The working title for this piece was Working with difficult stakeholders. But I changed my mind, for three reasons: Firstly, I once referred to a stakeholder as ‘difficult’, but a colleague on the same project had a different experience. Secondly, when asked in a job interview how I’d deal with difficult stakeholders I realised that up to that point I hadn’t really given it much thought. And thirdly, ‘difficult stakeholders’ has a faceless ring to it and it sets the scene for othering.
On the back of a recent project I made a list to help me next time I work with a big group that hold divergent and often apposing views:
- Draw a map of all the people on the project.
- Make the interrelationships between them visible.
- Identify everyone that will be impacted positively.
- Identify everyone who will be impacted negatively.
- Identify what people need form the project, and understand why.
- Ask yourself: What am I not seeing?
- Start with your own emotions. Look at your feelings and take ownership of them.
- Acknowledge that change is emotional for people about to gain, or loose something.
- Back up observations and recommendations with evidence.
- Talk is work – be on the lookout for opportunities to start conversations.
Another way of looking at it is that the interrelationships between people on a project is the project. A project will fail to reach its potential if working effectively with others is not seen as a key deliverable.