AMA: Nexus Communications VP of Creative, Katie Jane Parkes on Stakeholder Management

I measure my own success in my role in two ways: The impact I have on my internal team: culture, processes, stakeholder management, leadership, creativity, and team health. The impact my teams work has on the bottom line of the business: how much revenue is our work contributing to, are we influencing repeat business, are we getting good feedback from clients/customers, are we pushing creative boundaries in our discipline, etc. These performance indicators/categories have stayed relatively the s ...Read More

This question is very difficult to answer as it depends on the context and make up of each company and where they've chosen to invest resources depending on business needs. My high level answer is that key stakeholders from other departments will change as the company grows by typically being removed of their stakeholder duties. As companies scale, the hardest thing for people to do is "give away their Legos." But this is absolutely necessary as companies grow and teams and roles become more spe ...Read More

Yes, definitely. Different teams will have varying context about creative work, so it's important to understand their working knowledge of your craft and how much you will either need to explain or can move quickly on. There will also be stakeholders who literally have more of a stake in your project, and therefore they will likely need more communication and updates as the project progresses. It's helpful at the beginning of a project to set expectations with teams you've never worked with befo ...Read More

Make a business case as to why the Demand Gen team should own the decision. This means making an argument based on the positive business impact or outcomes that will occur if the Demand Gen team makes this decision. This argument could include specifics like what skillsets/experience you have on the team, what information or tools you're armed with that other teams aren't, what kind of insights you have about your customers/clients, or what other work is connected to this decision that will bene ...Read More

I always do the following in every project: Meet with internal stakeholders individually to build relationships (if you don't have one) and provide context on your role, your role in the project, and what success looks like to you Also ask them the same questions to get the same answers for context Turn the problem/project/business opportunity into a project brief and share that in advance of an internal kickoff meeting for people to review on their own time This should include a RASCI and ackno ...Read More

If you're not using a project brief and implementing the RASCI matrix/model then start doing both of these things now. Make sure the project owner is someone who can walk everyone through the brief, is comfortable with being firm about deadlines, keeps feedback loops tight, and sets both clear expectations and boundaries within project roles and responsibilities. Having regular checkins, using project chats for frequent updates, and using tools like Asana, Notion, Monday.com, etc. to keep everyo ...Read More

In my experience, the RASCI matrix/model has been incredibly helpful for determining whose feedback to incorporate vs. ignore. The people who need to be consulted and informed are usually the most significant stakeholders and tend to be senior leaders in the organization attached to the project who will sign off on shipping it once it's done. It's integral in getting their feedback early on to help set the direction of the project. With that being said, it is not required to incorporate all of t ...Read More

I'm not sure I fully understand this question but I will attempt an answer. When working with others without authority, I found the greatest sense of accomplishment came from being the person who involved them, heard them, listened to them, and helped amplify and execute their good ideas. When working with others, coming from that empathic place will always serve you well and will make other people want to help you and work with you to reach your goals. Doing this certainly makes it easier when ...Read More

Here's some steps I would take: Acknowledge the current state of the relationship, don't shy away from that Create a team charter for your own discipline/function and share it with the team you have a tense relationship with to reset expectations around how your team works and how you will engage with and work with other teams Try to plan something fun together that will enhance cultural dynamics and ease tension Set goals for that quarter/next projects together so you're both approaching upcomi ...Read More

Here's some actions I might take: Ask the team members if they feel comfortable addressing the conflict themselves first and highly encourage this (after all, we are all adults in the workplace and responsible for our own actions and behaviours) If they do not feel comfortable with this, then I would offer to meet with each of them individually to understand the context from each side I would then ask them to each prepare 3-5 questions they would like to have addressed/answered regarding feedbac ...Read More

I love following the typical feedback patterns and cadence in creative work: V1: get a rough idea, skeleton, "first draft" together and get as much feedback as possible from the highest impact stakeholders This should happen early in the project timeline so you can use this feedback to help set the direction of the project and shape it into a good working version There may be several key stakeholders in this stage in order to set the project in motion and answer any outstanding questions and add ...Read More

I will answer this specific to my creative team, as it's not quite your traditional Demand Gen team. My current video team is about 8 creatives, plus myself. Here's the current makeup: VP, Creative (me) Executive Producer Director of Post-Production Post-Production Manager Production Manager Producer Editor Copywriter Production Assistant I measure the teams impact in the same way I assess my own impact, which is 2 ways: The impact they each have on our internal team: culture, processes, stakeho ...Read More

Not sure I fully understand the question but here are some thoughts on the types of insights I look for from internal stakeholders: What data and information they have access to/would be helpful for the project What industry knowledge or competitive analysis do they have/know What skillsets and experience on their team compliment or enhance the project we're working on What tools do they use/leverage and can they help us in this project What are their team's goals/objectives and what does their ...Read More