Stakeholder Engagement – My Takeaways
As we grow in our careers, stakeholder engagement becomes one of the important factors that shape our growth. In today’s global workforce, stakeholders come in many forms – internal and external, direct and indirect, local and global – each with different stakes in a project. Engaging with each of them needs a nuanced approach, especially when you are the key driver.
Early in my leadership career, I thought stakeholder management (SM) and stakeholder engagement (SE) meant the same thing. With experience, I learnt to see the difference between the two. To me, SM is largely about one-way communication, such as sharing regular status updates and communications. For example, during a production incident, sharing regular status updates with internal and external stakeholders, or sharing the minutes of key decisions with everyone involved. But SE is more of a two-way dialogue that needs investment, relationship building and a collaborative approach. For instance, working with Product Management to shape the roadmap, or conducting collaborative workshops for a larger project involving Product, Design and Program Management.
I learnt some lessons the hard way and, at times, by watching leaders in action – the way they approached situations, handled conflicts and influenced decisions. My biggest takeaway from these experiences is that EQ plays a critical role in stakeholder engagement. Self-awareness and situational understanding coupled with a balanced approach can make engagement smoother and more collaborative. If I had to distil my own learnings, I’d put them down to three principles
1. Organisational interests first
I learnt a fundamental principle from my leader, Ashwin Srinivasan , during my time in Marketplace: the organisation’s interests first, followed by those of your BU, then your product, and finally your own team.
2. Never make it us vs. them
Ego or tunnel vision can damage relationships and get in the way of progress. Self-awareness and an understanding of the situation can help when disagreements get difficult.
3. Be flexible
I’ve seen situations flare up simply because people didn’t have the full context. Instead of holding a fixed position, flexibility may help diffuse the situation. For example, explaining our challenges or constraints to stakeholders could yield better results than expecting them to know our circumstances. Engineering constraints versus Product demands is a classic example of this.
I don’t think stakeholder engagement is something we figure out once and for all. It’s something we continue to learn through the people we work with and the situations we encounter.
These are a few things that have stayed with me over the years.