What do you do if you're pressed for time during an interview with senior stakeholders?

When you find yourself pressed for time during an interview with senior stakeholders, it's crucial to manage the situation effectively. Senior stakeholders typically hold influential positions within an organization and can include top executives, board members, or key investors. Their time is valuable, and they expect concise, well-prepared interactions. Whether you're discussing project updates, pitching new ideas, or providing status reports, it's important to convey your points clearly and quickly while maintaining professionalism and confidence.

1 Prioritize Points

If the clock is ticking, prioritize the most important points you need to convey. Quickly assess your agenda and identify the key messages that are critical for the stakeholders to hear. Focus on delivering these messages with clarity and brevity. If you have prepared a presentation, consider skipping to the slides that address the most pressing issues or summarize the outcomes. This ensures that even if you run out of time, the essential information has been communicated.

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Shama Parveen

Executive Assistant at Hurley International, LLC
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When pressed for time in an interview with senior stakeholders, prioritize key points, be concise yet clear, engage swiftly by addressing their concerns directly, adapt your responses as needed, follow up promptly post-interview, reflect on the experience for future improvement, and maintain a professional demeanor. Adapt communication styles to match their preferences and respect their time and priorities.

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Srinayana Goswami

Head of Business Strategy @ ARE&M
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Disucssions with senior stakeholders are always going to be pressed for time. That makes it all the more important to go in with a clear agenda of what you want to achieve from the discussion. Additionally, prioritize the points that are most important. Keep questions direct and to the point (prep before the discussion so that you are not thinking on the go). If the discussions pivot towards irrelevant topics, respectfully interject and bring it back to the core topics.

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Cynthia Rosario, SHRM-CP

As an unconventional SHRM-CP certified HRIS Data Manager, juggling multiple priorities is my daily bread, and I embrace a hands-on approach to data management, turning numbers into actionable insights.
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Senior stakeholders are typical just a busy so trying to remain high level and avoid the "sausage making" conversations the debates and back and forth. Also, while all points may seem important remembering the rule of three most people best remember take aways up to three items.

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2 Stay Concise

Conciseness is your ally in a time-pressured situation. Avoid elaborate introductions and get straight to the point. Use clear and direct language to articulate your thoughts without sacrificing politeness or professionalism. Remember, senior stakeholders appreciate brevity, especially when time is limited. They want to know the 'what', 'why', and 'how' without unnecessary details that can be discussed later or included in a follow-up.

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Cynthia Rosario, SHRM-CP

As an unconventional SHRM-CP certified HRIS Data Manager, juggling multiple priorities is my daily bread, and I embrace a hands-on approach to data management, turning numbers into actionable insights.
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High level is key with senior stakeholders. One pagers, report summaries or synopsis are the go to. The full presentation or report can be taken with them if they want to go more in depth and follow emails or meeting can be planned if additional follow up is needed.

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3 Engage Quickly

Engage stakeholders quickly by starting with a compelling statement or question that captures their attention. This is particularly effective if you're introducing a new concept or seeking their approval on a decision. By drawing them in from the outset, you create a sense of urgency and importance around your discussion, which can help keep the conversation focused and on track despite the time constraints.

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4 Adapt Flexibly

Be prepared to adapt your presentation or discussion points on the fly. If you notice stakeholders are particularly interested in a certain aspect, be flexible enough to dive deeper into that area, even if it means deviating from your planned agenda. Conversely, if a topic doesn't resonate as expected, be ready to move on quickly to maintain engagement and make the most of the limited time.

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5 Follow Up Promptly

After the interview, follow up promptly with any additional information or answers to questions that were not fully addressed due to time constraints. This could be in the form of a detailed email, a report, or scheduling another meeting. The follow-up demonstrates your commitment to the stakeholders and ensures that no critical information is lost or overlooked.

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Cynthia Rosario, SHRM-CP

As an unconventional SHRM-CP certified HRIS Data Manager, juggling multiple priorities is my daily bread, and I embrace a hands-on approach to data management, turning numbers into actionable insights.
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Making sure to share details from meeting, presentations, report detailes etc. This can resolve out standing questions that may not have been able to be covered.

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Srinayana Goswami

Head of Business Strategy @ ARE&M
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When there are 5 minutes left for the discussion to finish, bring the discussion to a close and use the last 5 mins to summarize, list out open items and next steps. Agree on a timeline for the next meeting. Soon after the meeting, schedule the follow up discussion

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6 Reflect & Improve

Finally, take time to reflect on the experience and identify ways to improve for future time-pressed interviews with senior stakeholders. Consider what worked well and what could be done differently. Did you allocate enough time for discussion? Were your materials concise enough? Use these insights to refine your approach, ensuring you're better prepared to handle similar situations in the future.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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What do you do if you're pressed for time during an interview with senior stakeholders?

1

2

3

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5

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1 Prioritize Points

2 Stay Concise

3 Engage Quickly

4 Adapt Flexibly

5 Follow Up Promptly

6 Reflect & Improve

7 Here’s what else to consider

Senior Stakeholder Management

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What do you do if you're pressed for time during an interview with senior stakeholders?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Prioritize Points

2 Stay Concise

3 Engage Quickly

4 Adapt Flexibly

5 Follow Up Promptly

6 Reflect & Improve

7 Here’s what else to consider

Senior Stakeholder Management

Rate this article

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