AMA: Qualia VP of Marketing, Charlene Wang on Stakeholder Management

I’ve found that the biggest challenge with Product Marketing prioritization is that stakeholders from across the company lack visibility into what’s being requested across the company, how requests are prioritized, and what’s realistic for PMM to address with existing capacity. This lack of visibility often results in too many requests making it onto PMM’s plate and stakeholders feeling that PMM is either not delivering on their requests or doing a subpar job trying to keep all the plates spinning. To help counter this, I recommend taking a transparent approach to prioritizing requests: 1. Establish a Clear Intake Process: Begin with a standardized intake process. This could involve a form that captures essential details such as the description of the request, the person making the request, any time-sensitive needs, and, most importantly, the business impact of the request. 2. Ensure Visibility and Transparency: Once the requests are gathered, provide visibility into the requests, team capacity, and backlog. Utilizing tools like Asana or other project management applications can be instrumental in tracking and managing these requests effectively. 3. Share and Align on Prioritization Criteria: Clearly communicate your prioritization criteria to key stakeholders. Take time to explain the “why” behind your approach to prioritization and ensure there is an understanding and agreement on the process from primary stakeholders, including sales, product, customer success/operations, and senior leadership. In particular, I would try to highlight the business impact of different asks and how this affects prioritization. 4. Adjust Prioritization with Stakeholder Input: Be prepared to reshuffle priorities as necessary, but ensure that any changes are made with explicit agreement from key stakeholders. In cases where there is a tie in prioritization, senior leadership should resolve the conflict based on the company’s direction and priorities. 5. Escalate for Additional Resources if Needed: If critical projects are at risk of being dropped, this is an ideal time to provide leadership with visibility into the backlog. Use this opportunity to advocate for additional resources and headcount to ensure that important projects are adequately supported.

To have your work recognized beyond your immediate team, start by understanding the broader priorities of the company. Well-functioning organizations tend to focus on initiatives that align with the key priorities of senior leadership. When planning your work, ensure that you understand not just the stated company priorities but also the reasoning behind them. This understanding will help you make informed decisions on how best to drive results that matter. When starting a project, identify specific KPIs that your work aims to improve and align these outcomes with the company’s strategic priorities. Be proactive in sharing your progress and seek early and ongoing buy-in from key stakeholders, particularly from the leadership team responsible for the outcomes you want to influence. Before beginning any project, secure clear agreement from your leadership and key stakeholders that your work aligns with your team’s goals and the company’s overall objectives. Once you have that buy-in, set reasonable deadlines and consistently deliver measurable results. If your work isn’t achieving the expected outcomes, it’s important to acknowledge why your initial hypothesis may have been incorrect and adjust your approach accordingly. By consistently identifying initiatives that matter to the company’s strategic priorities and delivering or adjusting based on measurable outcomes, you will build credibility over time and increase the likelihood that your work will be recognized and valued across the organization. Finally, try to get explicit buy-in from your management and other teams that you're supporting to recognize work that's well done. If you have supportive management that also understands how important it is to encourage great work and you're delivering meaningful results, you're much more likely to be recognized for outstanding work. Now good luck getting that well-deserved recognition!

To resolve conflict between team members, I would first begin by grounding everyone in shared principles, focusing on the common goals and priorities that all parties agree upon. This helps to establish a foundation for constructive dialogue. Next, seek to understand the root cause of the conflict by considering the perspectives of all parties involved. Identify any assumptions or pieces of information that may differ between the conflicting sides. Bring these differences to light and discuss them openly to uncover the reasons behind the conflict, while exploring potential resolutions. It’s common for conflicting parties to become fixated on their own proposed solutions. Encourage everyone to think beyond the options currently on the table and consider creative, out-of-the-box solutions that might satisfy both sides. If, after thorough discussion, the conflict remains unresolved, it’s okay to agree to disagree and move forward with a decision, even if one side isn’t fully convinced. When choosing a solution, clearly explain why it was selected and establish a way to test its effectiveness. Define key performance indicators and set a timeframe for evaluating whether the decision was the right one. From there, ensure accountability by revisiting the chosen solution over time. If it becomes clear that the original approach isn’t yielding the expected results, be open to pivoting and exploring alternatives. By following this approach, you can create a more objective process for resolving disagreements, allowing both sides to discuss and test solutions that align with the best interests of the team and the organization.

At some level, everyone in an organization ultimately shares the same overarching goals, whether that’s revenue growth, profitability, risk reduction, or another strategic objective important to senior management. When teams have conflicting objectives, it can be helpful to look higher up in the organization to identify a leader who oversees common goals across the different teams. Once you’ve pinpointed the closest shared goal among the teams you’re trying to align, take the time to understand why these teams developed different objectives in the first place. This misalignment could stem from various factors, such as a lack of resources on one team, inconsistent information being shared across the organization, individuals prioritizing their own interests over the broader goals of the company, etc. I would also be open to the idea that you may be focused on the wrong objectives, in which case you may need to adjust how you're approaching the project. After identifying the root cause of the misalignment, work to isolate the issue and develop a solution that enables the different teams involved to achieve collective goals. For instance, if another team lacks the resources to support a key initiative you’re leading, you could collaborate with them to find alternative approaches or help them request additional resources. The best solution will depend on the specific nature of the problem and the available options at the time. When navigating conflicting objectives, it’s important to keep an open mind, assume good intent unless proven otherwise, and sincerely work with others to explore win-win solutions. While most people value colleagues who seek cooperative outcomes, you may occasionally encounter someone more focused on their own interests than those of the organization. In such cases, I would look for assistance. You may need to escalate the issue, objectively explain the situation, and enlist support from other teams and leadership to find a path forward that achieves the best outcomes for everyone.

I would start by focusing on building trust-based relationships with other teams. Strive to understand why they’ve taken over Product Marketing (PMM) responsibilities to begin with and what it would take for them to feel comfortable allowing PMM to reclaim these roles. In communicating with other teams, try to clearly lay out what PMM is, the value it brings, and why PMM is uniquely positioned to support the organization’s success. Provide specific examples of what strong PMM looks like and explain why it matters, making sure to align your message with the organization’s priorities. Given whatever resources you have on the PMM team today, I would prioritize delivering quick wins, especially if they address challenges that are top of mind for other teams. Use these successes to build momentum and credibility. Avoid the temptation to take on too much at once; even if other teams are handling what feels like core PMM responsibilities, it’s more effective to focus on a few projects and achieve resounding success before seeking additional responsibilities. Commit to driving clear outcomes and hold yourself accountable for achieving them. As you gain recognition for your contributions, you’ll start to build credibility, positioning PMM to request more resources and responsibility over time. Be sure to communicate your wins to stakeholders and leadership as examples of the value that PMM can bring to the organization. In well-functioning organizations, positive impact is often recognized and leads to further investment in those teams to sustain that success. If, despite these efforts, you’re still not gaining traction within the organization, you might be in a situation where you’re not set up to succeed. At that point, it may be worth considering a move to an organization that better recognizes your contributions and provides the runway to take on core PMM responsibilities. Before making the move, I would first make an earnest effort to build credibility at your current organization, otherwise you may find yourself facing a similar situation in your next role. Best of luck!