Techniques for Engaging Stakeholders in Supply Chain Projects

I was Wrong about Influence. Early in my career, I believed influence in a decision-making meeting was the direct outcome of a strong artifact presented and the ensuing discussion. However, with more leadership experience, I have come to realize that while these are important, there is something far more important at play. Influence, for a given decision, largely happens outside of and before decision-making meetings. Here's my 3 step approach you can follow to maximize your influence: (#3 is often missed yet most important) 1. Obsess over Knowing your Audience Why: Understanding your audience in-depth allows you to tailor your communication, approach and positioning. How: ↳ Research their backgrounds, how they think, what their goals are etc. ↳ Attend other meetings where they are present to learn about their priorities, how they think and what questions they ask. Take note of the topics that energize them or cause concern. ↳ Engage with others who frequently interact with them to gain additional insights. Ask about their preferences, hot buttons, and any subtle cues that could be useful in understanding their perspective. 2. Tailor your Communication Why: This ensures that your message is not just heard but also understood and valued. How: ↳ Seek inspiration from existing artifacts and pickup queues on terminologies, context and background on the give topic. ↳ Reflect on their goals and priorities, and integrate these elements into your communication. For instance, if they prioritize efficiency, highlight how your proposal enhances productivity. ↳Ask yourself "So what?" or "Why should they care" as a litmus test for relatability of your proposal. 3. Pre-socialize for support Why: It allows you to refine your approach, address potential objections, and build a coalition of support (ahead of and during the meeting). How: ↳ Schedule informal discussions or small group meetings with key stakeholders or their team members to discuss your idea(s). A casual coffee or a brief virtual call can be effective. Lead with curiosity vs. an intent to respond. ↳ Ask targeted questions to gather feedback and gauge reactions to your ideas. Examples: What are your initial thoughts on this draft proposal? What challenges do you foresee with this approach? How does this align with our current priorities? ↳ Acknowledge, incorporate and highlight the insights from these pre-meetings into the main meeting, treating them as an integral part of the decision-making process. What would you add? PS: BONUS - Following these steps also expands your understanding of the business and your internal network - both of which make you more effective. --- Follow me, tap the (🔔) Omar Halabieh for daily Leadership and Career posts.

𝗛𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗽𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹. A lame hodgepodge of names, emails and vague notes that don't move the needle towards achieving your policy, reputation, and political goals. Here are some more powerful ways to organize so you can have greater impact and influence, which is the whole purpose right? ⬇ ⬇ 𝗕𝘆 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿: —This is the often the first way to organize “tabs” or define labeled categories but it shouldn't be the last. Some examples: media (print, broadcast, bloggers/influencers, podcasts) think tanks and universities, charitable partners, elected officials and senior staff, trade associations and coalitions, embassies, etc. 𝗕𝘆 𝗜𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲𝘀: —Depends on your org., but say you’re a hospital company, these would probably include ones like Medicare/Medicaid, drug prices, workforce, DEI, price transparency, EMR/data security, antitrust, site neutrality, etc. 𝗕𝘆 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲/𝗣𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: — Is the stakeholder currently an ally, neutral/persuadable, or a detractor? This will often depend on the issue. Obviously, consistent allies on all issues are rare (and super valuable if they’re influential, see below), but it’s crucial to know where you stand in real time. 𝗕𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲/𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁/𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘅: —Regularly sketch out a side map outlining how interested and impactful various stakeholders are on important issues. Think high interest/low influence, high interest / high influence (the best of its aligned to your strategies, a challenge if not), low interest, high influence, etc. Recco doing this for your top 3 main issues. 𝗕𝘆 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗸: —Here, past performance is often (but not always) indicative of future results. Assign numbered 1-3 rankings to the most important stakeholders. Group 1 are the most engaged, group 3 the least engaged. **Do this for your allies, neutrals/persuadable and definitely for detractors.** 𝗕𝘆 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 (𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀/𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝘀): —Whose been lead on “watering the plants” from particular groups? What is the nature of the relationship (e.g. former colleague, friend, acquaintance, donor/supporter), how far does it go back? Are there secondary connections within the org.? 𝗛𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝟭: This doesn’t need to be someone from Corporate Affairs, sometimes back channel relationships can do more than formal ones. 𝗛𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝟮:People come and go often. Develop and nurture secondary contacts wherever possible. However your org. manages the map, it needs to be a living, breathing asset. Feel free to add your ideas in comments and big thanks to my friends at Ortus Draws for the awesome infographic that brings it all home!

"Deal's looking good. I'm in with the CMO." A colleague shared his excitement. I rolled my little eyeballs. "What?" he asked, confused. "Single-threaded deals die," I replied. Three weeks later: "CMO went on leave. Deal's stalled." I wasn't surprised. The average B2B purchase now involves 11+ stakeholders. Yet most reps are still playing the "one relationship" game. Old playbook: Find one champion. Let them "sell internally" for you. Hope for the best. Failure rate? About 80%. A recent client win taught me the better approach: Initial call with the VP of Sales. Great fit, but I asked: "Who else needs to be comfortable with this decision?" The list: - CRO (economic buyer) - IT Director (technical approval) - Sales Enablement (implementation) - 2 Regional VPs (end users) That's 6 people. Each with different: - Priorities - Objections - Questions Rather than pestering my champion to coordinate everything... I created a single digital room with: - Role-specific sections for each stakeholder - Tailored ROI calculations for the CRO - Security documentation for IT - Implementation timeline for Enablement - Quick-start guides for the Regional VPs My champion shared the link. The magic happened silently: Analytics showed the CRO viewed the ROI calculator 5 times. The IT Director spent 15 minutes on security docs. Both Regional VPs watched the training videos. I hadn't spoken to any of them directly. But they were all selling themselves. When we finally had the "decision call," everyone was already aligned. No last-minute objections. No mysterious "other stakeholders." No surprises. Here's what changed: Old approach: Pray your champion effectively represents you to people you never meet. New approach: Give every stakeholder what they need, even without direct access. Multi-threading isn't about scheduling more calls. It's about making yourself irrelevant to the process. The best deals close when stakeholders convince themselves...without you in the room. Are you still gambling on single-threaded relationships? Or building networks that sell for you? Agree?

Your deal probably stalled because you mapped org charts instead of influence. There are lots and lots of AEs out there who think multithreading means collecting contacts. I mean, contacts are great, but what you really want to focus on is building advocates. Advocates are the folks who sell for you when you're not in the room. Those are the folks who help you win deals. Here are a few priorities: 1. Build one champion who texts you about the deal. When your contact starts calling your cell with questions, texting about upcoming meetings, asking for quick favors - your close rate just jumped 60%. You've got an internal salesperson. That's the holy grail. 2. Map influence, and remember that titles do NOT = influence. The CFO's assistant might have more pull than the VP of Operations. Ask discovery questions that reveal the real power structure: - "Walk me through how you made your last vendor decision" - "Who typically needs to sign off on initiatives like this?" - "What happened when [competitor] pitched you last year?" Pay attention to names that keep coming up, not titles on LinkedIn. 3. Create advocates at multiple levels, not just contacts. Turn every stakeholder into someone who WANTS you to win: - Send them relevant case studies before meetings. - Ask: "What would success look like for your team specifically?" - Follow up with insights tied to their individual goals. - Copy them on wins: "Thought you'd want to see this benchmark data." One person fighting for you beats five people tolerating you. 4. Use internal referrals to unlock new threads. Get your champion to open doors for you: - "I'd love to understand how finance typically evaluates ROI on solutions like this" - "Who should I connect with in legal about contract terms?" - "Could you introduce me to whoever handles vendor onboarding?" - Then: "Would you mind making that introduction?" Champion-driven intros convert 10x higher than cold outreach. Here's an exercise to try out. Pick one of your deals, and think about the possibility that your main champion goes quiet. Now ask yourself: how many people inside that company would proactively reach out to you? If the answer is a goose egg, you're spam-threaded. Remember that deals don't go dark because you missed a stakeholder. They go dark because nobody inside really cares enough to keep them alive. Stop counting contacts and start counting advocates.

Project managers, your stakeholder's time is your budget Every email. Every slide deck. Every meeting invite. It all costs them attention. And just like money, attention is limited. If you flood them with noise, you dilute your influence. If you curate with intention, you build trust. Protect your stakeholders' attention while maximizing your impact. Here's how: ✅ Cut the fluff Status updates should not be a novel. Get to the point in the first sentence. What's changed, what's next, what's needed. Give more detail below if they want to get more context (optional). ✅ Match the medium to the message Not every update needs a meeting. Not every decision needs a 20-slide deck. Right-size your communication to boost value. ✅ Give them the headline, not the transcript Execs don't have time to sift through details. Give them the distilled version that helps them act. Tip: tailor your communication to each leader based on what they need to know. ✅ Use their language Translate team jargon into terms they care about. Risk, cost, value, timeline, next steps. ✅ End with clarity Every touchpoint should answer: "what do you need from me?" If nothing, say that too (and cancel the touchpoint). Protect your stakeholders' attention. So that you can earn more of it. 🤙

Struggling to get everyone on board? Some clients complain that they feel like they are hearding cats. I remember leading projects like this and was frustrated until I learned a better way. Here's a step-by-step guide to achieve stakeholder buy-in: 1. Gather Perspectives → Why it works: Provides a complete view of stakeholder positions. ↳ Action: Ask each stakeholder about their understanding of project goals, benefits, and concerns. 2. Identify Misalignments → Why it works: Pinpoints areas needing attention. ↳ Action: List key differences in a shared document, analyzing root causes and impacts. 3. Plan Actions → Why it works: Creates a roadmap for resolution. ↳ Action: Develop specific steps to improve alignment, assigning owners and deadlines. 4. Implement Strategies → Why it works: Addresses concerns systematically. ↳ Action: Adjust project elements as needed and enhance communication to meet stakeholder needs. By following these steps, you'll turn potential roadblocks into a path to project success. — P.S. Unlock 20 years' worth of leadership lessons sent straight to your inbox. Every Wednesday, I share exclusive insights and actionable tips on my newsletter. (Link in my bio to sign up). Remember, leaders succeed together.

😅 Ever build an awesome new process, then realize you forgot to tell anyone about it? Yeah, me too. (Oops.) It's tempting to just flip the switch and say, "Ta-da! Go forth and use!" But we know how that ends... usually with confusion and some creative excuses. 🥴 The truth is: building it is the easy part. Bringing people along—that's where the real leadership magic kicks in. ✨ Here's what actually works (learned the hard way!): 👉 Admit you’re late to the party. A simple, “Hey, we built this, and honestly should’ve talked to you earlier—can we talk now?” goes a looooong way toward trust. (Transparency wins!) 👉 Swap "any feedback?" for real talk: "How would your team break this?" (Yes, seriously.) "If you could tweak one thing to make life easier, what would it be?" "Does this feel like it'll actually help, or did we just invent more busywork?" 👉 Context, not commandments. People resist "because I said so." They embrace "here's why this helps, and what we're trying to achieve." (Clarity unlocks buy-in faster than authority ever could.) 👉 Tiny moments of teamwork. Pilots, feedback loops, quick huddles, group chats—give stakeholders a chance to shape the outcome, even if it’s small. Ownership is a powerful motivator. 👉 Prepare for adoption (for real!). No documentation, training, or support? Congrats, you've built a shiny new paperweight! 🥳 At the end of the day, people don't resist change—they resist change done TO them instead of WITH them. I'd love to hear your stories! 👇 Ever rolled out something great (or not-so-great) and learned these lessons firsthand? Share your wisdom (or hilarious fails!) in the comments. #Leadership #RealTalk #ProcessAdoption #Collaboration #StakeholderEngagement #ChangeManagement #LaughAndLearn #PeopleFirst