One of my domains of expertise is executive and leadership development coaching. My most recent client engagement involved facilitating a two day program on influence and helping leaders to move from a transactional to a transformation leadership stance. Part of the program focused on questions to explore when developing strategic stakeholder alliances.
Questions to Consider When Building Stakeholder Alliances
What is this person’s (formal and informal) relationship to me?
What’s the best way for us to establish a solid partnership?
What strengths can we build on?
How can I enlist them as an ally for my business project?
What might I be doing that’s working against our partnership?
What obstacles need overcoming and what’s my strategy for that?
What agreements do we have in place to handle conflict when it arises?
What did we explicitly agree to and set forth as clear goals and expectations?
What have we agreed to practice in order to bring out the best in each other?
How is our communication? Do we regularly review and assess what we’re learning?
If I am experiencing resistance, where is it coming from and how can I best address it?
What else can be done to strengthen our partnership?
Investing some upfront time to answer these questions for yourself before meeting with your stakeholders can prepare you to work from a position of strength and help you avoid costly missteps.
Photo by Ana Municio on Unsplash
Comments