Negotiating with Internal Stakeholders
Scrum Teams work with stakeholders in their organization to understand their feedback regarding the product. As these stakeholders generally have different responsibilities, needs, opinions and interests, it can be challenging to decide on the future of a product or initiative. For instance, someone who works in an organization’s legal department likely has a different point of view about a new product than their colleague who works in sales. The legal department may focus on regulatory needs , while sales prioritizes revenue. In this situation, the Product Owner needs to negotiate with these stakeholders in order to meet regulations while delivering on what the customer wants.
Here are suggestions when negotiating with internal stakeholders:
Setting boundaries to establish the authority of a Product Owner. While this may be challenging in many organizations, established authority creates accountability and focus. Here are a couple of pointers for Product Owners on how they can set boundaries.
- Ensure that learning, delivering to customer outcomes, and maintaining quality standards are non-negotiable. Keep this standard while also being flexible on specific requests or implementation details when negotiating with stakeholders.
- Establish a product vision, a product strategy, and a shared Product Goal. Understand that these can change over time as you learn new information.
Observing internal structures and politics. Being aware of certain politics such as gatekeeping and hidden agendas helps Product Owners navigate complexities within an organization. It allows you to (re)consider strategies on how to build relationships and respectfully challenge stakeholders including management and senior leadership, ultimately increasing the chances of a successful outcome. Some tips include:
- Using relevant data, evidence and your company’s strategic goals to frame conversations and decision-making, especially when there is disagreement
- Saying “No”. Be prepared to support your decision if necessary so you can do so confidently and constructively
- Considering and proposing alternatives to an opposing idea from a stakeholder
Using data to inform. As mentioned previously, incorporating relevant data, both quantitative and qualitative, into conversation promotes objectivity and can lead to better outcomes. This approach helps to identify patterns, reduce biases and supports evidence-based decision making. Examples such as market analysis, customer feedback, and potential market share, make proposals feasible and provide a foundation for future validation.
Grasping stakeholder perspectives by understanding their motivations and interests is key to effective negotiation preparation. It fosters empathy enabling you to build relationships and alliances. Additionally, it will give you insights on how to tailor your communication with stakeholders. Practices such as stakeholder mapping will be useful in this context.
In order to effectively manage and balance the diverse perspectives of stakeholders, a Product Owner may take the decision maker stance. In this stance, a Product Owner focuses on keeping decision making time short which is helpful when there are competing ideas or conflicting interests among stakeholders, because someone needs to make a decision to carve a path forward. This decision should be based on the highest potential value to the customers and organization, and this information should be transparent to the stakeholders. One way to do this is to gather stakeholders together to evaluate potential value of ideas. This raises transparency and understanding of the decision-making process.
Resources:
Book:
Schuurman, Robbin, and Willem Vermaak. Master the Art of No: Effective Stakeholder Management for Product Owners & Product Managers.
