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The Secret to Mastering Stakeholder Management
Ask any seasoned product manager about the most daunting aspect of their job, and they’ll unanimously agree: it’s people. Specifically, it’s stakeholder management. When done poorly, it can turn a product manager’s life into a nightmare. The most common challenges include conflicting priorities, miscommunication, and power struggles. However, with the right approach, you can navigate these obstacles and produce high-quality work.
Building a System for Stakeholder Management
To address the people-related challenges, you need a system for managing stakeholders’ needs and expectations proactively and continuously. This system involves a set of tactics to keep stakeholders informed and engaged. While the exact approach depends on your organizational context, the type of people you work with, and personal preferences, one underrated tactic stands out: stakeholder interviews.
The Power of Stakeholder Interviews
Regular chats with key stakeholders can work wonders for your stakeholder management system. With some structure, you can achieve extraordinary results. Here are the four key steps to conducting successful stakeholder interviews:
1. Choosing the Right Audience and Cadence
Identify your stakeholders and create a stakeholder map using two main criteria: impact and interest. This will help you determine who to talk to and how often. As a rule of thumb, consider the following cadence:
- Weekly for interested, influential stakeholders
- Bi-weekly for uninterested yet powerful and interested, but powerless stakeholders
- Monthly with selected low-interest, low-power stakeholders who can still provide valuable insights
2. Setting Objectives
Fruitful meetings require intention. Instead of setting a specific agenda, define specific objectives for the meeting. This could include:
- Ensuring stakeholders are aware of risks and up-to-date timelines
- Confirming buy-in and support for your current direction
- Learning about stakeholders’ current focuses and pain points
- Gathering feedback on your newest initiative
3. Conducting the Interview
Don’t be afraid to ask casual, off-topic questions. Building relationships is crucial. When discussing work, allocate time for high-level topics like long-term goals, collaboration feedback, and how you can help each other.
4. Debriefing
Proper debriefing is essential. It helps you:
- Get things in writing
- Map and track action points
- Quickly recall past conversations
Use a stakeholder interview template to summarize your findings, including key agreements, action points, comments, and attachments.
Final Thoughts
Recurring stakeholder interviews may seem time-consuming, but they’re worth it. They help you solve issues before they arise and build strong relationships. In fact, well-led stakeholder interactions can save you time in the long run. I encourage you to test this approach with at least two interviews with each of your key stakeholders in the upcoming month. The ROI is immense.