Strategic Maneuvers: Navigate Executive Influence

Amid the rapid pace of product development, the constant hurdle of handling executive influence emerges. This blog delves extensively into the strategies essential for product managers to skillfully navigate the complex landscape of initiatives driven by executives.

One day, Chirag, a junior product manager I was mentoring approached me. He appeared stressed and fatigued. To provide some relief, I suggested we take a walk and converse along the way. He confided in me about the immense stress he was under, attributed to handling incessant 'urgent' requests from a COO who also happened to be a co-founder overseeing sales enablement. Balancing these demands had become an ordeal, as the engineering leader was resisting due to shifting priorities mid-sprint. Furthermore, this executive was reprimanding him for not delivering required features to customers while simultaneously demanding new features mid-sprint. This 'firefighting' mode had persisted for over four months.

I listened attentively and offered him guidance to navigate this challenging situation. Our paths diverged, and we reconvened a couple of months later. In a grateful call, he shared that the situation had started to improve on his end, though not flawlessly. The engineering leader had become more open to adjusting to new requests, and the COO had grown more mindful about refraining from adding 'urgent' requests, becoming receptive instead.

I invite you to embrace these very insights, in the hopes that they assist individuals facing similar circumstances in effectively managing executive influence and preserving your mental well-being amid tumultuous times.

Tip #1 - Embrace Your Strength: The Power of Empathy

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” — Epictetus

The product manager's most potent superpower is empathy. In the case of Chirag, he delved beneath the surface to comprehend the urgent customer requests better. It became evident that his COO had been inundated with numerous customer appeals following a recent customer event, and certain requests carried the potential to impact multi-year contracts significantly.

Likewise, the engineering leader was grappling with attrition while managing evolving scope, which aggravated tensions among the engineers. Consequently, team productivity suffered.

Chirag gained insights from both angles, equipping him to confront the next challenge with preparedness.

Tip #2 - Mirror of Strategy: Organizational Objectives

Continuing forward, leverage a well-established technique - aligning with organizational objectives. In the case of Chirag, he began posing insightful inquiries to fathom the cohesion between the 'urgent' requests and the leadership's objectives. Some of these requests naturally lost momentum owing to the absence of alignment. Chirag commenced recording these objectives as part of an agile epic, thereby garnering support from the engineering leadership. Executive leaders adopted a more cautious approach to introducing 'commitments' for new requests lacking robust organizational alignment.

Tip #3 - Transparency and Effective Communication

A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity. - Dalai Lama

Insufficient transparency leads to insecurity, hindering productive interactions. In our instance, Chirag took proactive steps by embedding business impact evaluations in each epic, considering the associated organizational Key Performance Indicators, customer commitments (which ideally should be minimized), and compliance implications.

In situations where the COO introduced unscheduled tasks, Chirag engaged in negotiations, highlighting the potential repercussions on ongoing matters within the scheduled sprint. This strategic focus on the consequences of deferring planned tasks influenced executives to exercise prudence in introducing unanticipated elements.

Mastering Executive Influence: MET approach

In summation, Chirag's journey as a product manager stands as a testament to the profound influence of strategy reflection, empathy infusion, and transparent communication within the product management sphere. As you face challenges when navigating executive influence in the future, internalize the keywords: Mirror of strategy, Empathy , and Transparency - or simply MET approach.