Stakeholder Engagement is a Year-Round Practice
An unfortunately common scenario for IT pros: you show up at your year-end review with four months of hard work on your hands. You present this work to your stakeholder… and your stakeholder tells you it’s all irrelevant due to changes in the business’ direction. In his eyes you’ve wasted a whole lot of time, and you’re now behind on what really matters to them.
Talk about a lose/lose.
Thankfully, this scenario can be prevented with a relatively simple fix…check in with your stakeholder more often!
Most IT pros give their stakeholder a mid-year update and an end-of-year update, and that’s about it. But a lot can happen in the six months between those two updates. Business requirements can change; the functional unit can shift direction; priorities can pivot. When you only touch base with your stakeholder twice a year, you run the risk of staying on your original path while they take a detour.
I Know, I Know… I hear what you’re saying:
“If my business stakeholder changes directions, it’s HIS responsibility to let me know.”
In a perfect world this makes a lot of sense… But let’s come back to reality—your stakeholders generally won’t come to you unless there’s been a HUGE shift in the specific needs your project is designed to meet. Frustrating, I know, but rather than hoping your stakeholder will become more considerate of your needs, it’s more effective to just take the lead in maintaining alignment with your stakeholder’s ever-evolving needs.
Don’t Worry: Once a Quarter is Enough
I’m not telling you to become a thorn in your stakeholder’s side. You don’t need to pop into your stakeholder’s office every other day and pester them with questions about project direction. From my experience if you just schedule quarterly meetings with your stakeholder you’ll avoid most of these major blow-ups.
Frame these meetings as necessary—and firm—30 minute sit-downs to review your progress on the projects the two of you set at your last meeting. Be very clear what the meetings are about—and that they won’t last longer than 30 minutes—and your stakeholder should feel safe accepting your invites.
A Warning: Your stakeholder will initially feel unenthusiastic about these meetings. Press the issue and make them happen. While I’ve seen plenty of skepticism on the need for these meetings, I’ve never been to a quarterly project update meeting that wasn’t appreciated afterwards. Not only do these meetings give you the chance to make sure everyone’s on the same page—and to correct course as needed—they also give your stakeholder confidence you continue to understand his needs and are working toward his present, pressing goals.
So go ahead and schedule these two new quarterly meetings right now. It will feel uncomfortable at first, but you—and your stakeholder—won’t regret it.
