{"id":22595,"date":"2023-02-09T15:53:12","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T14:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/?p=22595"},"modified":"2023-02-09T15:53:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T14:53:12","slug":"stakeholder-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/product-management\/stakeholder-management\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Stakeholder Management? A Guide for Product Managers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The concept of stakeholder management was not born at the same time as product management: in fact, it\u2019s probably been around for as long as social relationships have existed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/product-management\/what-is-product-management\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Product management<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is far from being the only discipline that recognizes the importance of being influential. The tech industry, however, has for a very long time placed prime importance on hard skills (such as programming) over softer skills. That might go a long way to explain why it\u2019s taken some time for product management to formally recognize this particular skill.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So what exactly is stakeholder management? In this guide you\u2019ll learn how the process works, as well as the three stages involved in carrying it out successfully.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019d like to skip ahead to a certain section, simply use the clickable menu:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong><a href=\"#what-is-stakeholder-management\">What is stakeholder management?<\/a><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><a href=\"#why-stakeholder-management-is-important-to-pms\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why stakeholder management is important to PMs<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong><a href=\"#what-is-a-stakeholder-management-plan\">What is a stakeholder management plan?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong><a href=\"#what-are-the-3-stages-of-stakeholder-management\">What are the 3 stages of stakeholder management?<\/a><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><a href=\"#identifying-key-stakeholders\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identifying key stakeholders<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><a href=\"#understanding-stakeholders\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understanding stakeholders<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><a href=\"#stakeholder-prioritization\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stakeholder prioritization<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong><a href=\"#what-is-the-power-interest-grid\">What is the power-interest grid?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2 id=\"what-is-stakeholder-management\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1. What is stakeholder management?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Simply put, stakeholder management is the process of identifying, prioritizing, and involving stakeholders in your work.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you can see, this is a concept which can be applied to a myriad of occupations, not just product management. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the most well-known proponents of stakeholder management as a business skill was Dale Carnegie. His bestselling book, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to Make Friends and Influence People<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, might be familiar to you: it\u2019s considered one of the most popular books of all time. It also regularly comes up on the lists of recommended books for PMs, even though it\u2019s not specifically about product management.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"why-stakeholder-management-is-important-to-pms\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why stakeholder management is important to PMs<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The importance of stakeholder management for a product manager should not be underrated, nor considered a second-rate soft skill. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When properly leveraged, stakeholder management has the potential to clear blockers and ensure a PM is able to access the help they need from their various counterparts at the right time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conversely, poor stakeholder management may mean that a PM\u2019s time and energy is being spent with infighting, as opposed to building value.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think about this in very practical terms: <strong>a product manager is typically short on at least one of the following: time, money, or resources. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having the right kind of connection and influence throughout an organization might be the difference between being able to build something or finding that your product priorities are not resonating throughout the organization and have therefore been de-prioritized.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-is-a-stakeholder-management-plan\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2. What is a stakeholder management plan?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A stakeholder management plan is both a strategy and a commitment to leveraging and optimizing the relationship with the key people at your work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While this may sound extremely business-like, it boils down to deciding to get to know your organization better, to foster a better relationship with a few key people within it and to do so in an organized, traceable way. So, how exactly can this be achieved in practice?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22775\" src=\"http:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/a-stakeholder-management-plan-is-the-key-to-unlock-productive-product-management.jpeg\" alt=\"A product manager dealing with a stakeholder in a startup office.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"600\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/a-stakeholder-management-plan-is-the-key-to-unlock-productive-product-management.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/a-stakeholder-management-plan-is-the-key-to-unlock-productive-product-management-300x150.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/a-stakeholder-management-plan-is-the-key-to-unlock-productive-product-management-1024x512.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/a-stakeholder-management-plan-is-the-key-to-unlock-productive-product-management-768x384.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-are-the-3-stages-of-stakeholder-management\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3. What are the three stages of stakeholder management?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you find yourself going through the process of evaluating your stakeholders, proceeding in stages can be quite helpful. Let\u2019s see how this might work in practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"identifying-key-stakeholders\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stage One: Identifying key stakeholders<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before you decide how to approach your key stakeholders, you need to be able to identify them. If you\u2019re stepping into a PM position for the first time, or if you\u2019re about to switch companies, then it would be to your advantage to use the opportunity to learn firsthand how to identify the key people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember that it&#8217;s one thing to learn by heart the different roles and titles within a company; it&#8217;s another to understand who really gets the job done, who has influence, who controls the purse strings, and who might be able to make your job as a PM easier or harder. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>Pro tip:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Start with a basic list of all departments you liaise with on a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. Then add the names of all the people you interact with in each department.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"understanding-stakeholders\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stage Two: Understanding stakeholders\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After concluding with the identification, the next step in this analysis is to gain a better understanding of their goals and pain points. These two will almost inevitably inform how they perceive the product function and, by extension, your own work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Depending on the type of organization you belong to, you may encounter stakeholders who are extremely knowledgeable about a product (perhaps they are former PMs themselves!), or, at the opposite end of the scale, stakeholders who have no idea what product management is about.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Pro tip: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your organization has implemented the use of metrics at departmental level, it\u2019s very useful to consider how the work of your stakeholders is being measured. In all likelihood, this is where most of their efforts and concerns will be focussed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"stakeholder-prioritization\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stage Three: Stakeholder prioritization<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armed with the information you\u2019ve just gathered about your stakeholders, the time has now come to evaluate and classify them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While continuous and active listening to one\u2019s stakeholders is highly encouraged, the fact of the matter is that <\/span><b>different people will want different things from a PM<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Knowing how to say \u201cNo\u201d is a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/product-management\/product-manager-skills\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">key product management skill<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in and of itself, but equally as important is to know what to say \u201cYes\u201d to. You need a backlog and <a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/product-management\/prioritization-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a prioritization framework<\/a> for your \u201cNo\u201ds and \u201cYes\u201ds, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll look into next.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-is-the-power-interest-grid\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4. What is the power-interest grid?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After going through the step-by-step process of identifying and prioritizing your stakeholders, it helps to visualize the results in a framework or model. One of the most common ones is the power-interest grid. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The power-interest grid model operates along two different axes. It assumes that the two key dimensions of stakeholder management are Interest and Power. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Depending on how you assess each of your stakeholders across these two dimensions, they\u2019ll fall into a specific quadrant, with some distinctive baseline approaches suggested:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22599\" src=\"http:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/the-power-interest-grid.png\" alt=\"A graphic illustrating the power-interest grid, showing Subjects, Players, Context-Setters, and Crowd.\" width=\"512\" height=\"362\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/the-power-interest-grid.png 512w, https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/the-power-interest-grid-300x212.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subjects<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stakeholders with an invested interest in the product, but holding comparatively little power. These could be individual contributors in key departments who neither manage others nor can be considered key decision-makers. Examples might include motivated customer success managers, or tech-savvy sales executives. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>Tips: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep them satisfied. Listen to their worries, hopes, and dreams. Make them feel involved. Don\u2019t commit to building something simply because they ask you to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crowd<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This isn\u2019t an anonymous crowd\u2014these are your colleagues. They are numerous and may know very little about your specific product. Examples may include people you hardly ever work or have meetings with, but who are a part of the organization. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>Tips:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Monitor. The strength of crowd members is in their numbers. You can probably afford to ignore isolated cases of dissatisfaction, but pay attention if organized forces of opposition arise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Context Setters<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Potential game-changers. They have considerable power, but helping the PM is not their top priority. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They might be PMs in charge of other products, extremely technical developers, or top-notch data analysts. Either way, they have a skillset complementary to yours. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>Tips: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep Informed. Practice active listening. Learn from them whenever possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Players<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is your make-or-break stakeholder quadrant. The stakeholders positioned here might have the ability to shut your product down. They might also give you all the resources you long for. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Relevant examples would be people whose job title starts with a \u201cC\u201d, like CEO, COO, CPO, so on and so forth. With these you have to be wary of things like <a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/product-management\/shiny-object-syndrome\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">executive Shiny Object Syndrome<\/a>, a fun-sounding but potentially critical threat to the product.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>Tips: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Engage and consult. Thread carefully. Look for mutually beneficial trade-offs. Evangelize, lobby them as much as is necessary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5. Wrap up<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the few certainties in the life of a product manager is that as long as you remain a PM, you\u2019ll have stakeholders to deal with. Stakeholders have the power to make your own work considerably easy or unbearably harder, so the art of stakeholder management is crucial.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Stakeholder management is an essential product management skill to pick up if you&#8217;re starting a career in the field, which is why it&#8217;s a key part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/courses\/become-a-product-manager\/\">CareerFoundry Product Management Program<\/a>. If you&#8217;re not 100% sure yet whether this is the path for you, why not try a <a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/short-courses\/become-a-product-manager\/\">free introductory product management short course<\/a> to start your practical learning in this exciting career area.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking to deepen your knowledge of product management? Be sure to check out the following articles:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/product-management\/product-management-process\/\">What is the Product Management Process? The 7 Stages Explained<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/product-management\/product-manager-responsibilities\/\">A Beginner\u2019s Guide to Product Manager Responsibilities<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/blog\/product-management\/product-management-certification\/\">How To Get a Product Management Certification in 2024<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stakeholder management is a key part of a product manager&#8217;s day job. So how do you decide who gets priority to work with? This guide will help you find your feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":22774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"yes","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-product-management"],"acf":{"homepage_category_featured":false},"modified_by":"Matthew Deery","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22595"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30350,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22595\/revisions\/30350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careerfoundry.inbearbeitung.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}