How to manage Stakeholders and handle difficult Stakeholders?
Trust is identified as particularly important in obtaining support for and participation in change efforts. To increase the chance of successful project outcomes, we’ve identified seven considerations and actions that can be taken to reduce the chance of unwanted behavior.
1. Identify them and watch them closely.
This should be an ongoing action on your part. Like I said, an active champion might become a roadblock overnight. But if you’re monitoring your stakeholders’ email messages or comments on the latest status reviews, you’ll know when the tide is turning. In fact, ensuring communication channels are always open may even serve to head off some possible negativity.
2. Listen to what they’re saying.
Don’t close off communication channels just because you don’t like what you’re hearing. Try to see where they’re coming from and put yourself in their shoes. This way, you can better understand their motivation and goals.
Really put effort into understanding their point of view. And if what they’re saying is frustrating, ask yourself: Are their needs opposed to your project’s objectives? Do they simply want things done a different way? See if you can meet on common ground.
3. Meet them one on one.
Find a way to meet with difficult stakeholders individually. This way they don’t feel like they’re being put on the spot with other stakeholders as an audience — it might help take them off the defensive so you can communicate calmly. It’s important to take this time to get their viewpoint and what they feel could be a solution to the problem. Note: don’t just come out and ask why they aren’t supportive of your plan. Instead, ask an open-ended question about their opinion and how they feel the project is coming along.
1. Identify them and watch them closely.
This should be an ongoing action on your part. Like I said, an active champion might become a roadblock overnight. But if you’re monitoring your stakeholders’ email messages or comments on the latest status reviews, you’ll know when the tide is turning. In fact, ensuring communication channels are always open may even serve to head off some possible negativity.
2. Listen to what they’re saying.
Don’t close off communication channels just because you don’t like what you’re hearing. Try to see where they’re coming from and put yourself in their shoes. This way, you can better understand their motivation and goals.
Really put effort into understanding their point of view. And if what they’re saying is frustrating, ask yourself: Are their needs opposed to your project’s objectives? Do they simply want things done a different way? See if you can meet on common ground.
3. Meet them one on one.
Find a way to meet with difficult stakeholders individually. This way they don’t feel like they’re being put on the spot with other stakeholders as an audience — it might help take them off the defensive so you can communicate calmly. It’s important to take this time to get their viewpoint and what they feel could be a solution to the problem. Note: don’t just come out and ask why they aren’t supportive of your plan. Instead, ask an open-ended question about their opinion and how they feel the project is coming along.
4. Timing is everything
At the beginning of the project, identify key stakeholders and identify the “what’s in it for them” proposition in order to gain their buy-in and commitment. Aside from management direction, stakeholders will want to know their contributions and time are of true value to the project success and that they too will derive a benefit from it.
5. Establish trust
Remain accessible and engage in open and frequent communication with stakeholders, allowing them opportunity to voice concerns, be heard, and address important issues in a timely manner. Ensuring ongoing, and inclusive dialog with stakeholders creates an atmosphere of trust and allows for faster identification and resolution to issues as they arise. To gain stakeholder trust, as a project manager (PM) you must demonstrate you are trustworthy, respect stakeholder’s ideas and abilities, and resist the urge to micromanage.
Remember buy-in can additionally be influenced by secondary parties; allow project leads to convey the project’s purpose and importance to their own teams to ensure ancillary support, as needed, since workloads may also increase indirectly for other team members.
6. Clarify purpose, roles and expectations in advance
Be clear when conveying the purpose and scope of the project, establishing roles and expectations, and identifying deliverables and final outcomes. Provide stakeholders with an awareness of how their contributions directly and indirectly impact the success or failure of the project, and ultimately company goals.
Provide stakeholders with as much information and resources to enable them to be successful. Again, remain available to them for guidance as needed, and continually solidify objectives, expectations, timing and any changes to the scope of the project.
7. How to address difficult stakeholders
Despite all efforts to mitigate disputes with difficult stakeholders, there will be times when issues will crop up. In response, there are things that can be done to resolve issues, regain support and buy-in, and move ahead in a positive way.
These may be just a few of the stakeholder behaviors that can be encountered within various stages of the project lifecycle.
Types of stakeholder behaviors
The passive aggressive stakeholder may say they are in support of the project, yet object or create obstacles to derail or delay it at every opportunity. They may consistently and unnecessarily find issue with other stakeholder’s input or contributions; creating additional unnecessary work all the while verbalizing their commitment to the project.
The antagonist or intimidator may initiate arguments with other stakeholders or subtly or overtly put down their contributions, creating an environment of animosity and mistrust among team members.
The saboteur can be just as devastating, if not more because the damage is done behind the scenes and it’s harder to isolate and resolve. Stakeholders can be quietly manipulated long before the effects are noticed and identified.
The victim of circumstance may look to blame others for work not completed or missed deadlines and unsuccessful outcomes. It is important to note, that there may be times where missed outcomes can be due to the fault of others, but it’s important to know when this is really the case.An Important
Work on a resolution with the stakeholder that does not negatively impact others or impede the success of the project. It is important to note, there will not always be a solution that meets with the approval of a difficult stakeholder, and during those situations it’s critical to respectfully convey the reason for another decision in order to enlist their continued support and commitment to the overall business objectives.
9. Deal with it now, be direct
Ignoring difficult stakeholder behavior is not a strategy that will work; this is not the time to be indirect either. The behavior may be a sign of bigger underlying issues may have existed from the beginning and may snowball later. Take the time to immediately and directly determine the cause with the stakeholder, find an appropriate resolution and move ahead. Remain fair, respectful, objective, and professional, and remember to keep the project objectives within focus.
10. Involve the stakeholder in the resolution
In order for a resolution to be successful, the stakeholder will need to be accountable for their past and future behavior and actions, in relation to their contributions, and how they impact the team and the project. Have the stakeholder assist you in coming up with some solutions that will enable them to re-establish buy-in and commitment to the project. It will also be important to ensure the solutions are implemented and measured, and do not change the desired goals and objectives of the business.
11. Do not deal with issues when you are upset or feel like you are losing control. Conversations can derail quickly and emotions can run high, whether you are discussing with stakeholders from the business or technical team. To avoid doing or saying what you will regret later, reschedule the meeting for another time. This will give you enough time to calm down, reassess the situation and identify the best way forward.
12. Re-align Them - Ah, that’s more like it. This is the kind of gentle negotiation that I can get onboard with. It involves name dropping them in conversations about success, and pointing out how you couldn’t have done it alone. Get them on the winning team, not the opposite team. This is another take on flattery, really.
13. Choose your battles wisely. In some cases, confrontation with a difficult stakeholder can be beneficial and help to iron out issues for good. In other cases, it’s just not necessary. I’ll go further to say, “Choose whom you fight with wisely”. It is possible that the stakeholder you are dealing with does not have a final say on the contentious issue. Don’t spend precious time and energy debating issues if nothing will come out of it. Instead, save the debate for someone who can actually make a difference to the situation.
14. Do not take things personally. Do not take responsibility for another person’s behaviour. A difficult person may have become so due to a series of bad experiences. First of all, don’t take it personally. It might be hard to do – but, however distressing the impact of the behaviour, treat it as a work-related issue that requires management. It’s about the project, not you. If you become embroiled in a personality-driven winner-takes-all battle, the outcome will always be better for the side which has more authority and power. Even if that’s your side, you will have wasted a lot of energy and time, and lost the opportunity of a supportive stakeholder for a long time.
Detach yourself from the situation to be able to assess it objectively. People act difficult for different reasons and this is not necessarily a reflection of your shortcomings. Try to understand what the underlying reason is for their lack of cooperation and address it.
14. Setting deadlines for support and/or information keeps your team from getting down to the wire, only to discover they’re missing vital resources that are necessary to successfully complete the project. Name droppers and vanishers will more reliably hold up their end of the bargain if there’s a formal deadline for them to deliver the support and/or resources they initially promised. Bossers are less likely to interfere with the team’s project activities when clear deadlines have been set, since it keeps you on the controlling end of the relationship.
15. Explain the why. It’s possible that our project decisions make perfect sense to us, but we don’t take the time to communicate the rationale to stakeholders. The result can be confusion and conflict. In Robert Cialdini’s book Influence,he suggests that “because” is the most influential word in the English language because people are more likely to comply when they know the basis of a decision.
16. Escalate when necessary. If the stakeholder issue is causing your project to delay, you may need to escalate. Dr. Allan Cohen, author of Influence Without Authority, recommends you never blind-side someone by escalating an issue without a warning. For example, "We need to resolve this by Friday. Otherwise the project will slip, which means I will need to escalate it to the sponsor." Escalation need not be your first strategy, but it may be one you need to employ after unsuccessfully trying to resolve the issues yourself.
Without understanding why a stakeholder has become difficult or why buy-in has been lost, it’s impossible to successfully proceed with a project without continued friction. That said, there may be times when despite all efforts by a PM to resolve issues, the stakeholder may simply have no intention of working cohesively with the team. In situations like this, difficult decisions may need to be made.
Don’t take resistance personally and remember that business is business. No matter what, you cannot burn your bridges and dismiss the difficult ones just because they like they’re blocking your work from getting done. You will have to find a way to work with them (or around them) and defuse the situation.
One way to detach yourself is through the use of humor. Learn to use humor wisely to defuse tension.
At the beginning of the project, identify key stakeholders and identify the “what’s in it for them” proposition in order to gain their buy-in and commitment. Aside from management direction, stakeholders will want to know their contributions and time are of true value to the project success and that they too will derive a benefit from it.
5. Establish trust
Remain accessible and engage in open and frequent communication with stakeholders, allowing them opportunity to voice concerns, be heard, and address important issues in a timely manner. Ensuring ongoing, and inclusive dialog with stakeholders creates an atmosphere of trust and allows for faster identification and resolution to issues as they arise. To gain stakeholder trust, as a project manager (PM) you must demonstrate you are trustworthy, respect stakeholder’s ideas and abilities, and resist the urge to micromanage.
Remember buy-in can additionally be influenced by secondary parties; allow project leads to convey the project’s purpose and importance to their own teams to ensure ancillary support, as needed, since workloads may also increase indirectly for other team members.
6. Clarify purpose, roles and expectations in advance
Be clear when conveying the purpose and scope of the project, establishing roles and expectations, and identifying deliverables and final outcomes. Provide stakeholders with an awareness of how their contributions directly and indirectly impact the success or failure of the project, and ultimately company goals.
Provide stakeholders with as much information and resources to enable them to be successful. Again, remain available to them for guidance as needed, and continually solidify objectives, expectations, timing and any changes to the scope of the project.
7. How to address difficult stakeholders
Despite all efforts to mitigate disputes with difficult stakeholders, there will be times when issues will crop up. In response, there are things that can be done to resolve issues, regain support and buy-in, and move ahead in a positive way.
These may be just a few of the stakeholder behaviors that can be encountered within various stages of the project lifecycle.
Types of stakeholder behaviors
The passive aggressive stakeholder may say they are in support of the project, yet object or create obstacles to derail or delay it at every opportunity. They may consistently and unnecessarily find issue with other stakeholder’s input or contributions; creating additional unnecessary work all the while verbalizing their commitment to the project.
The antagonist or intimidator may initiate arguments with other stakeholders or subtly or overtly put down their contributions, creating an environment of animosity and mistrust among team members.
The saboteur can be just as devastating, if not more because the damage is done behind the scenes and it’s harder to isolate and resolve. Stakeholders can be quietly manipulated long before the effects are noticed and identified.
The victim of circumstance may look to blame others for work not completed or missed deadlines and unsuccessful outcomes. It is important to note, that there may be times where missed outcomes can be due to the fault of others, but it’s important to know when this is really the case.An Important
Reminder: Don’t Burn Bridges
Four Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Stakeholders
use body language or underlying tones that indicate they are not satisfied, even if their words say otherwise
send emails that question elements of the project, but do not discuss these concerns in meetings
play “the devil’s advocate” to such an extreme that it discourages team members to voice their ideas or opinions
feign support in person, but openly diminish the team ‘behind closed doors’
use body language or underlying tones that indicate they are not satisfied, even if their words say otherwise
send emails that question elements of the project, but do not discuss these concerns in meetings
play “the devil’s advocate” to such an extreme that it discourages team members to voice their ideas or opinions
feign support in person, but openly diminish the team ‘behind closed doors’
Call Them on It – When you suspect there is an issue, simply say something to the stakeholder in a one-on-one kind of way. That alone might allow him to be more honest.
Prioritize Concerns – Once you understand what they are really struggling with, help her understand the prioritization of her concerns in relation to project goals. Maybe you can prioritize her issues, and maybe not.
Ask for a Helping Hand – Ask for help on specific tasks that highlight his strengths; this emphasizes that you value his input, as well as underscoring the importance of the project. Active engagement in developing pieces of the solution can help refocus one’s effort and support of the project.
7a. Confront Them - If you hate conflict like me, then this is a strategy you’ll be dreading, especially if they are more senior in the organisation than you are. In fact, the authors advise that you don’t publicly confront people who do wield more power than you. Stick to other, less career-destructive ways to discuss their behaviour with them.
If they are negative but you generally have a good working relationship with them, you could still try this approach: in private tell them that you are finding it hard to work with them because they seem negative. Are you reading it wrong or is there something at play here that you don’t understand? Then stand back…
You may have encountered other non-productive behaviors – or even been guilty of some of these yourself at one time or another. It’s important to note that stakeholders often bring valuable knowledge and experience to the table. Some opposition can be a great thing, if the purpose is to offer up different perspectives, present alternatives and mitigate risks for the good of the project. The difficult part is being able to determine the stakeholder’s true intent.
8. Determine the root cause
Identify stakeholder motivations for the difficult behavior. It’s also important to identify the root cause of the issue, discuss it with the stakeholder directly and gain their feedback. Sometimes the cause may be something that impacts only one stakeholder, or it may impact other stakeholders.
The only way to come to a solution or even just to contain the situation is to figure out what’s causing their sudden resistance. Are they worried about going over the budget? Anxious that the project isn’t turning out exactly how they envisioned it? Are they answering to a board of directors perhaps, who may have a different point of view on the project? If you can help address the underlying motivations behind their resistance you might be able to create a win/win situation and continue, despite difficulties.
When you don’t understand their odd point of view, take the time to watch their behaviour and try to get to the bottom of it. They could be negative about your project for a number of reasons including:
They don’t understand the benefits
They don’t think there will be any benefits
There is no advantage to them in completing the project
There is a disadvantage to them in completing the project.
You can also observe how they are with other people. In other words, are they grumpy and negative about everything or is it just your project? Armed with that information you can make decisions about where to go next.
Prioritize Concerns – Once you understand what they are really struggling with, help her understand the prioritization of her concerns in relation to project goals. Maybe you can prioritize her issues, and maybe not.
Ask for a Helping Hand – Ask for help on specific tasks that highlight his strengths; this emphasizes that you value his input, as well as underscoring the importance of the project. Active engagement in developing pieces of the solution can help refocus one’s effort and support of the project.
7a. Confront Them - If you hate conflict like me, then this is a strategy you’ll be dreading, especially if they are more senior in the organisation than you are. In fact, the authors advise that you don’t publicly confront people who do wield more power than you. Stick to other, less career-destructive ways to discuss their behaviour with them.
If they are negative but you generally have a good working relationship with them, you could still try this approach: in private tell them that you are finding it hard to work with them because they seem negative. Are you reading it wrong or is there something at play here that you don’t understand? Then stand back…
You may have encountered other non-productive behaviors – or even been guilty of some of these yourself at one time or another. It’s important to note that stakeholders often bring valuable knowledge and experience to the table. Some opposition can be a great thing, if the purpose is to offer up different perspectives, present alternatives and mitigate risks for the good of the project. The difficult part is being able to determine the stakeholder’s true intent.
8. Determine the root cause
Identify stakeholder motivations for the difficult behavior. It’s also important to identify the root cause of the issue, discuss it with the stakeholder directly and gain their feedback. Sometimes the cause may be something that impacts only one stakeholder, or it may impact other stakeholders.
The only way to come to a solution or even just to contain the situation is to figure out what’s causing their sudden resistance. Are they worried about going over the budget? Anxious that the project isn’t turning out exactly how they envisioned it? Are they answering to a board of directors perhaps, who may have a different point of view on the project? If you can help address the underlying motivations behind their resistance you might be able to create a win/win situation and continue, despite difficulties.
When you don’t understand their odd point of view, take the time to watch their behaviour and try to get to the bottom of it. They could be negative about your project for a number of reasons including:
They don’t understand the benefits
They don’t think there will be any benefits
There is no advantage to them in completing the project
There is a disadvantage to them in completing the project.
You can also observe how they are with other people. In other words, are they grumpy and negative about everything or is it just your project? Armed with that information you can make decisions about where to go next.
Work on a resolution with the stakeholder that does not negatively impact others or impede the success of the project. It is important to note, there will not always be a solution that meets with the approval of a difficult stakeholder, and during those situations it’s critical to respectfully convey the reason for another decision in order to enlist their continued support and commitment to the overall business objectives.
9. Deal with it now, be direct
Ignoring difficult stakeholder behavior is not a strategy that will work; this is not the time to be indirect either. The behavior may be a sign of bigger underlying issues may have existed from the beginning and may snowball later. Take the time to immediately and directly determine the cause with the stakeholder, find an appropriate resolution and move ahead. Remain fair, respectful, objective, and professional, and remember to keep the project objectives within focus.
10. Involve the stakeholder in the resolution
In order for a resolution to be successful, the stakeholder will need to be accountable for their past and future behavior and actions, in relation to their contributions, and how they impact the team and the project. Have the stakeholder assist you in coming up with some solutions that will enable them to re-establish buy-in and commitment to the project. It will also be important to ensure the solutions are implemented and measured, and do not change the desired goals and objectives of the business.
11. Do not deal with issues when you are upset or feel like you are losing control. Conversations can derail quickly and emotions can run high, whether you are discussing with stakeholders from the business or technical team. To avoid doing or saying what you will regret later, reschedule the meeting for another time. This will give you enough time to calm down, reassess the situation and identify the best way forward.
12. Re-align Them - Ah, that’s more like it. This is the kind of gentle negotiation that I can get onboard with. It involves name dropping them in conversations about success, and pointing out how you couldn’t have done it alone. Get them on the winning team, not the opposite team. This is another take on flattery, really.
13. Choose your battles wisely. In some cases, confrontation with a difficult stakeholder can be beneficial and help to iron out issues for good. In other cases, it’s just not necessary. I’ll go further to say, “Choose whom you fight with wisely”. It is possible that the stakeholder you are dealing with does not have a final say on the contentious issue. Don’t spend precious time and energy debating issues if nothing will come out of it. Instead, save the debate for someone who can actually make a difference to the situation.
14. Do not take things personally. Do not take responsibility for another person’s behaviour. A difficult person may have become so due to a series of bad experiences. First of all, don’t take it personally. It might be hard to do – but, however distressing the impact of the behaviour, treat it as a work-related issue that requires management. It’s about the project, not you. If you become embroiled in a personality-driven winner-takes-all battle, the outcome will always be better for the side which has more authority and power. Even if that’s your side, you will have wasted a lot of energy and time, and lost the opportunity of a supportive stakeholder for a long time.
Detach yourself from the situation to be able to assess it objectively. People act difficult for different reasons and this is not necessarily a reflection of your shortcomings. Try to understand what the underlying reason is for their lack of cooperation and address it.
14. Setting deadlines for support and/or information keeps your team from getting down to the wire, only to discover they’re missing vital resources that are necessary to successfully complete the project. Name droppers and vanishers will more reliably hold up their end of the bargain if there’s a formal deadline for them to deliver the support and/or resources they initially promised. Bossers are less likely to interfere with the team’s project activities when clear deadlines have been set, since it keeps you on the controlling end of the relationship.
15. Explain the why. It’s possible that our project decisions make perfect sense to us, but we don’t take the time to communicate the rationale to stakeholders. The result can be confusion and conflict. In Robert Cialdini’s book Influence,he suggests that “because” is the most influential word in the English language because people are more likely to comply when they know the basis of a decision.
Without understanding why a stakeholder has become difficult or why buy-in has been lost, it’s impossible to successfully proceed with a project without continued friction. That said, there may be times when despite all efforts by a PM to resolve issues, the stakeholder may simply have no intention of working cohesively with the team. In situations like this, difficult decisions may need to be made.
Don’t take resistance personally and remember that business is business. No matter what, you cannot burn your bridges and dismiss the difficult ones just because they like they’re blocking your work from getting done. You will have to find a way to work with them (or around them) and defuse the situation.
One way to detach yourself is through the use of humor. Learn to use humor wisely to defuse tension.
