You want to strategically engage your stakeholders and move beyond simply responding to requests and providing a service. You want to align your project outcomes with business outcomes.
But, it’s not always easy to do. You’ll need to build trust with your stakeholders – to show them the data team is capable and is aligned with their goals. Here are five ways to get started.
- Make support transparent, responsive, and fast. Every support request is a small opportunity to build trust by being honest about what the team can accomplish and delivering. I’ve seen an improved support experience dramatically improve relations between stakeholders and data team members.
- Read about how to regain control of your support work
- Send them a periodic newsletter. You can keep your stakeholders up-to-date on the team’s work: in the past, present, and future, framing it from their perspective. I used to send one in between sprints, which were every two weeks. Stakeholders will see how the data team is helping them and others, which shows how you’re aligned with their goals.
- Send out a survey. You’ll get feedback on how well you’ve been doing building trust, and it’s a chance to show your stakeholders that you value their input.
- Host a demo session. Invite a few stakeholders. Members of the data team can show off their recent work. Be sure to hammer home the business value of the team’s contributions and to facilitate a discussion. Stakeholders can see the technical contributions and impact of the data team.
- Read about how to run an effective demo session
- Own and conduct training. Your stakeholders’ success is the data team’s success. Owning the data-related training for new employees will help build credibility with their teams. Also, I’ve found new employees to be excellent evangelists – they only learn the new and better ways of doing things.
- Read about how to upskill your colleagues’ SQL skills
Once you proactively engage with your stakeholders and earn their trust, they’ll include the data team more and more in their strategic planning and become a strategic partner in helping achieve more company-wide impact.
Have become a partner with multiple stakeholders? See how I think about prioritizing projects across diverse stakeholders.
Like what you read?