How do you ensure alignment when you have two senior executive stakeholders who disagree with each other on the proposed strategy and you are stuck in the middle?

First, seek to understand. What is each stakeholder's stance, but more importantly, why do they have that stance? What are their priorities, what are their concerns and what are they looking to accomplish with their vision of a given strategy? Once you understand that, it will be clear to see where their perspectives align and the conversation can flip from one of debate to one of solutioning. The key is making the conversation centered around solving for the priorities, concerns and goals of ea ...Read More

Welcome to the C-Suite. The people in this position have gotten there because they have really valuable perspectives to share and are often right. The best thing you can do being stuck in the middle is to be really clear about the decision(s) being debated as part of the proposed strategy, what the most salient points are that bolster or refute each argument and bring clarity on the decision(s) that need to be made and by when. Putting this into a document and asking folks to weigh in ahead of a ...Read More

Everyone in the career will be in a situation where you have 2 senior executives stakeholders who disagree with each other on your proposed strategy and you're stuck in the middle. It's only a matter of time.  "Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere" -Erma Bombeck Approach it like a sales cycle. Understand where both stakeholders are coming from and propose a strategy with concrete numbers and impact. What does this delayed decision do for the ...Read More

Alignment is the name of the game. And yes, Sr. Execs aren't always seeing eye to eye. The good news is that Sr. Execs understand the unifying language of alignment. In other words, try to figure out, in independent settings, how your proposed strategy serves the bigger picture. The strategic initiatives. Maybe they are around revenue growth or operational efficiency, or just getting things to work the way they should. In any case, your goal is to build a consensus that your proposed strategy di ...Read More