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What do you think is the source of most disagreements between stakeholders, and how do you go about finding alignment?

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4 Answers
Stakeholder Management
  1. Yasmin Kothari
    Yasmin Kothari

    Peloton Senior Director of Product Management • 2y

    Disagreements among stakeholders typically stem from three key factors: Differing underlying goals - Each stakeholder is optimizing for their primary goal and if these goals are conflicting, there will be a mismatch Varying strategies on how to achieve a goal - Especially in a world with limited resources, each stakeholder may have conviction in a different initiative, even if their goals are the same Cultural issues - There may be a communication gap or trust deficit that contributes to disagre ...Read More

    1,879 Views
  2. Tarrah Alexis
    Tarrah Alexis

    Unity Senior Director of Product, Unity Game Engine | Formerly Microsoft, Xbox • 1y

    Most disagreements aren’t about the decision; they’re about the framing. Here’s how I find alignment: Clarity kills confusion: A lot of conflict comes from ambiguous problem statements. If the goal, tradeoffs, or decision criteria aren’t clear, people fill in the blanks differently, and that’s where misalignment starts. Lead with a POV: I don’t open with an open-ended debate. I lay out the goal, my recommendation, and how we can move forward. It gives stakeholders something concrete to respond t ...Read More

    1,624 Views
  3. Sourav Debnath
    Sourav Debnath

    Finmo Head of Product, Core | Formerly Woo, Afterpay, Xero, PayPal • 1y

    A lack of clarity on area of ownership vs. area of influence and leading with emotion vs. rationale/logic are two key reasons that I think lead to disagreements. Having perfect alignment will be rare, however if we can follow these steps, we can significantly bring down disagreements - baseline from the very beginning that every stakeholder has the best interests of the product in mind and their inputs are valuable clearly identify the owners and influencers at each stage of the product keep an ...Read More

    936 Views
  4. Sailaja Kalle
    Sailaja Kalle

    Gainsight Director, Product Management • 1y

    Conflicts can arise from different sources, such as misaligned goals, expectations, or interests, unclear roles and responsibilities, communication gaps or breakdowns, cultural or personality differences, or competing demands or resources.

    Establishing common goals across stakeholders, prioritize comminication first across teams, nurturing team bonds will help address and manage disagreements

    376 Views

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