Demanding Stakeholders Are Good Stakeholders

 

By Kevin Korterud

Managing the dynamics of stakeholder engagement is an essential component of successful delivery. Stakeholders offer direction and support, and enable key strategic and tactical decisions needed for delivery progress.

Especially early in our careers, we tend to think about stakeholders as being two-dimensional entities that have an equal say in delivery directions. For those of us who have completed several project, program or product delivery initiatives, we know this equally representative model of stakeholders does not practically exist.

At one time or another, we’ve all had a demanding stakeholder. True demanding stakeholders tend to be standouts from the traditional body of stakeholders in several dimensions.

Demanding stakeholders are almost always well-intended. They seek a path to delivery results and are not focused on gaining political capital for their own personal benefit. However, their dominating professional presence, business/technology domain knowledge and sense of urgency can be intimidating.

Project, program and product managers early in their careers often make mistakes in working with demanding stakeholders. Many of us tend to misinterpret their high level of needs as a liability. In fact, the opposite is usually true with demanding stakeholders. With a proper connection, they tend to be one of the most valuable assets for effective project, program and product delivery.

Below are three techniques for re-thinking the way you interact with demanding stakeholders:

1. Recognize their unique strengths and skills.

There is no mistaking what a demanding stakeholder needs from a project, program or product delivery initiative for success. In addition, their needs are made very clear as to what success looks like from the delivery team. 

Demanding stakeholders typically possess strong business and/or technical knowledge, which gives them a highly capable foundation from which to quickly enact the best possible slate of improvements. They understand these processes end-to-end and typically have an external view of how other companies execute the processes.

Demanding stakeholders are also often efficient communicators who can phrase their needs in the minimum amount of words. In addition, they can readily visualize and demonstrate to others the required elements and outcomes from prospective improvements.  

Leveraging these skills, demanding stakeholders can readily align their improvement ideas with organizational strategy. This alignment is key to realizing the maximum amount of value from a project, program or product solution.

By doing so, the demanding stakeholder—by having the best interest at heart for real results—is a key factor in true delivery success.

2. Practice setting boundaries, and use “not now/yet” vs. “no.” 

The size and scale of a demanding stakeholder’s needs may at first seem daunting. In addition, there often doesn’t seem to be enough time to meet their needs. The demanding stakeholder realizes that there is typically a limited opportunity to enact high-value change, so they try to maximize what can be done—even if it means running over schedule and budget. 

When interacting with demanding stakeholders, start by setting the boundaries for the size, scale and duration of improvements that are possible. Mutually agree that these boundaries are solid and can only be revised with a change control process. By setting these boundaries, you can enable the next step in optimizing demanding stakeholder needs. 

Saying “no” is not an effective path for progress. The approach should be to set a grouping, ranking or other priority-based construct that can be used to determine the relative order of stakeholder needs. By using more of a “not now/yet” approach, you create clarity into the relative importance of needs, while building the bridge for future enhancements.

3. Become a demanding stakeholder yourself.     

One of the most effective approaches for working with demanding stakeholders is to become one yourself. For a project, program or product manager, this is quite straightforward due to the disciplines already inherent in the work that we do on a daily basis. 

To increase business or technical knowledge, put yourself in the role of a demanding stakeholder. Seek opportunities for business or technology immersion through training, shadowing the stakeholder’s subordinates and visits to company sites or customers to fully appreciate their position.

With any stakeholder engagement, such as a working or status meeting, devote additional time and effort to preparations. Role play and predict the likely set of questions or directions that would be provided by the demanding stakeholder. Leverage your team members to assist with demanding stakeholder dialog.

Demonstrate the ability to make fact-based and data-driven decisions in a quick and decisive manner. In addition, clearly communicate acceptance criteria, timing and desired outcomes to team members. Pay strict, unwavering attention to the scope, scale and time boundaries. Finally, fully support the demanding stakeholder with any change control effort needed to revise scope, scale and duration boundaries.

By exhibiting the core behaviors of a demanding stakeholder, you will gain the respect of that stakeholder and let them know they have a willing and capable partner in creating value for the company.   

What are some ways you’ve successfully collaborated with demanding stakeholders?