Stop Treating Every Objection the Same. Start Asking Who It's For.
Strategic Stakeholder Engagement means sorting an objection before you decide to act on it. The first sort is whether the person raising it is who the deliverable was built for.
Topic
People
A collection of 10 issues
The AI mode that makes you harder to blindside
Most PMs only prepare for the pushback they expect. Telescope Mode changes that.
You prepared for the two stakeholders you knew would push back.
You rehearsed the counterarguments. You had answers ready for the timeline concerns, the scope questions, the budget skepticism.
And then the VP of Operations (the one
Your team doesn't need more tasks. They need more trust.
The best PMs aren't the ones who do the most. They're the ones who trust the most.
Here's a question:
Are you the bottleneck on your project?
I'm serious.
Think about it: How many decisions are waiting for your approval right now?
Stop managing stakeholders. Start aligning them.
The best PMs create conditions for alignment.
The Principle: Strategic Stakeholder Engagement
Strategic Stakeholder Engagement is about building consensus and creating alignment across diverse interests by understanding what people really care about and finding the common ground that already exists (even when nobody sees it yet).
Here's what
Finding your advocate as a project leader
Creating alignment with your stakeholders
Beyond the stakeholder register: Is stakeholder analysis worth your time?
Finding the hidden stakeholder
Glue. A book for every new and seasoned project manager.
Glue is the book I wish I had 15 years ago when I first started doing project management. Anh Dao Pham demonstrates that the need in the project world is less on the "management", but more on leadership.
The first several chapters may decieve the reader as some
Seth Godin’s "Linchpin” Book Review: Applying it to project management
In 2010, Seth Godin’s book, “Linchpin”, became the foundation for the Creator economy.
If you follow any creator, on any platform, Godin’s thoughts on being a creator are always part of the atmosphere. It's obvious that his influence throughout the greater creator economy is quite widespread.