Managing Stakeholders - Part I

In general, stakeholder management comes down to the principles required of any good relationship: communication, respect and trust. 

Under the RAMs section I cover how to communicate with stakeholders based on their role. Here, however, we’re going to assess types of difficult stakeholders for a project manager where perhaps communication, respect and trust have broken down (or weren’t there to begin with) and how to manage them. I figure, if you already have a stakeholder who’s a good partner, then you probably wouldn’t be here. Strap in! 

The Stakeholder Who Cried “Urgent!” 

Do you know the fable about the boy who cried “wolf?” He fake-called wolf so many times that when the wolf was actually there, no one ran to his aid. I’m paraphrasing terribly, but I think you get where I’m going with this. 

“Urgent” is a term that should be used sparingly, mainly so that the team knows when it’s time to sprint on a project. It’s vastly overused and means different things to different people which can cause ripples in your projects.  

What to do: 

• Try to understand what “urgent” means to your stakeholder or what is driving that designation (i.e. an immovable deadline, quickturn timeline, high visibility to senior leadership, etc.).
• Confirm, in writing, that there is no deadline flexibility. 
• Communicate the tradeoffs of the sprint i.e. if other work needs to be halted, that the team will show less options because of the time crunch, or that only minor refinements will be allowed.
• Monitor the requested due dates against actual release dates. If there’s a pattern of discrepancy, then there’s probably padding that they’re not telling you about.
• Set up weekly or biweekly 1:1s and start proactively asking about upcoming projects. 
• Create a prioritization system to define urgency as a part of that designation.

Seagull

A personal favorite, in name only. As you probably guessed, a seagull comes in, sh*ts and leaves. Usually, this person is fairly high up in the org (director level or above) because this person’s feedback should probably be considered yet is off base, contradictory or out-of-touch. And this creates spin.

What to do: 

• Bring them in early, preferably at the brief review process if possible. This will give them visibility and the creative direction can be approved before work starts.
• Cc them on work check-ins. Be strategic with this one. Chances are they won’t look, but they’ll feel like they’re in the loop. If they come in down the line, you’ll have justification to say that they were copied on the work shareouts and new feedback is being received too late to affect the project. 
• Confirm with your project POC that they’re looping in the seagull. Use your POC to help manage this person’s expectations. 

The Forwarder

This stakeholder forwards their project requests and, as we’ve all seen, it’s usually in a crazy-long email string. So you’re left having to go through and read through this string, figure out who the players are, figure out what the ask is, and hope that you got it all right. Stop right there. I’ve been burned so many times by trying to proactively organize a forwarder’s project. 

What to do: 

• Write back and say thanks for the background and context on this new upcoming project and ask (politely) that they fill out a brief/change order/ticket so that you can adhere to proper process. 
• Ask if they will be the POC for this project and/or if you can work with someone else on their team for the “day-to-day.” 
• Worst case scenario, do the reading and digging and organizing and write up what you see as the ask and send it back to them asking them to confirm in writing that the information is correct.

Cyclical Meddler

This stakeholder seems to be on your case for a few weeks and then disappears and becomes unresponsive, only to come back a few weeks or months later and be on your case again. Ah, you have a cyclical meddler on your hands. 

These types of stakeholders are tough because when they do come around they micromanage because they’ve felt like they’ve been out of touch (they have). They try to come back and make an “impact” on the work.

What to do: 

• The best thing you can do is weather the storm. Use the times when your meddler is not focused on you to get sh*t done.
• It’s best not to go silent on them. If you’re sending any kind of work shareout, make sure this stakeholder is Cc-ed. If they’re not focused on you, sharing out with them usually won’t turn the attention back on you but it will help the conversation for when it does.
• When they are focused on you, humor their requests (no matter how inane). If you feel like they are sending the team or work down a different path, make sure to still include your team’s recommendation and justification for it.
• Loop in your project owner or the final decision maker on your project. If your meddler is leading you astray, your project owner can help you create a united front against project changes.

The Micromanager

This type is different from having a manager in the minutiae, because this is a stakeholder in the minutiae. Which means they’re all up in your biz.

What to do: 

• Try to understand their side of the business. Chances are they have different priorities and you might be able to service them in a slightly different way once you understand where they’re coming from. For example, they might have to order paper for a printed piece in advance of the design being locked and are subsequently worried about budgets. Learn how to work with them on decisions you may not see.
• Be proactive in communication to show that you are in the minutiae on their behalf. This usually gives them some relief because you’ve now taken work off of their plate. “Hey David, I’m sending over our Round 2 of work. Please note, photography has not yet been retouched so these are not final for color.”

Don’t see yours here? See Part II for another set of profiles and how to manage them.