The Most Overlooked Challenge for Product Managers in Managing Stakeholders
As a product manager, the most challenging aspect of the job has always been influencing and effectively communicating with those around…
As a product manager, the most challenging aspect of the job has always been influencing and effectively communicating with those around me. 🤝
From personal agendas to vendettas, individual opinions, power struggles, or politics, numerous factors can make it difficult to get people on board with your vision.
However, there’s another often-overlooked challenge that makes it even harder.
Here’s what it is and how to tackle it:
After 10+ years as a product manager, managing hundreds of stakeholders and customers, and releasing hundreds of features and experiments, I’ve identified the biggest challenge I had to face in the field:
bridging the gap and aligning others with your thought process
Product managers work at the core of the product, while the rest of the company focuses on their own areas of expertise. PMs are the ones who must define the product’s purpose and articulate its vision.
We like to talk about what’s shiny and exciting, making us eager to go to work in the morning. We don’t like to talk about what keeps us up at night. I had numerous times failed to communicate and convey the right message to the product team and to my stakeholders. At first, I was blaming them. I couldn’t be at fault. With time, I understood more about what it meant to be a product manager and work with other people who have a stake in the game. At the end of the day, it was not my company. I could leave anytime and decide that my road could continue somewhere else.
My failure was not understanding simple human psychology and the people around me. People primarily care about themselves and what’s in it for them. There is no selfless deed.
I was doing the same. I was also pushing my beliefs onto everyone else. I was responsible for the product. The product was the heart of the business. Without a product, there would be no business. I was living, breathing, eating, and sleeping product. The product was my focus every day. My emails, meetings, and communication with different teams were all about the product. How can people sometimes not understand the importance of the product?
I needed to get out of my head and understand that the real problem was understanding how to communicate my vision.
In the end, it all comes down to communication and how you manage your stakeholders. What you need to do is bridge the gap of knowledge and get everyone on the same page.
The problem in the PM situation is that they are the only ones who go through the dots and connect them at a certain point. The rest of the stakeholders, teams, and management don’t go through the same path. The question then remains: How do you succeed in communicating and helping people understand what you have been through? How can they get the same information as the PMs did?
Here are six strategies that can help you in your endeavour:
1/ Identify what matters
Not everything has the same value. PMs have to identify what matters in the information they gathered. What made them change their mind? What was the most revealing information of all?
2/ Be concise, clear, and compelling
The art of communication involves using the right type of communication and being capable of explaining complex ideas simply. With these two tools, you can be sure that everyone is on the same page.
3/ Empathize and connect with your listener
Each person has a different way of receiving and perceiving information. There are different techniques to persuade someone. Each technique uses a different approach: logos (the argument itself), pathos (explaining through emotions), or ethos (the authority of the speaker).
4/ Find and link your communication to their personal agenda
Each stakeholder has their own agenda. You need to find what drives them and connect to it. It’s crucial to find the answer to “What’s in it for them?”
5/ Over Communicate
Communication is key to everything you do. Most of the work you do as a product manager is based on communication. It’s important to share and update everyone on your progress to keep them engaged. Transparency builds trust. Trust builds confidence.
6/ Stay open-minded
Be ready to receive feedback and new information along the way, even if you didn’t ask for it. You have to stay open to anything that is thrown your way and change the direction accordingly to reach your vision.
Finally, you will have to demonstrate leadership and resilience along the way. It can take time for some of your ideas to be accepted. Today may not be a good day, but what about next week?
When I truly believed at my core in what I was doing, I noticed that there was always a way. Remember also that you are not alone. You need the help of others, and you can build great things together.
So share your ideas. Great leaders empower others and give them the space, tools, and support to realize their full potential.
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