Introduction
It’s the beginning of the week, and you found a very urgent e-mail sent by one of your key stakeholders, pointing out several critical issues that remain unresolved or pending. Your excuses aren’t bringing the situation back on track, and they suggest a “status telephone call.” You know what that means in terms of his personality.
After taking a deep breath and a big cup of coffee, you start thinking about your response to tackle this issue, indicating what the rest of your week will look like. To take full responsibility and control to resolve this issue, you need to take immediate action by applying one or all of these steps:
1. Act fast
Make sure you follow up within an hour of receiving his e-mail. Please refrain from formulating a 400-word e-mail addressing his issues. Try immediately to reach out to your mobile. Or better yet, put in a Zoom call. Your physical presence always reflects a better and warmer reaction and dedication when resolving the stakeholder’s issues.
2. Don’t walk in with solutions
Upon first contact, you need to stay calm. Stakeholders sometimes need to be heard no matter how many status reports or issue resolution e-mails you submit. Be prepared to sit with your notebook in hand and your lips closed, and carefully try to listen to his needs and complaints. Once you’ve identified it all, reply with questions about understanding their expectations. Don’t fall back on broad statements such as, “I understand your concern, and we will work to resolve these technical issues.”
Instead, consider asking probing questions like, “How do these technical issues affect your upcoming product launch?”
Agree to follow up and respond within a short period. Being interested in listening to their concerns shows you’re committed to identifying and tackling the root cause of the issue and not just its symptoms. Although a stakeholder may pressure you for an answer, avoid committing to or offering a solution before understanding all the facts and constraints.
3. Identify issues that can be resolved immediately
In some cases, your stakeholders will throw off many issues they think are “critical” to their business, all of which need to be addressed immediately. In reality, only select the highest priority issues, and you’ll exceed his expectations.
4. Define a follow-up schedule and commit to it
Plan on giving your primary stakeholder regular status updates on the issues until they’ve all been addressed. The frequency of the updates depends on the severity of the issue at hand. If it affects their business continuity or project success, you must update them daily (or even more frequently).
Remember that there’s a fine line between demonstrating you’re a go-getter and pestering your primary stakeholder with useless details. Stick to clear, concise updates on high-priority issues and avoid the less valued ones.
About the Author:
Loay Dirar, educates, writes, and advises on strategy development and implementation, as well as change management and risk management for major regional organizations in the Middle East and North Africa. He has 19 years of management experience, including ten years as a manager in multinational subsidiaries of organizations based in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
