The simple TRUTH about stakeholder engagement
Building strong relationships with our stakeholders can help unlock productivity, value and success. It’s of particular value in my role as a business analyst, where working with other people is a large part of my job. I’m of the belief that some simple rules can be very helpful so, to assist me, I defined five TRUTHs that I try to follow.
T ruth
It doesn’t matter how strong your relationships with stakeholders are if you are not honest with them. Being honest is extremely important, not just to get people on board, but to keep them engaged throughout. Don’t be afraid to talk about delays or problems — as long as it is communicated early enough, everyone will really value the fact that they know. People like working with honest individuals and it definitely boosts productivity and cooperation.
R eality
This may sound a bit odd, but being yourself is really key to relationships with stakeholders. When you spend lots of time with other people, it’s impossible to act like someone else all the time. Try to reveal your personality and you will see that other people will do it for you as well. This is linked to the first point — being yourself also means also being realistic about what you say and what you commit to.
U nderstanding
Trying to understand all of your stakeholders (and remember, everyone can be different!) is extremely important — this will help you with carrying out conversations and also understanding the grounds of their decisions. Try to start meetings by asking people how they are, to understand not only their day job but also to get to know them as people. Don’t be afraid to spend five minutes of the meeting talking about weekend plans or hobbies.
T ransparency
This is my key rule which I always follow in my professional career. I believe that teamwork is the best way of achieving outstanding results on the project, but it’s impossible to achieve it without being transparent about plans, choices, problems and successes. When all teams on the project are transparent, the level of trust grows significantly, which helps with building rapport.
H appiness
Happiness is a very broad term but it’s important to understand what makes your stakeholders happy. This will be different from person to person, so it’s not that easy, but I bet that once you figure this out your next project will be much easier. Some people like plans — so try your best to keep them up to date regularly — while others like a bit of fun, in which case bring some sweets and start your meeting with an ice breaker. This also relates to adjusting outcomes depending on the stakeholder. Not everyone likes looking at a lot of detail — something to remember when preparing for your next meeting.
What do you think? Are these rules too simple, or do you use them already and still experience problems? Consider if you truly follow all of them and apply them to all of your stakeholders — it’s extremely important to value your stakeholders equally. If it’s difficult to check, try to write down your key project stakeholders (for example using a stakeholder map) and think about your last meeting with them. How was it? How did you behave? Did you ask them how they feel? If not, try doing this next time and you will see that this really makes a difference and helps with building rapport!
Kaja Kurowska is a business analyst at ASOS. Kaja is passionate about her role and believes that good team work can make anything possible. Outside of work, she enjoys cooking healthy dishes and loves baking paleo cakes!
