AMA: Lattice Group Product Manager, Linh Lam on Influencing Without Authority

I find that the list of stakeholders tends to be roughly the same across company size, with the key difference being how many "support" functions you can rely on as a PM. For example, bigger companies tend to have dedicated people or teams to help with internal communications, training, research, and data analysis. Roughly speaking though, I always walk into any company trying to keep an eye on the following teams, and will add or subtract folks based on the organizational model of the company: ...Read More

Scroll down for answers to the specifics you called out, but I'll start with a more general framework first:  I find that a lot of this starts with your own mindset and attitude towards the people you're working with. When you don't officially manage someone (and even if you do), I find that thinking of these relationships as partnerships is incredibly important. When you frame your working relationships as partnerships, you are more likely to approach the relationship with respect and trust.  B ...Read More

I'm assuming you mean how do you get other people to trust you and believe you are credible? Here's my list! (Can people tell I think in bullets?)  Care. It sounds dumb, but would you trust someone who you didn't think cared about you as a person? I don't. Ways to demonstrate this include: taking time to ask questions to get to know someone, following up on small things they've mentioned (their birthday! a thing about their weekend, etc.), or listening when they seem troubled about something.  S ...Read More

Oh boy, this one is a doozy. Here's how I generally approach this situation - hoping it helps:  Make sure your manager is aware of the conflict and see how they might be able to support you. Depending on the manager, they might just solve the issue for you. If not, then they may be able to back you up in other ways.  Get the executive stakeholders in a room together and clearly outline the conflict in strategy. I find it helps to have a short blurb or 1-pager clearly outlining:  This is my under ...Read More

Influence is interesting because it's very much a function of if others are willing to accept your influence. Here are some things I'd recommend doing to get started, but ultimately, your influence depends on the openness of others:  Gain trust from others. To me, this comes from doing your work well, being reliable, and being honest and transparent in how you work.  Start to get involved in bigger and broader things outside your scope. Easy ways to do this include asking questions in broad team ...Read More

I start by trying to understand the nature of the conflict, usually via 1:1s with each individual. Is it that they don't agree on an approach to a project? That someone said something passive aggressive? That one person feels like they are not as accountable to doing work as the other?  I will sometimes talk to other folks involved as well to get a more holistic understanding of the situation.  Based on that, I will first ask myself - is this a conflict I personally need to solve? As someone who ...Read More

Do you mean in terms of getting people to buy in to market research as a valuable practice in the company? Or in terms of using learnings from market research to drive culture change?  If you are interested in how to get people to buy in to market research as an important practice in the company: I feel like a lot of the push back on market research comes down to a few key issues:  A lack of awareness of market research and the benefits it provides A bias towards quantitative vs qualitative appr ...Read More