Most PMs spend very little time pondering how to deal with their stakeholders.  With so many other priorities, it’s usually an afterthought – something we react to, and, consequently, a source of much psychic pain.

What if, instead, we could transform our stakeholders into assets (not liabilities), while boosting our reputation as “product authority”?

In this post, I’m sharing a framework for how PMs can establish a healthy communication channel with their new product stakeholders, and how they can find trusted allies throughout the company.

Stakeholder management is a “must do” for PMs

Think of it as basic hygiene for a product manager. 

You bathe and take care of your teeth; PMs talk to customers and make sure the rest of the company knows the “why” behind their roadmap.

Failure to tend to one’s stakeholders will cause pain.  Poorly managed stakeholders:

• Complain about being out of the loop
• Misunderstand/misrepresent your priorities
• Pester you about the status of XYZ feature
• Go over your head and complain to your boss…

Ask any veteran PM if they’ve ever had something forced onto their roadmap.  Maybe the CEO was pitched a shiny new feature.  Maybe the Sales GM complained that a key client will walk away if a request isn’t delivered, and derailing weeks of in-progress work.  It happens all the time.

As PMs, we strive to paint a clear picture of our product strategy and roadmap for anyone in the company to understand.  We’ve got to be disciplined and proactive about communicating with stakeholders, but we don’t want a calendar full of “1:1” or “Status update” meetings.  What should we do?

“Rhythm and Relationship”

In our first 30 days, we’re going to focus on establishing a “rhythm” and a “relationship” with our stakeholders, so that we set the information sharing cadence, instead of reactively responding to inbound requests.

I learned this approach from the VP of Product when I became the first Mobile PM for Groupon’s International business.  Based in Palo Alto, California, I faced the challenge of managing dozens of stakeholders across Asia, Europe, and LatAm.

With relationships and businesses across the globe, each with their own feature wish-list, I needed a scalable communication channel.  I needed to train my stakeholders on “the right way” to share their needs.  I also needed to make it clear that I was the person to get their requests on our roadmap (vs. directly speaking with, say, the head of APAC). 

In other words, my stakeholders would learn to receive product updates on my terms.

How a new PM should get started

Here’s how I would get this framework off the ground as a new PM.

Step 1) Identify key stakeholders to invite

You should already have a short list of stakeholders from your manager (see Part 1).  If not, compile this list.

If you’re in a large, global company consider reaching out to each regional head’s executive assistant, or chief of staff, to introduce yourself and ask if he/she has any suggestions for who to invite to your meeting. 

Your note could be something like:

“Hey, I’m Matt, I just joined Alice’s team as the new Product Manager for X.  I’m running a bi-weekly, APAC-focused Product meeting to share our roadmap and recent learnings, as well as to learn about APAC needs and strategy.  I want to ensure our  roadmap reflects the APAC business strategy.  Are there any people from the region that you think I should definitely invite?”

Step 2) Put meetings on calendars

Put a bi-weekly (adjust frequency as needed) update on the calendar, inviting stakeholders from Step 1. 

Position the meeting as a forum to:

• Review the Product team’s strategy and roadmap
• Share feature/experiment results
• Give status updates for business planning

Make it clear that this will be a general product update driven by you (PM), but with an “office hours” feel.  Also make it clear that this is a public meeting – they’re welcome to invite anyone. 

Regardless of who shows up, you’ll need to prepare content, so the marginal cost of more attendees is negligible, and you’ll benefit from increased visibility.

Step 3) Prepare

When I run this meeting, I prepare slides.  I assume the CEO will show up, but I’m also happy just answering attendees’ questions or brainstorming.  You’ll eventually understand what gives the most value to your participants.

Creating polished slides every two weeks will require discipline, but in my experience it will pay dividends.

• Forces you to clearly articulate what you’re doing and expected impact
• Serves as a reference for people who can’t attend the meeting, or need data you’ve previously shared
• Catalog of your achievements (problems solved, metrics impacted, etc.)
  • Useful when updating your resume
  • Useful for your performance review and/or (re-)negotiating compensation

Note: If you’re in a global company, you might want to run this meeting 1x per region at a time convenient for attendees.  Re-use your slides to the extent possible.

Make your slide deck a living, publicly available document.  Keep a private copy of the deck for preparing updates.  Before each meeting, add new slides to the start of the master, public deck.

Craft your message to your stakeholders (your slides) carefully.  It might be wise to ask your manager for feedback before delivering the first update.  Focus on delivering crisp, distilled insights, and try to be data-driven.

Sample content outline:

1. Follow up from previous meeting
2. Pending feature or product releases
3. Current roadmap, and development focus – what’s coming
4. Review experiments (hypothesis you’re testing, status, results)
5. Other news / free discussion

Put a link to slides in the calendar invite, and update the deck before each meeting.

Step 4) Run the meeting

Since you’ve done your prep, you should feel confident and ready to build rapport with your stakeholders.  

People outside of the product and engineering org might not be used to getting into the mind of a PM, so think of this meeting as an opportunity to delight them. 

Make them think “Gosh, this new PM is a breath of fresh air“. A little effort can go a long way, especially when the bar is (sadly) often quite low.

Some things to keep in mind:

• Be open to feedback.  This will ultimately make your product better.
• Remember this phrase: “I’m not sure right now, let me follow up“
  • If you utter this phrase, actually follow up!
• Train stakeholders that you are the product authority.
  • Do this by delivering, consistently, on your commitment to keeping them in the loop, and following up on their asks.
• Find your “allies”.  It will take time to find them, but they’re likely the people who consistently attend your meeting and positively engage. 
  • Allies build your credibility throughout the company,
  • Allies strengthen your professional network, should you later leave the company.
• Don’t sweat it when some topic derails your agenda/slides – let the conversation flow!
  • Your slides are public and can be viewed by curious parties after the call.

Be an advocate for your stakeholders

By running your meeting consistently, you’ll have a solid “rhythm” (bi-weekly, established cadence), and “relationship” (two-way communications, good reputation, allies) with your stakeholders.

In closing, I think this framework will help you to shift from viewing stakeholder management as a burden, to a skill that you enjoy sharpening. 

Likewise, your stakeholders will come to see you, not as a gatekeeper, but as a trusted consultant and advocate.

Questions?  Feedback?  I’d love to hear about your challenges!