Here's how you can resolve conflicts with stakeholders in a Strategy role.

Often conflicts between stakeholders result from unstated differences in knowledge, assumptions, and priorities or perspectivd taken to the issue at hand. Understanding the underlying reason(s) allows you to bring that difference to ligh to all the stakeholders, address any gaps in knowledge/awareness that may be present, and focus on what the conflict is truly about.

In Stakeholder Interviews achte ich immer auf die vier Ohren nach Schulz von Thun: 1️⃣ Die #Sachebene, also den Teil der Botschaft der sich auf das Produkt, die Dienstleistung, etc. fokussiert. 2️⃣ Der #Appell ist von den Stakeholder:innen an die Organisation gerichtet. Hier werden Erwartungen und Wünsche kommuniziert. 3️⃣ Auf der #Beziehungsebene wird das Verhältnis von Stakeholder:innen zur Organisation kommuniziert. Ich überlege mir, welches Verhältnis ich möchte, und erfahre, welches Verhältnis sich die Stakholder:innen vorstellen. 4️⃣ In der Dimension der #Selbstkundgabe, erfahre ich die inneren Bedürfnisse der Stakeholder:innen. In Strategie wollen wir emotionalisieren, daher lohnt sich der Fokus auf die Selbstkundgabe besonders.

Encourage stakeholders to voice concerns, listening without interruption. Highlight shared objectives to foster alignment. Acknowledge their perspectives, demonstrating genuine understanding. Work together to find compromise or alternatives that address their needs while aligning with strategic goals. Keep dialogue open, providing updates and adjustments. Prioritizing stakeholder needs while ensuring strategic alignment is key to effective conflict resolution.

Yes, it is so important to listen carefully to stakeholders and to understand their needs. In my experience, different stakeholders may have similar needs yet different ways of expressing them. For this reason it is important to be patient with stakeholders and to carefully seek to understand through application of active listening and confirmation skills.

In my experience, customized communication is what truly helps rather a general "clear" communication. How clear the communication is depends on the receiver. It is important to cluster or individually identify your target group and customize your communication accordingly. This will create the biggest impact and generate real value. Also, not everybody needs every information.

A pro strategist conducts thorough stakeholder analysis to understand power, influence, and interests, prioritizing alternatives and tailoring communication. Anticipate objections, prepare data-driven responses, and engage stakeholders early. Use active listening, empathy, transparency, and flexibility to build trust and resolve conflicts effectively.

In strategy roles, conflicts with diverse stakeholders are inevitable. However, success lies in skillfully navigating them and forging consensus. As leaders, we must align viewpoints & find common ground through active listening, fostering mutual respect, & open dialogue.Building consensus isn't about imposing our will but finding innovative solutions that address core stakeholder needs, leveraging collective wisdom. It demands compromise, transparency to build trust, and a commitment to collaborative problem-solving.Resolving conflicts and building consensus is an ongoing process requiring patience, emotional intelligence, & collaboration.

Resolving conflicts with stakeholders in a Strategy role involves clear communication and finding common ground. Suppose there's a disagreement about the direction of a new project. Start by listening to the concerns of all parties involved. Acknowledge their perspectives and show empathy. Then, organize a meeting to discuss these viewpoints openly. Present data and insights that support your strategy, and be open to feedback. For example, if a stakeholder is worried about budget constraints, work together to find cost-effective solutions that still align with your strategic goals. By fostering a collaborative environment, you can turn conflict into a constructive dialogue and achieve a win-win outcome.

Every strategic project should have a 'start-date'. Nearly all projects have an 'end-date' but the best way to create trust and confidence is to Start. At the consensus point, it is very important to assure that people walk away with a complete understanding that they are fully aligned and supportive of the decision, even if it was not their idea. After the engagement starts, management team members should not say, "Well, I agreed, but I did not think it was going to work." This is not helpful and this breaks down trust. They should be saying, let's learn what is happening and what can we do to solve it. As the leader, it is very important to reinforce this aligned approach.

Place emphasis on sustainability and the best way to do so is to ensure buy-in from the required stakeholders. Engaging meaningfully is critical as often tokenism leads to fatigue and disillusionment of stakeholders. Important to mention in this regard is that stakeholders must be engaged from inception right through to monitoring and evaluation.

The starting place for dealing with conflicts in strategy is to find out where we agree. Do we agree on the threats and obstacles that must be overcome? Do we agree on our destination or definition of success? Do we agree on actions we need to take to that will address the obstacles and take us to our direction? Do we agree on the actions and investments we need to take now? Do we agree on what to stop doing? When the answer to a question is yes it gives us a foundation to build on. We come back to that as a base for solving what we disagree on. Now we are ready to agree on where we disagree. The more clear we are about what problem we are trying to solve the easier it is to focus our discussion on understanding and resolving.

Make sure people all have and agree on the same underlying data. The vast majority of conflicts in my experience stem from lack or different interpretations of data (i.e. verifiable inputs that could impact a strategy - customer comments, schedule estimates, market/pricing trends, market share...). People often have different understandings of what's actually happening, often just part of the picture, so they see the "problem" as... poor product quality, or the wrong feature set, or long lead times, or high costs, or slow decision-making. Getting stakeholders on the same page, to agree on the data (or collect it), goes a long way to resolving conflicts. Once people agree on those things, smart people usually converge on direction quickly.

Resolving conflicts with stakeholders in a Strategy role often involves navigating personal agendas, alliances, and politics, rather than focusing on what's best for the customer or organization. Competing Agendas: A marketing manager wants a flashy campaign, while finance demands budget cuts. Facilitate a meeting to align on goals and present ROI data, allowing leaders to decide. Departmental Silos: Sales and operations clash over resources. Propose a pilot project that balances both needs. Leaders can evaluate and endorse the approach. Personal Alliances: Two executives favor different suppliers due to personal connections. Present a transparent supplier performance evaluation to enable leaders to make informed, unbiased decisions.