50 Shades of saying Noes and Yeses - Stakeholder Management

Stakeholder management essentially boils down to how efficiently and colourfully you can say No’s and Yes’s. How politely and firmly you can say no, ensuring you don’t end up ruining relationships and killing the collaborative spirit. Also, how assertively you can say yes and everybody follows your lead.

Early in my career, I never thought much about efficiently handling stakeholders since I used to think if collectively we are chasing same goals, we will be honest with each other and arrive at a consensus. But as the work grew and so did my stakeholders, I realised I need a proper framework to handle my stakeholders. I can’t rely on my instincts and heart anymore. Keeping my own personal emotions aside, I have to create a proper plan to bring my stakeholders to a common page.

Here are few tips I have learned along the way (I am still learning) -

Understand and define your stakeholders

Everybody have their own definition of a stakeholder. But I feel that these are the people or group of people who are directly or indirectly impacted by the feature/product you are building. So answering who is your stakeholders might be tricky, the short answer is -

No alt text provided for this image But based on the product and feature you are working you can always narrow down the scope to find your key stakeholder. Taking reference from Mendelow’s Matrix, do a quick analysis of your stakeholder and categorise them based on the power and interest they hold -

No alt text provided for this image Pic Credits - Andrei Țiț @Paymo

Based on the above categorises, create a table and list down your stakeholders. Once that is done, consider the below five aspects of stakeholder management. Consider the table you just created and take necessary actions listed below against each set of stakeholders.

Understand and clarify the decision makers

Leading by influence but not authority comes with the job description of a product manager. That is why it is almost crucial to clarify who is the decision maker in a given situation. Based on the type of organisation you work in, there is always a question of whether you can take decision individually or report back and get confirmations from your own leaders. You will also notice, the higher the priority of a feature, the higher the number of people feel they are the decision makers. It is always a good practice to call out before hand who is the decision maker. Also, assign and communicate respective roles to everyone. Remember, if a task is assigned to a team and not an individual, it is not assigned to anyone. Lastly, ensure every stakeholder feels heard and valued.

Understand and identify how to use escalation to break ties

Have open conversations with people on the other side of the table. Understand their concerns and opposing point of views. Have a ladder of needs for the feature you are working on. If any suggestion does not satisfy the needs mentioned in the ladder, it is a mere diversion from your goal. If even after multiple conversations, you are not able to bring multiple stakeholders to a common page, escalate to someone who can resolve the conflict. Escalation should not be seen as a complaint rather than as a tie breaker when you are able to highlight both yours and your stakeholder’s concerns. Once it is settled, respectfully communicate and move forward.

Understand and create awareness around common goals

Lead your stakeholder, never command. Sit with your stakeholder informally first before getting into stressful and agenda based meetings. Understand their assumptions, priorities and beliefs. Learn from them what didn’t go so well in the last feature/product and how they would like to improve the process. Once you have an understanding of their perceptions, describe the goals of the new product/feature from their outlook. Be a ferocious advocate of the users. Make them aware about the improvements new feature or product will bring. Another way which might not work always is; strive to explain and relate in a way that can be aligned to their aspirations as well. Picture yourself as if you are leading a negotiation. A win - win situation might not be always there, but there is always something that everybody can gain.

Understand when’s, what’s and how’s of communication

Few stakeholders might be emotionally more vested in the product / feature. If I am not careful and do not follow my stakeholder management plan, I end up running around and over communicating all the time and afraid I might hurt any stakeholder’s feelings. I have learned the hard way to ensure you have a communication plan in place. Create a sample table with Key Stakeholders, frequency of updates, update objective, update channel, clarifications/dependencies, comments/notes etc.

Summary

No alt text provided for this image Final thoughts

Stakeholder management is never easy, either people are too shy or disproportionately noisy. Your ultimate aim should be driving consensus and choosing the best possible solution. It is critical to take extreme ownership of your feature. Always come prepared for the route or possibilities you want the team to take. Anticipate the team’s arguments and talk about pros and cons in detail. Come with an open mind, if something is brought to your notice that might alter the route you are going to take. Be flexible, don’t marry the solution in your head. Communicate early and often. Take special care of key stakeholders. Lastly, follow a plan in all the five aspects of stakeholder management described above, chances are you might not be able to follow them exactly but it sure will help you with a structure to proceed further.