In a complex development project with many clients and team members, there have been delays in completing the required work. What should the project manager do?

Empowering team members is generally beneficial, but it does not directly address the specific problem of ongoing delays or provide a structured approach to resolve them.

Delays indicate that risks have either materialized or were not adequately addressed; working with the team to develop a risk response plan allows for collaborative identification of root causes and proactive strategies to mitigate, avoid, or accept these risks to get the project back on track.

Sending an email to human resources (HR) is typically for personnel issues, not for addressing project delays, which fall under the project manager's purview of risk and issue management.

Informing the project sponsor is a necessary communication step, but it should follow the project manager's efforts to analyze the situation and formulate a potential solution with the team first, rather than being the immediate primary action to resolve the delays.