How to Identify and Manage Difficult Stakeholders
So, you’re a Team Leader, Human Resource Manager, Project Manager, Lawyer, or any other person with some authority in a business, dealing with people. You already know the drill about business alignment and transparency. Yet, no one’s quite gotten around to explaining the nitty-gritty to you.
You’re also saddled with one too many stakeholder meetings — with the relevant folks ready to go. All of which have a vested interest in their own businesses, armed with their own agendas and opinions and personal objectives. Daunting.
And then there’s you, with your own set of concerns, objectives and goals.
You’re going to have your priorities straight, your mindset right, and a strategy for managing stakeholder expectations and engagement. Before all that, you need to grasp the importance of mental models.
What are mental models?
Consider mental models outfits for your mind. You wear varying outfits to suit different occasions, just as you use changing mental models to approach different situations. While most of us have specialized mental models as individuals, an effective people manager might have a latticework to choose from.
Below, we’ll be diving into different scenarios you’ll come across and how best to approach them. Consider your ‘take’ on each aspect a different mental model that must be cultivated, optimized, and worn often.
Mental models are the foundation for how you might cater your communication style to each stakeholder, as a preparatory measure for working with disruptive stakeholders.
How do you deal with difficult stakeholders?
If you have not had to deal with a problematic stakeholder yet — you will. It’s all part and parcel of working life. However, what determines your effectiveness as a leader is how you work with these stakeholders.
It’s easy to start burning bridges when issues arise, but that’s how short-term problems become long-term obstacles — and that’s precisely what you want to avoid.
So, as the difficult stakeholder threatens to veer the harmony of your project towards chaos, here’s what you can do:
Know the signs
Prevention is the best remedy to most business ills. A good stakeholder management strategy is knowing how to spot the symptoms of a problematic stakeholder before they become unmanageable and you develop an untenable position at work.
Here are some telltale signs to look out for:
- Poor communication.
- Overly critical.
- Lacking a sense of urgency or direction.
- Withholds resources from the project.
Now that you’ve pinpointed a difficult stakeholder, it’s best to put a contingency plan into action. This plan generally revolves around re-engaging the stakeholder and troubleshooting their doubts about the project. Here are some core stakeholder management and troubleshooting techniques you can use to make difficult stakeholders manageable..
Metacosm lets you unburden your thoughts and experiences with others by allowing you to sort through your open loops so that you can build more meaningful relationships despite your overwhelming, fast-changing environment. This helps you to keep track of complex stakeholder relationships in a hyper-efficient manner.
