A colleague of mine recently was working on a project and was being given conflicting directions by three different executives.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked me. "Try to please them all and send my team into disarray causing several inevitable fire drills?"

We've all been there...reporting to one executive on a specific project, and dealing with the challenge of working with several other executives who have differing visions of what the assignment entails and how it should be done.

So, how do you gracefully handle the pressure of too much direction and still deliver a successful project?

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Do you sometimes you feel as if you are Indiana Jones when you are managing a marketing communications project? You duck poisoned darts, scramble out of an endless chasm, wrestle the treasure from a wayward colleague's hands, only to find yourself being pursued by a giant boulder that is inches away from crushing you.

While you might not literally experience these problems when managing a project, there are five major obstacles that every marketing communications project manager encounters.

Order "Five Obstacles that Stop Marketing Communications Projects Dead in Their Tracks" and learn how to stop obstacles before they stop your MarCom projects.

#2. Have a clear idea of what the MarCom project should accomplish.

When everyone is working together to achieve the same goals, you'll have won half the battle. It's best to capture key project information — for example, objectives, key messages, target audience, competition, strategy, tactics, budget, milestones, and measurement — in a creative brief. This document provides a firm foundation for the team and acts as a valuable reference throughout the process.