You Can’t Always Get What You Want…
A Bump in the Road
Have you ever been there, late at night reading a blog post by a PM you admire i.e. Teresa Torres, Marty Cagan, Bruce McCarthy? It all makes sense. It all seems so simple. If you just do this, that, and this other thing, all of your stakeholders will know exactly what you are talking about and you will get the buy-in that you need for your project. It’s now late into the night and you’re building a plan of action for your early morning meeting. Before you know it there you are in the room (or on Zoom) with all of your stakeholders ready to get that alignment you need. You feel so good! You’re already celebrating. But then, all of sudden, a question is asked, which prompts another question, and another. The conversation derails. You try to get everyone back to your presentation. This is your meeting. This is your day. This is your time. But it’s too late. You’ve lost them all and there’s no getting them back. At least not for the moment……
How did this happen? It all seemed so simple last night.
I know that I am getting better at it, but I’ve been here countless times before. Over time I’ve realized that in most cases it always seems to boil down to 3 things. (cliché, I know.)
You forgot to give context
You gave context, but it was not framed from the perspective of the stakeholder(s)
The norms of the organization compete with what you are saying
Context
Words mean nothing without context. If you were to open a book and start reading randomly, more likely than not you would struggle to grasp what is going on. Similarly, if a colleague is brought into the room for a single conversation, they will likely struggle to understand why they are there and why the conversation is important for them. When you are pitching your next project or having a kickoff, remember that every person in the room is just coming from another meeting and they don’t know why they are there. Set up your story so that everyone is aligned and on the same page from the start.
Framing
Emotions can make or break a person’s day. Context can elicit emotions but only when framed appropriately to the person you are speaking. Most of my daily meetings involve multiple stakeholders all with different priorities and responsibilities. I’m going to assume yours are similar. Next time you hold a meeting, imagine the people you are talking to are saying to themselves “Tell me why I should care about the words coming out of your mouth.” It will help you frame the problem to each person you are speaking with and will likely be the reason that you get buy-in for your project. Without answering that question, that emotional hook won’t catch and your story will either fall on deaf ears or take a tangent like mine did above.
Norms
If you have only ever worked at one company this may be news to you so let me break it to you softly. What works in one place will not necessarily work in another. Organizations and individuals all operate differently and it is important that you understand how they operate to so that you can adjust to their expectations appropriately. You may feel overwhelmed at first by the expectations, paperwork (yuck), or even pushback that you’re getting, but don’t let that stop you from what you are trying to achieve. Change can happen, but sometimes you need to start small and prove out your good intentions in other ways first.
I hope these suggestions help you for your next project.
Do you have a story about a project or meeting you had to salvage because you forgot to give context, didn’t frame the conversation, or the company norms were different from what you expected? Get in touch and let me know.
