When I ask my product friends how it’s going, at least 70% of the time I hear about stakeholder challenges. Like that time when that particularly influential stakeholder didn’t like what was demoed, and de-railed the meeting. Or that time when the stakeholder didn’t even show up to that important demo…
Anyone feeling triggered yet? Deep breaths! 🧘🏼♀️
I get it. Most of my career has been with large matrixed organizations, and stakeholders maps so big they spanned entire walls. A lot of people, a lot of expectations. And I, for one, didn’t have time for it. I thought of relationship-building, even with stakeholders, as a distraction from execution, aka “getting #$%^ done.” And I got #$%^ done, but I was so frustrated with the pace of change. Things moved slowly, I pushed harder and harder, and I felt cooked on a regular basis.
Things started changing for me when I joined IHG, where I learned about hospitality. The company lives and breathes it, and for more on what I’m talking about, here’s a book rec. At one point, I had to align ~3000 hotels to support a launch some weren’t comfortable with. The solution was so obviously right to do, the business case was there… but some important hotels weren’t ready, and this was slowing us down. I was frustrated; we were out of time! With support from some exceptional mentors who regularly liaised with hotel managers, though, I started to get on the phone with these hotel managers. I started to listen more, and consider their perspectives. The concerned hotels came around faster than I thought possible, and we shipped. Surely it would have been even faster had I not started at the 11th hour…
My big unlock was this: a realization that what I’d seen as a distraction– relationship building– was actually critical for success. Relationships were, and still are, key to getting faster, better outcomes at large orgs, and these take time and energy to build. I’ve seen the payoff, too: speed to market, work that’s more fun, and even some career benefits: more than once, a former stakeholder advocated for me to get my next role. I’ll share some of my top lessons, but first:
What’s a stakeholder?
Someone with a vested interest in the value delivered by a product. Yes, and, Tip #1: consider them your partners with gifts, like context or connections. I know there are many stakeholders out there who don’t quite show up like this, but I’ve found that adopting the belief that stakeholders are partners has helped me show up as the partner I want to be, and has inspired others to match.
Guiding Principles
Tip #2: Narrow down a set of key stakeholders based on size of influence, stake and context. Then, Tip #3: Build a relationship, applying these principles:
- No surprises: Assume stakeholders don’t like surprises, good OR bad. This assumption has served me & my products well. For example, always aim for unsurprising roadmap reviews. Your stakeholders already know your target outcomes, and have a feel for which opportunities you’ll tackle & why, and support you. (Do you even need a meeting for this anymore?)
- Text-level status: A former sales colleague once told me, “I know things are good when I’m on text-level status with the buyer.” Powerful indicator! In my experience, business is on Slack/Teams/Email, text is for a trusted few, which is what I’m aiming to be for stakeholders.
- Whole person: Get to know stakeholders beyond their stake in your product. What brings them joy? What motivates them? What are they working toward? One recent stakeholder makes his own chocolate from scratch; another power lifts. Details like this bring levity to the relationship, which is helpful during challenging discussions, like trade-offs.
- Honor the past: Many innovative product folks join long-running orgs with boundless energy to deliver outcomes! And they sprint right past their colleagues, who could warn them about some potholes. If you’re lucky, you have at least one stakeholder who sees something important, from past experience, that you don’t. What is it?
- Assume the best. Assume stakeholders are 100% invested in the success of the product, and hope you and your team will make it happen. But, their trust isn’t guaranteed. It’s on us to earn it. Assume their intentions are good, and deliver the best results you’re capable of– because that’s the ultimate trust-builder.
Epic Outcomes | Coaching & Consulting 