Working with various people is inevitable in any professional career. There are always those who present challenges in line-managing style or task-planning expectations, from being asked for end-to-end plans despite current agile methods to having “ready-made product backlogs without consulting team members. These awkward moments can be challenging! However, embracing them provides excellent scope for learning valuable skills that will serve you well on future projects and programmes.
These are some of my approaches to managing difficult stakeholders:
Know your stakeholder profile:
Before embarking on your stakeholder journey, it’s essential to identify and determine the level of management that should be invested in each individual. Stakeholder profiling will help you tailor an approach tailored specifically to their needs – guaranteeing satisfaction before takeoff!
Be a level-headed master of your field:
You must be well-versed in your area. For example, if you are a project manager, product owner, business analyst or programme manager, you must be well grounded in agile methodology. It is, however, crucial that you are not a “male peacock” show-off because of your expertise.
Learn how to win friends and influence people.
Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is a good starting point for understanding how to make more friends than enemies. Be a master networker. You’ll never know when you’ll need a friend to lean on within the stakeholders!
Be a change manager:
A successful leader or project manager understands the importance of imparting knowledge on both waterfall and agile terminologies and methodologies. Gradually introducing this information helps ensure a smoother transition into utilizing these tools for tremendous success in any endeavour!
Cut out the Jargon!:
It’s essential to communicate in a language that everyone can understand. So, to put it briefly, keep your message straightforward and jargon-free – because “KISSing” (Keep it Simple, Stupid) is always the way to go!
Bottom-Line
Working with difficult stakeholders can be a considerable challenge. Regardless of the project you’re working on, it’s important to remember that communication is critical. As long as your clients have a clear understanding of the task and you can effectively communicate with them, you should be able to manage any tricky conversations and come out unscathed successfully. If you’re ever feeling overwhelmed while dealing with stakeholders, managing the situation proactively rather than reactively could be a great way to ensure everyone comes out of the conversation satisfied. Please get in touch if anyone has experience dealing with tricky stakeholders and wants to share their stories or advice. Let’s work together and create solutions!
Who am I?
I am Dotun Adeoye, a Business Growth Strategist & Author of the 5 Pillars of Business Growth.
I’ve built up my experience via serial entrepreneurship, consulting leadership roles in business growth, business development and product innovation in large companies worldwide in the last 30 years.
Today, I consult with large businesses on how to sustainably grow their businesses, sustain infinite growth, ensure business continuity and achieve a legacy.
Hire Dotun Adeoye to Speak Virtually or In – Person at your company’s event to cover this or other topics. You can also get in touch via +44 203 097 1718 or dotun at dotunadeoye.com.
