8 Tips for Stakeholder Alignment on POV
Thought leadership is a brand initiative, not just marketing. Like positioning, it affects every part of your business, from the way your sales team pitches prospects to the approach of your customer success team. Stakeholder alignment is absolutely crucial for a thought leadership initiative to succeed — because you’ll need every team to be bought-in and speaking the same language across the buyer’s journey.
When I’m hosting thought leadership workshops, I encourage clients to bring in their entire leadership team: CEO, and heads of marketing, sales, product, and customer success. Each team has valuable insights to contribute to the conversation. But it’s not always easy to wrangle differing perspectives and opinions and arrive at a consensus. Here are a few things I’ve found that help.
1. Replace Meetings with Workshops
The workshop format is perfectly suited to gleaning insights from all stakeholders and focusing discussions. Workshops are structured around clear objectives that the group works toward in each session. And the workshop format helps prevent groupthink while providing a process to move toward consensus.
2. Choose a Strong (but People-Savvy) Facilitator
A skilled facilitator can keep discussions on track and manage group dynamics in a way that doesn’t feel overpowering. The facilitator can redirect irrelevant discussions and ensure the group stays focused on the task at hand.
3. Remind Stakeholders of the Context
Start each discussion by putting the session’s objectives in context. This will help stakeholders stay focused on the overall goal of the project and keep them thinking about how the current discussion relates to that goal.
4. Structure and Sequence Discussions
Vague prompts like, “What do you think of this approach?” can quickly derail discussions. Structuring the discussion into tightly focused phases helps keep discussions manageable and makes it easier to ensure everyone has an opportunity to contribute.
5. Visualize the Conversation
Visual tools such as sticky notes, whiteboards, or digital platforms like Miro or Mural are great for these discussions because they help organize points and make it easier to remember what everyone has said. Visualization tools also reduce the risk of misinterpretation.
6. Encourage Independent Ideation
Incorporate a “work alone, together” method, where participants independently generate ideas before sharing them with the group. This allows quieter team members to contribute without being overshadowed by louder voices. Have everyone write down their ideas in silence on sticky notes, and set a timer to keep the activity focused.
7. Timebox Activities
To keep discussions from spiraling out of control, set strict time limits on each segment. Time limits help participants stay focused and encourage them to be concise. Without time limits, it’s too easy to get into prolonged debates. If there’s strong disagreement on an issue that can’t be resolved, schedule a follow-up session dedicated to that issue.
8. Use a “Parking Lot” for Off-Topic Ideas
Inevitably, discussions will veer off course. Ideas will be sparked for marketing campaigns, improving sales scripts, etc. To manage rabbit trails without ignoring stakeholders, create a “parking lot” — a dedicated space where off-topic ideas can be noted for future discussion. This reassures participants that their ideas are valued and won’t be forgotten.
With a good structure and approach, workshops can bring out incredible insights from stakeholders and bring everyone into alignment. Each team will then feel ownership over your point of view and be excited to share it.
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