Designers Working with Challenging Stakeholders
In a previous article, How Design Thinking can Work in Healthcare, I emphasized the importance of involving stakeholders early in the design process of a product. Designers must gain their support and financial backing, as well as their recognition of the value of the end product. Without that support, a project will quickly lose funding or never make it beyond the prototyping stage. But what if you have a challenging stakeholder on the project? We have all encountered them before, and if you never have and are reading this now, hopefully, this will help you manage and maintain the relationship with your tough stakeholder. There are several great articles about meeting with difficult stakeholders, and you may hear from seasoned designers the fundamentals, but I am writing from my personal experience and what I have learned to foster positive connections and create better communications all around.
What are the possible signs of a challenging stakeholder, you might ask? I have encountered stakeholders who:
- will not see the value of design
- have negative commentary in and outside of meetings
- are passive-aggressive and may object or create obstacles to derail or delay the project at every opportunity.
- believe they know their end-users without analytics and research
- are stuck in their old ways and are not open to change
- are sexists, ageists, or racists (surprisingly these 3 happen a lot)
- antagonize or intimidate others on the team, creating an environment of animosity and mistrust among team members.
There are many examples out there, but it’s essential to schedule time to meet with stakeholders individually without other stakeholders in the room. This action leads to a more precise and calm conversation. Take this time to explore their viewpoint and preferred solutions by asking open-ended questions about their opinions and how they feel the project is going. Meeting with your stakeholders one-on-one also prevents any negative opinions from influencing others on the project. When feedback crosses the line from constructive to strictly negative, it’s best to isolate the situation and handle it one-on-one. Make a genuine attempt to see the goal from their point of view. As Designers, we should build empathy for our end-users AND our business partners. We must respect our stakeholders’ experiences, time, and perspective if you want to create a smooth project moving forward.
“What’s in it for me?”
A significant gap in our experiences is professional communications with internal stakeholders, and it’s something that many designers never learn except through experience (usually the hard way). Stakeholders want to know what’s in it for their business. Most of them are much less interested in the process that drove you to design decisions; they are interested in what the result will be for their business in particular. The ability to prove a monetary change or a clear competitive advantage for the product will be most useful in presenting your case. For our end-users and clients, that means being able to show how your proposed solution will benefit all aspects of the product, either by time or cost savings. Let’s talk about the User Experience Designer (as this is my preferred role in my career). UX is not just about the end-user but also a clear understanding of the business. Make a case for UX research and design by tying real-world and customer pain points to the organization’s bottom line. Communicate value in terms of ROI. UX can reduce customer service overhead, lower customer acquisition costs, and increase the average order value and customer lifetime value. By using these metrics and communicating a clear return on investments, stakeholders will more readily get on-board with UX.
Know your business acumen
Doug Collins states, “Different groups — and individuals within those groups — have different sets of community jargon and preferred communication styles. UX professionals are no exception, and too often, we fall into the trap of trying to communicate everything, including value, in our terms and style. Your language should never be a barrier to your message. Be careful to eliminate UX jargon and design speak from your value propositions, and adjust your communication style to that of your audience.” Knowing this will help eliminate barriers that we, as designers, face regularly.
In the end, we, as designers, must let go of our egos, and be open to difficult discussions. These discussions will make us better in our ways of communicating the importance of design/changes to a product and allows us to become better advocates for our end-users. When you see that you have a stakeholder who is not on board with what you’re bringing, use this as an opportunity to get to know them and understand their end goals. You’re on a team. I hate to use cliches, but the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. You’ve got this!
