Working in an organization as large as Shell and as a Senior User Researcher, I have been thinking about how to land my work more effectively. Last year I worked on strategies of communicating outcomes. This year, I’ve wondered – am I as good of a partner as I believe myself to be? If I’m truly self reflective, while still upholding our craft, is there more that I can do to move my work from a place of insight to implementation?
So when I saw an EPIC Learning & Networking Week session on Understanding your Business Stakeholders pop up on my LinkedIn feed, and facilitated by Alex Mack, head of User Research at Ad Hoc, I thought the stars had aligned.
I would not be disappointed. Starting from the top, the points hit in Alex’s session included:
- Who are stakeholders?
- Why do they matter?
- Mapping frameworks
Who are stakeholders?
Defining stakeholders seems to be fairly straighforward (people with influence over your work, decision makers), but Mack pointed out that your stakeholder group is likely bigger than you think:
- Who are you not interacting with that will be informed of your research? How far does your research go?
- Who are the individuals that may not be decision makers but are gatekeepers to other information sources or stakeholders?
A takeaway for me from the session was reflection on the language we use to talk about our stakeholder partners. Stakeholders are people, Mack reminded us, not organizations (business unit A, B, C). I am personally guilty of this kind of language. I put humans at the center of the research I do, and try to be careful about the language I use when speaking about them, but when it comes to being a researcher in an organization, I can flip to a non-human centered way of communication, referring to stakeholders in terms of the organizations they represent. A minor point, it may seem, but if our language is reflective of our beliefs, I want to align these better for myself.
Why do stakeholders matter?
Stakeholders are often the key to influence and decisions, and because this is the case, they have the ability to use this influence and decision-making power when it comes to our work. We must then frame our work so stakeholders can understand it. As Mack said, and I can personally attest to, “It’s not going to matter if you do great work if the people with influence don’t see how it fits into their goals. And in order to really frame your work so that it has impact, you need to frame it for them.”
In the past I have also been guilty of what I think of now as self-righteousness around User Research, something that played out in my head as a sort of us versus them mentality, but I learned this got me nowhere fast. A swing too far to the other side is also not where I want to be – after all, I’m pitching and advocating for a different way of doing things. I offer these thoughts because Mack’s session especially spoke to me here. I couldn’t agree more as she said, “If we’re only laser focused on end users, you’re gonna miss other elements of the overall ecosystem that really enable your work to move forward and make a difference.” Does that make me less of a user advocate? I believe not – I think it’s an expansion of mindset (users and stakeholders).
Mapping frameworks
Finally, Mack offered up a few mapping frameworks (a level of influence vs impact matrix, relationship mapping, and an analysis of stakeholders), all with the goal of driving strategies for stakeholder communication and action. Check out these frameworks here to dig deeper.
The information Alex Mack offered is truly gold. I’ve learned some of these lessons about stakeholder engagement over time (and sometimes the hard way). The session was an excellent intro to stakeholder engagement and a reminder that partnering work never stops.
As I wrap up a project and start new ones, I’ll be taking note and asking myself …
- Who are the covert stakeholders I haven’t considered?
- How well have I framed my work to fit with their goals?
- How am I referring to my partner stakeholders?
- Am I taking for granted where this research lands? Know how far it reaches.
EPIC Learning & Networking Week is our annual festival of virtual learning, career development, and networking events for EPIC Members. Join EPIC to watch full videos of 2024 sessions in the EPIC Library, including the entire stakeholders workshop!
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