Now, I would argue that the real “people in charge” are your stakeholders and customers. If you do well with them, it is likely that your life in your reporting line will go from strength to strength. (Yes, I know there are some exceptions with “horrible bosses” but that’s for another time 😉)

“In an ideal world, all leaders would be clear about their expectations and proactive about sharing what’s on their mind. But in reality, most of us can be frustratingly vague.”

Learning to get inside someone elses head may sound like an unnecessary emotional labor, but effective stakeholder engagement and alignment is worth the effort.

When you can decode their perspectives, aspirations, challenges, opportunities and needs, you can prioritize your efforts and projects for maximum impact.

I have paraphrased Melody’s 7 questions to your stakeholder as follows. Obviously, you need to articulate them in your own style;

1. What goals are your leadership setting for you?
   • This may lead to insights into aspirations, frustrations, key metrics, performance reviews, bonuses, and career trajectory.
2. What concerns you most (“keeps you up at night”) when thinking about your organization or team and what they are trying to achieve?
   • This invites vulnerability in a way that builds trust and creates an opportunity to help solve issues. Be ready for the same question back at you though, as a test of trust!
3. What actions or changes would allow you to look back in 100 days and say “Wow, that really made a difference”
   • The timeframe is key. Melody uses 90 days but I have a fixation on “100 Day Plans”. It is long enough to accomplish something meaningful, but short enough to be tangible and maintain focus and momentum.
4. What do you wish you had more time to focus on?
   • This can uncover priorities that keep getting pushed aside by more urgent, but not necessarily important, activities.
5. What does “Good Look Like” in terms of your organization’s performance?
   • Having laid out “good” expectations, what does exceeding expectations look like as in “What is outstanding performance? 
6. What emerging trends are you mindful of and potentially planning to capitalize on?
   • Explores internal shifts, industry changes, competitive threats and executive concerns.
7. Can you help me understand how you view my organization/team and how we could do better?
   • How do we compare to other enabling relationships you have in place? This is the “holding up the mirror” moment and is important to understand how to create more impact and business value. Don’t rush to try and solve any issues immediately. Offer the courtesy of going away to consider what you can do about it and come back to discuss at a later point.  

Pay attention to what is NOT said. Notice which topics they get excited about, they hesitate to discuss, and when their tone shifts. Observation is often just as important as inquiry.

In preparing to ask these questions, it is important to reflect on Charles H. Green’s “Trust Equation”. You want honesty and openness, and need to approach it the same way yourself. In his book, “The Trusted Advisor” Charles asserts that . . .

Trustworthiness = the sum of credibility + reliability + rapport DIVIDED BY Self Interest

Where credibility is “you know your stuff”, reliability is “you say what you do and do what you say”, and rapport is “intimacy – you care”.

Self-interest is the “passion killer”. So be careful to be objective and dispassionate in these discussions, even if the answer to question 7 disappoints you. All news is good news. You have something you can work on.

Of course, it isn’t as simple as it sounds 😉.

Stakeholder engagement needs a “coalition of stakeholders” to drive any meaningful progress, and aligning the common themes amongst them may feel like a task worth of the most experienced globe-trotting diplomat!

We all have stakeholders. If you don’t know who yours are, now is a good time to find out and get to work on these alignment discussions!

If you have one of the transformation focused job roles which require 50% or more focus on stakeholder management, then this is an existential requirement for your role.

You can read Melody’s HBR article “7 Questions to Decode Your Manager’s Priorities” here . . . 

This develops on last week’s discussion of “Outside-In” thinking.

If you missed that opportunity to get an early copy of the latest edition of the “End to End Process and GPO Playbook”, you can request it here . .

7 Questions For Better Stakeholder Engagement and Alignment

Thanks for reading . . .