Dealing with a non-technical stakeholder in critical decisions. How can you navigate their input effectively?
Are you steering through the maze of non-technical stakeholder opinions? Dive in and share your strategies for effective collaboration.
Dealing with a non-technical stakeholder in critical decisions. How can you navigate their input effectively?
Are you steering through the maze of non-technical stakeholder opinions? Dive in and share your strategies for effective collaboration.
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It is not uncommon these days, in most parts of the world, for people to interact routinely with someone from a different culture or language background. This situation can shed a light on this problem. Non-technical stakeholders don't understand technical language but this doesn't make them idiots. They are often very smart people with a great level of expertise in their fields. The right way to approach this problem is as if you are asking for directions in a foreign land. How would you do this? First step is to learn at least the basics of their language. Don't need to be an expert. Just enough to communicate and get by. It takes two hands to do a handshake. Extend out your hand and see what happens.
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One method I have experienced for managing non-technical stakeholders in critical organizational decisions is the formation of a decision-making committee. This committee should ideally have a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 9 members. The stakeholder(s) or their representative should be permanent members, and technical experts or consultants can be included as permanent or invited members to discuss various aspects and impacts of the decision on the organization. Ultimately, the decision should be made by the committee through voting. (In this voting process, consultants or non-member experts do not have voting rights.)
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Para lidar com uma parte interessada não técnica em decisões críticas, é fundamental simplificar a linguagem, evitando jargões e explicando conceitos complexos de forma clara e acessível; focar nos resultados estratégicos e tangíveis que são importantes para eles, como a eficiência e impacto no negócio; além de utilizar recursos visuais, como gráficos e dashboards, que tornam os dados mais fáceis de entender. Também é importante envolvê-los no processo de decisão, ouvindo suas preocupações e mostrando como as diferentes opções afetam os objetivos gerais da empresa.
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I love working with the decision makers to trace mission to objectives(why) to strategies (what) and to tactics (how) in concise and well partitioned statements. It helps them see the problem and solution domains more clearly resulting in better decisions. Best decisions optimize the objectives (or outcomes). So it’s also a good idea to capture and link tangible measures to objectives or strategies.
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Navigating the input of a non-technical stakeholder in critical decisions requires active listening and clear communication. Start by ensuring you understand their concerns and priorities, which often stem from business goals rather than technical specifics. Use straightforward language to explain technical concepts, focusing on how decisions impact the overall objectives they care about. Encourage an open dialogue by asking for their insights and reinforcing that their perspective is valuable. By fostering a collaborative environment and aligning technical details with business outcomes, you can effectively incorporate their input while maintaining decision integrity.
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Identify internal technical experts who can field stakeholder opinions and establish a process for channeling these inputs effectively. Stakeholders can offer innovative ideas that add significant value to a project. However, it's crucial to filter the practical and valuable insights from the less useful ones. Committees can be an effective way to generate actionable deliverables for decision-makers but can also become unproductive or contentious. To mitigate this, create a structured plan detailing how the committee receives and considers opinions. Conduct the same rigorous analysis to ensure only the most viable ideas move forward.
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Keep technology away from the discussion with non-technical stakeholder who is making critical decisions. Understand the decision from the business goals perspective, and then map the business decision to Organization's technology strategy, to ultimately come up with technology architecture and solution to deliver or align to the decision.
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Para navegar pela entrada de uma parte interessada não técnica em decisões críticas, é fundamental simplificar a comunicação e conectar seus interesses ao impacto do projeto. Procuro sempre traduzir termos técnicos em conceitos claros, usando exemplos práticos que facilitem o entendimento.
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When dealing with a non-technical stakeholder, keep things simple. Explain the key decisions in terms of business impact, not technical jargon. Focus on how different choices will affect the project and the outcomes they care about. Listen to their input and ensure they feel involved, but help guide them by showing how their feedback fits the project goals. Offer clear options with the pros and cons of each so they can make informed decisions without getting lost in the technical details.
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