5+1 Advices to Boost the Engagement of your Stakeholders

Simple & Powerful Attitudes that Makes all the difference.

In these current times that we’re working our asses off to keep our business flying across the stormy clouds the engagement of our stakeholders is more than essential.

In these article I’m sharing with you 5+1 fundamental attitudes that for sure will boost the engagement of your stakeholders and that I have always reminded myself about them, not only here at Mindly but also in other companies where I have worked.

1. Use the time as your ally and not as your enemy

I know that’s is in some way a paradox but, it’s very common to find in business and project leaders a critical procrastination for human topics, so, use some time at the beginning of your projects and new developments to identify the key stakeholders and understand what are the interests, benefits and concerns about the project and, even, when there are no apparent benefit to them, invest some time to find and show them the benefits they can obtain from the project success.

This is a constant effort and, specially in agile teams like we are in Mindly, every day and every sprint interaction is a brand new opportunity to apply this.

2. You need to establish trust

Even when you have already identified who are the key stakeholders and understand the initial benefits and interest they have in the project, maintaining the door open for communication is crucial for building trust.

Remember that the things changes usually too fast (and sometimes constantly) and, if your stakeholders have the opportunity to voice their concerns and risk signals, and be truly listened, the probability of addressing and solving issues earlier (and before a potential crisis) increases.

3. Know the power of clarifying purpose, roles and benefits

A project that doesn’t has purpose, roles and benefits clearly defined , can start with the false feeling of control and excitement but, with the first difficulties on the way comes the chaos and despair.

Being a little obsessive about keeping the understanding clear and shared, creates awareness from stakeholders about their contributions and responsibilities for the project success.

In other words, if they say that to listen is gold and that to speak is silver, I would add that, to have the courage to make the right questions at the right time without being worried to look stupid and for the sake of clear communication is a rare diamond.

4. Attack the problem (and its causes), not the person

There are a plenty of good books about to dealing with difficult people in negotiation and, some of the best, in my opinion, were writen by Mr. Willian Ury.

In one of his books (Getting Past No) he talks about the need of be tough with the problems and nice with the people and, in fact, when you look the things in this way, your focus will be in find and combat the root causes and, not in being tough with the people or trying to find a guilty one.

Of course, there’ll be sometimes when you discover that the root cause unfortunately resides in one or more stakeholders, but, it’s part of your work to bring solution to this situation and, even in these cases, treat the persons in a respectful and clear way will be critical to not generate so much noise and stress in the project environment.

When looking for solutions, remember that in several times there’s no alternative that attends everyone interests or opinions, but, your work involves making a decision, and then, be prepared to transmit clearly your decision and why this decision is better to the business success.

5. Do not procrastinate difficult conversations (do it now and in a direct way)

The procrastination virus resides in all of us. It’s a true fact and, it’s usually caused by our fear of fail or be not accepted, but, believes me, it’s a worthwhile fight.

Ignore or postpone problems with stakeholders is like a time-bomb. Do it as soon as possible, in a direct way and it will be clear to everyone your commitment with the project objectives and success.

Remember that a virtuous attitude (in the same way of vicious attitudes) is infectious and being the example will transform in same way the people that surrounds you in your business.

+1. Bring them to the decision making process

There are some good techniques like the RACI matrix that defines in a clear way who is responsible for what and who must be involved in decisions but, what we see in reality is that in several situations the leader just avoid to involve difficult stakeholders in the decision making process, believing that with this attitude he can make the things run faster.

Do not fall in this trap, my friend.

Even when the situation is stressful and the people are tough, do not avoid to involving the proper persons in the decisions. Remember that if the decision impacts in someway them or their team and resources, they will always can block the road, making the project to get stuck and creating a distrustful situation.

Remember also that even the tough and difficult people can bring brilliant contributions.

Some final comments about world current situation

The current situation due to coronavirus pandemics have add some additional challenges in terms of anti-fragility, resilience and keep teams and partners engaged in a remote way during the period of isolation.

Here at Mindly, remote work and fast adaptability is from the beginning at our DNA and, we added to our current mission to share in this series of articles several ideas and experiences that you can use at your business too. So, keep an eye in this page for more stuff that can make all the difference.

By the way, you can count on us for make the things happen at your business through tech & mindful people.

Stay safe!

Eduardo