Do you approach stakeholder management differently based on the team you're talking to? (Product, Marketing, Sales, Growth, Customer Success). And if so, how?

Yes, I always do.   Treat each stakeholder like one of your “personas”. Understand their role, what their pain points are, what their goals are, what words they use and what’s important to them. Do a 1:1 with them, get to know them, their OKRs, interview them and find out how you can help them and work with them. Once you have a clear idea on how to deliver value to them, incorporate that into how you work with them, message them and position your work to them. You already do this as a PMM for c ...Read More

Yes! When approaching stakeholder management, it's key to accurately identify who your stakeholders are to cultivate and nurture strong relationships successfully. You'll want to fully understand the unique points of view and needs of your stakeholders. Like any solid relationship, it requires ongoing strategic engagement and effort. You’ll need to determine the best way to involve and communicate with each of your stakeholders to earn their buy-in and support. One way to do this is to create a ...Read More

I take a relationship-based approach when I think about stakeholder management. I prefer to tailor my style to the individual, so it doesn’t matter as much which department but what type of personality they have and their communication preferences. For instance, a leader in department X may prefer pre-reads days in advance and then a discussion over feedback while a stakeholder in department Y prefers video conferences to spitball ideas in real time. At the end of the day, the goal is to foster ...Read More

I like to keep my approach consistent across stakeholders, but I do alter what I focus on to ensure that each team cares about what I have to say. My approach: Objective: Summarize your objective in a sentence. Overview Goal: Succinct description of the business goal of the pillar Strategy: Succinct statement of your strategy Problem Statement: Clearly state the relevant challenges and the impact on the stakeholder you are talking to. Don't dive into all the details that are not pertinent to the ...Read More

Rather than thinking about what team they're on, I love the RAPID framework for stakeholder management. This is a tool that helps clarify who is accountable for decisions, and the role each stakeholder plays in that particular decision. The different roles in RAPID are: Recommend: Develops recommendation for a decision. 80% of the work happens here. Agree: Ensures the recommendation meets specific requirements. Their input must be factored in by the R. Perform: Executes the decision once made. I ...Read More