little context will help them appreciate the overall position.

2. Use the Risk Register as a Living Document

The Risk Register in PRINCE2 is your grid-lined and colour-coded best friend, which should be regularly reviewed with your team, not just during a crisis. By making it part of your routine, as well as during conversations with others, risk becomes something that is expected and not dreaded. Focus on actions and ownership, keeping the content factual and action-oriented.

3. Separate Risk from Issues

Risks are potential situations that could occur in the future, while issues are things that are happening or have already happened. Be very clear about the difference; you would be surprised at the number of people who use these interchangeably. When you have proactively invested time in taking the weight out of risk language, a team member can quickly trigger mass panic by confusing the two.

“This isn’t an issue; it is a risk that we are actively and successfully managing. If we continue to take appropriate action, if it were to materialise, we have a clearly defined action plan with responsible action owners.”

This distinction between risk and issues helps to maintain a calm approach and reinforces that the team is in control.

Communicating Risk Across Stakeholder Groups

Different audiences require different communication strategies; this is pretty much Business Lesson 101, right? So why do we not always communicate risk this way?

For Executives and Sponsors: “We’re seeing an increased probability of delay in testing. We have two options: extend the timeline by 2 weeks or reduce the scope slightly. Here’s the projected impact on the business case.”

Focus on strategic impacts: time, cost, quality, scope, benefits. Keep it brief and high-level, presenting options and recommendations, not just problems. Using visuals like heat maps or RAG (Red/Amber/Green) statuses can be a real winner here too. My very northern business mentor used to remind me, “Can it fit on the back of a cigarette packet?”

For Team Members:

“Do we have any concerns about dependencies or blockers that we haven’t yet discussed? What impacts will that early success have on the next task in our plan? Let’s capture those as risks and assess them together.”

Discuss practical risks tied to day-to-day activities, encouraging an open, safe, and blame-free environment for colleagues to feel comfortable and confident to put their hands up or share thoughts. Inviting proactive identification of risks and inclusion empowers people to take ownership and champion the concept from within. Making space in your regular sessions for risk reflection will gradually start to shape how people view their day-to-day work.

For Clients or External Stakeholders:

“We’re monitoring a supply chain risk, but we have a mitigation plan in place and will keep you updated if anything changes that may impact our next key milestone.”

The key here is to be honest, totally transparent, but carefully reassuring, appropriate to the likelihood of the risk becoming an issue. (Not everyone approaches external communications as I do, but I will always stand by the fact that visibility is a good thing. No one in the project world likes surprises, especially a paying client. Emphasise the risk responses and monitoring controls, avoiding any jargon and speaking in terms of business impact.

The Human Side of Risk Conversations

Even with structure and logic, humans are emotional beings, and so soft skills and a little patience can benefit both sides of the conversation. Whilst that ‘human’ element of communication can only be learnt through practice and experience that comes with time, there are a couple of subtle and easy wins that can help manage reactions and engagement:

1. Stay Calm and Confident

Your tone sets the emotional temperature of the conversation, and framing risks as solvable situations, rather than a crisis or an immediate concern, will help lead by example. If you are calm, others will usually follow suit. The same theory goes for enthusiasm – some people might not invest time in risk management because they find it dull or not of particular value to them; therefore, if you inject a little ‘lift’ into the conversations or topic, you may find better engagement or interest.

2. Listen and Validate Concerns

Suppose you have ever read ‘The Chimp Paradox’ by Prof Steve Peters. In that case, you will already know that people can react very strongly to seemingly objective situations, and you will find this is mirrored within risk management. If someone feels unheard or possibly even blamed, they will react undesirably and even perhaps disengage. It is vital to build a culture where open and safe conversations flow freely, so that you can acknowledge concerns, allow space for thoughts to be shared, and then bring the conversation back to logical steps for assessing the risk, followed by determining what response and actions are appropriate.

3. Celebrate Risks

Take every opportunity to celebrate the risks that turn out to be wins. If you forecast to finish early or to exceed targets, or even happen to discover new efficiencies or skill sets, champion the success that risk management has brought, and you will slowly start to change the working culture around risk itself.

Making Risk Culture Part of Project Culture

Embedding a healthy risk culture requires consistency and persistence. Holding a two-hour risk workshop during start-up and then not mentioning anything raised until 4 months later, when a vaguely considered situational grenade gets launched, just isn’t going to reinforce anything, other than preconceived notions of why risk is too scary to grapple with.

Reinforcing healthy habits of risk management will look like reviewing risks within your lessons learned (which risks were well managed, which were missed, and how we could manage them differently next time). It could look like promoting risk ownership by empowering team members to have a voice, to put up their hand and speak out, not just to flag risks, but to own and manage actions in response. It could even take the form of a performance metric, as well as delivery outcomes, such as what percentage of identified risks (threats) were mitigated or the impact was reduced? What percentage of risks became issues, or perhaps you could look at turning percentages into cost savings or sales, depending on what the audience may be interested in seeing. Either way, all of these habits continue to reinforce the idea that good risk management leads to good project performance.

Final Thoughts

Talking about risk doesn’t have to be a nerve-wracking ordeal. With the structure provided by methodologies such as PRINCE2 and a commitment to open, rational, and empathetic communication, risk discussions can become one of your strongest tools for project success. By normalising risk, using structured communication tools, and fostering a proactive culture, you’ll create a project environment where people feel safe to share thoughts and ideas, as well as being empowered to champion the ownership and management that all risks need.

Remember: Risk is not the enemy of success; surprise is.

Contributor Bio

Amy spent her formative years being told she was too strong-willed, too confrontational, and too disruptive – it turns out she was destined to be a seriously formidable Project Manager. And after 15 years managing PRINCE2 projects in Digital Transformation across the commercial, corporate and public sectors (NHS, Education, Government and Transport), she is now turning her sights to coaching Project Management skills into organisations allowing businesses to do what they do, but better; whilst mentoring and advocating for other strong minded and aspiring young women in business.

Connect on LinkedIn: Amy Ablitt