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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?

2 Answers
Sarah Mercedes (Osborne)
Sarah Mercedes (Osborne)
HubSpot Head of Corporate Sales, West CoastJanuary 24

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 each party. Once there is alignment on those elements,you can present all of the options that fit that critiera and the parties are then sitting on the same side of the table selecting a path together.

1641 Views
Katie Harkins
Katie Harkins
UserTesting VP of SalesApril 27

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 overall business? If it was a problem-tunity solved yesterday, how would that impact revenue?

359 Views
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