Managing Tough Stakeholders

Balance the forces from multiple directions

As a product manager, how to manage multiple stakeholders, in order to align people’ attention to consistent product goals?

I remembered one of my colleagues, Julie, was suffering from handling the situation because she always had to take a lot of time in meeting with different managers, negotiating project scopes according incoming requests, and prioritizing items.

In the company, there were at least 7 business units out there competing limited resources to achieve their goals, especially when it comes to technical resources, because the manpower was restricted. Therefore they should be allocated to solving critical problems that brings huge effect.

She sometimes complained about inconsistent product goals among stakeholders who insisted their own opinions, and ignore the ultimate the product roadmap and vision. I be there must be some readers who had ever had similar hard time in balancing forces of multiple managers.

Is it easy? I don’t think so. But there indeed are some directions we could follow to relieve the problem, and reach the minimum compromise with stakeholders.

👉 Negotiation Based On Product Vision/Roadmap

Before a product’s kicking off, I strongly suggest the you profile the product vision, define the roadmap, discuss the product evolution pace with stakeholders; let them know the primary product line. If needed, try to meet individually with each stakeholder to understand perspectives, concerns, and expectations.

We acknowledge that each stakeholder has unique needs and motivations. But there should be a product vision to help them know what should be added or removed from their expectations.

👉 Clear Communication and Transparency

To foster a collaborative environment, you could set up regular status updates, progress reports, and risk assessments were shared with all stakeholders. As to this, I really appreciated that she used straightforward language and visual aids to convey complex technical concepts in an accessible manner.

This way would help you establish credibility and set realistic expectations. When stakeholders felt informed and involved, they were more likely to support the project, even in turbulent times.

👉 Conflict Resolution and Compromise

Conflicts among stakeholders are inevitable. Different priorities, resource constraints, and disagreements might derail a product. Instead of avoiding conflicts, you should embrace them as opportunities for growth, and be a neutral mediator.

In the process, don’t get away from the initial product goals, because often product managers might compromise with stakeholders by changing goals. That would cause negative effect because stakeholders know you don’t have a bottom line and therefore inject additional requirements as more as they would.

I knew my colleague was excellent in clear communication, but lack of the ability of building product roadmap and resolving conflicts among stakeholders. If you follow the above approaches, I am confident you are able to balance multiple pressure and achieve the product goals.

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