How do you manage senior stakeholders who disagree with your team?

Completely agree that it is critical to identify the source of disagreement. based on my experience of working with senior management over 15 yrs is that they have limited information based on the briefing provided by some members. So it is key to state the background and facts clearly

I normally use 15 point 'Stake Sheet' to handle such situation. We don't need to use all every-time, but it is more of the sequence or flow. I will share all 15 across the article - Step 1. Active Listening - listen to the unsaid : Understand their viewpoints without defensiveness and try to unearth the reason behind that view point. Is it real or it is due to some external factors? Step 2. Ensure there is common understanding : Highlight common objectives to build alignment.

Step 3. Be Data-Driven: Present evidence and facts to put your team's view. But ensure you are not trying to prove stakeholder wrong (This is critical). Present facts as-is and ask if they feel there is any discrepancy there. This will open the conversation and will shed more light on stakeholder's perspective. Step 4. Re-affirming the objective : Reiterate the requirement, the objective and make sure that they still have same understanding as team. Step 5. Relationship Building: Nurture connections beyond project discussions. Have 1-1 discussion outside the office environment. May be over coffee or lunch. Normally people will open up in more relaxed environment in 1-1 conversations and do share insights or reason for discomfort.

Step 6. Empathy: Grasp their concerns based on 1-1 discussion (Step 5) and address fears with empathy. Have plan to handle the fears or risk or discomfort points. Step 7. Alternatives: Offer compromise solutions that incorporate feedback. Which handles the fears / concerns. It can be enhanced check points or validations or adding features to functionality. Do note to highlight the overall impact too due to this. Step 8. Open Dialogue: Initiate respectful conversations to bridge gaps. Share the alternatives which you have prepared with your team and explain how it will help. Step 9: Influencers: Run through your alternate plan with another stakeholder and get them on board. Leverage them to advocate for your team's alternate plan.

Step 10. Outcome Focus - Explain the alternate plan, how it handles all the 'fears' or 'issues' the stakeholder may have, how it benefits / fits in overall plan. Most importantly, explain whats the impact due to alternate plan (For e.g there may be delay of final delivery by 2 weeks or delivery will happen in phased manner or we will need support from business over the weekends etc), if there is any and make sure to get buy-in as final outcome and agreement. Ensure that this is win win proposition and not one sided. Step 11. Give and Take: Be willing to adjust based on their input and feedback. Step 12. Be Solution-Oriented: Always see the larger picture and prioritise solutions over differences. Maintain respect even during disagreement

Step 14. Tracking and Continuous Engagement - Ensure this item is being tracked closely and progress / outcome is reported to all key stakeholders. Regular updates build trust and commitment. Share the positive note, once this item is resolved as agreed and thank everyone for their understanding and assistance in resolution. Step 15. Lesson Learn: Do introspection with the team as well as with stakeholders on how to ensure that such scenario doesn't occur in future. Put some preventive actions as agreed within the team.

This is key for any project we work on to celebrate the success and also think about what we can do better next time. This is not about finger pointing exercise but an opportunity to make things better next time and much more efficient leading to achieving the goals effectively

Sometimes words and active listening are not enough to create a common understanding. Senior stakeholders need to experience the team "in real life". When I was in such a situation, I invited the respective senior stakeholders to be part of my team's work - even if only for one hour. They got a chance to experience not only how the team works together and how it ticks, but they also couldn't help feeling part of it. In many cases, this experience tickled curiosity and the innate need to find and create answers.