Trust and Alignment: The Real Drivers of Project Success with Dr. Kimberly Strickland

The plan was never the problem 

Most PMO leaders still blame the plan. When a project stalls, we tighten the schedule. We add more status reports. We refine the risk log again. None of that touches the real issue. The problem is rarely a weak plan. The problem is often a weak relationship. This week on the PMO Strategies podcast, Dr. Kimberly Strickland joins me. She serves as Director of PMO at SAS Institute. She has spent over 20 years leading projects. Her message hit me hard and will hit you too. You are going to hear it the same way. What Kimberly said flips that assumption upside down. The plan is a tool, not a safety net. The people around the plan carry it across the finish line. This episode reframes what you should actually fix first. 

Trust beats timelines every time 

Kimberly said something that stopped me cold. Trust is the foundation, not the extra layer. She sees teams hit deadlines and still lose the client. She sees PMOs hit every metric and still get shut down. Why does that keep happening to smart teams? The work got done. The trust never got built. Without trust, the scorecard stops mattering to the people in charge. Sponsors move on. Executives pull funding. Teams shrink. Your green status report cannot save a broken relationship. That hard truth changes how you lead from now on. Trust is the currency your project runs on every day. 

Alignment is not the same as agreement 

Alignment is one of our most abused words in PMO work. People nod in meetings and walk out with different plans. That is not alignment. That is polite silence. Real alignment means a shared understanding of the outcome. It means shared language about what success looks like. It means shared commitment when things get hard. Kimberly pushes her leaders to chase that deeper version. She asks questions until she hears real answers. She names the quiet disagreement in the room. That discomfort is where alignment actually starts. Comfortable meetings often hide the very risks you should name first. 

Why smart teams still miss the mark 

Kimberly sees the same pattern across industries. The PMO delivered on time, on budget, on scope. The business still called the project a failure. That disconnect frustrates many hardworking teams. Delivery metrics measure what was done. Value metrics measure what was received. The business cares about receiving value first. Your sponsors care about outcomes they can feel. Kimberly teaches her PMOs to chase that felt value early. She brings sponsors into the value conversation at kickoff. She keeps the conversation alive through every phase. This shift changes what leaders choose to measure weekly. 

The Keystone Relationship Strategy 

Kimberly built a model she calls the Keystone Relationship Strategy. The name comes from a keystone in an arch. Pull that stone and the whole arch collapses. Some relationships hold up everything you are building. You need to find those relationships on every project. You need to invest in them before you need them. Most PMO leaders wait for a crisis to engage. By then, the bridge wasalready smoking. Kimberly maps her keystone people before any kickoff. She builds those ties while the room is still calm. That quiet investment pays back for years of delivery work. This is strategy, not a personality trait. 

Power Skills carry more weight than ever 

This is why the PMI Talent Triangle puts Power Skills first. Technical delivery keeps you in the game. Power Skills decide who wins the game. Listening, empathy, courage, and candor move projects forward. Kimberly talks about these skills as daily reps. They are not soft skills. They are survival skills for anyone leading change. She challenges every PMO leader to keep growing here. Most of us overinvest in tools and frameworks. We underinvest in the conversations that shape real outcomes. The fix is smaller and harder than you think. Better conversations beat better dashboards every time. 

Small moves that build real trust 

Kimberly shared simple practices that any leader can usenow. Make time for the human connection before the status update. Ask how someone is doing without rushing the answer. Follow up on the small thing they mentioned last week. Tell the truth when the news is not clean. Own the mistake before anyone else has to name it. Celebrate the team members who rarely get the spotlight. These small moves build the account every single day. You draw from that account when the project gets hard. Trust is earned in moments no one was watching. Those moments are where your leadership is really tested. 

How PMOs rebuild credibility from the inside 

Kimberly has rebuilt PMO credibility in several organizations. Her playbook always starts with relationships before reports. She listens to what sponsors actually complain about. She asks the executives what would make their life easier. She rewrites PMO services around those answers. Then she delivers the first visible win fast. Credibility compounds once sponsors see their own words honored. The PMO stops defending its existence every quarter. The PMO starts getting invited into strategy conversations earlier. That is the turning point every PMO leader wants. Kimberly shows you exactly how that shift gets earned. 

What this means for your PMO 

If your delivery stalls at the last mile, look past the plan. Look at the relationships in your sponsor group. Look at the trust level between your team and business leaders. Look at the alignment between your stated goals and felt goals. The gap you find there is your real project risk. Kimberly reminds us of that IMPACT lives on the human side. The IMPACT Engine System treats relationships as a strategic infrastructure. Trust and alignment sit at the core of every engagement. Your next win might start with a real conversation. The work outside the plan will make or protect the work inside it. 

Press play above to hear Kimberly’s full story. You will leave with a sharper lens on trust. You will leave with a language for the alignment you need. You will leave with a new framework called the Keystone Relationship Strategy. This episode will change how you show up at kickoff tomorrow. The IMPACT you are chasing starts with the people around you.