Often bad news gets blown out of proportion when viewed from a single perspective. To avoid this, and remove the sky is falling panic, put all the information on the table to help your stakeholders understand what caused the issue, what corrective actions are required and what the expected outcome will be to resolve.

Start by explaining the project background to remind the stakeholders of the importance of the project, be frank about the details of the issue encountered then propose analysed options and solutions with a preferred recommendation. Then ask your sponsor to decide on the corrective action. This allows you to communicate the preferred approach to the broader business with both stakeholder and project sponsor support to enable the project to keep moving forward.