How to collaborate with key Stakeholders

Written By Anna Gordiyevska

One of the most important soft skill designer can have is being a great collaborator.

Why?
If you’re not a team player, you’ll have hard time getting everyone on board. Which long term can lead to them loosing trust in you and the solutions you bring to the table.

Key aspects to consider when it comes to collaboration with your team:

  1. Understand your stakeholders.

    • Their roles

    • Tenure at the company

    • Their influence

  2. Understand who they are as human beings.

    • What do they like

    • What do they hate

    • What is their working style

  3. Get a feel for their past experience with other designers

    • What went well

    • Where did things go sour

    • Do they see designers job as to “make things pretty” or do they see them as a strategic partner?

When it comes to starting a new role or project, here are the exact steps I follow to get understand the politics.

Politics - from Ancient Greek πολιτικά (politiká) 'affairs of the cities') - is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. (Wekipedia)

  1. Identify all of the stakeholders.

    When you’re onboarding, ask your manager to help you identify all of the stakeholders you will be collaborating with in the future.

    As a designer, you’ll most likely be collaborating with:

    • Engineers

    • Project Managers

    • Product Owners

    • Marketing

    • Branding

    • SEO

    • Data

    • As you identify them, make a note of the following:

      • Their name

      • Email or slack

      • Role

      • Their tenure at the company

      • Agency contractor, company contractor, or a full-time employee

  2. Ask for a stakeholder matrix.

    Ask your manager if the company has an outline for all of the stakeholders.
    If they don’t, don’t fret.
    This is your opportunity to create an impact within the first 30 days by creating one.


    Choose one of the following templates to help you get started:

  • Once you mapped out the stakeholders based on your knowledge, take it back to your manager.

  • Review it with them and identify any gaps or misunderstanding.

  • Apply feedback and circle back to them to ensure everyone is aligned.

  • Once the matrix has been approved, make sure to have it as an individual file in your Figma’s workspace.

    • This way anyone can access this resource at anytime.

    • Plus if your team hires more designers in the future - they will have this to reference it. Resulting in easier onboarding journey.

3. Set-up Design Jam sessions with the key stakeholders.

Goal of these jams should be:

  • Understand them as human beings

  • Get a feel for their working style

  • Understand whats the best way to collaborate with them

  • Their goals as a department

  • How design can make their life easier

  • Understand their comfort and knowledge of Figma

Depending on how many stakeholders you have, you will want to adjust these jams.
This way you’re not wasting anyones time.

  • If you have 1 to 5 key stakeholders, it will probably be best to set-up 1:1 coffee chats.

  • If you have 5 to 20 stakeholders, it will probably be best to have a mix of 1:1 and small groups.
    I would not recommend making sessions more than 60 minutes long.
    Maximum capacity of 5 people.
    This way everyone will have a chance to contribute, versus rushing through this activity.

  • If you have 20+ stakeholders, creating groups would be your best bet.

4. Prep for the jam or 1:1

  • Set-up a the meeting

    • Ensure the time is convenient for everyone

    • Don’t forget about time zones, especially if you work with a global team. Imagine getting a jam invite at 6 AM on a Monday? Or even worse, 8 PM on a Friday? Don’t be that person. Do better.

    • Make sure to include link to the video call

    • Include a description + agenda in your call, here’s what my invite looks like:

    Hello ______ team!

    My name is Anna and I'm the new Product Designer on the ______ side, nice to meet you all 🙂

    My hunch tells me we'll need to collaborate a fair bit going forward, as I'm working on _____. So before we dive head-deep into the work, I want for us to take a moment to get to know each other as humans! The goal of the session:

    • Get to know each other as human beings

    • Understand your working styles

    • Gage where you folks are at as a department

    • Understand your goals

    • How Product Design can support you

    • Any low hanging fruits we can tackle

    It will be best if everyone is present during this call, so please RSVP. If the proposed time doesn't work, I'll try to find another date/time. You'll want to be in front of a laptop for this, as I'll be using FigJam for our session. Thank you and look forward to collaborating with you all!  Have a lovely day, Anna

  • Consider your own set-up

    • Good lightning

    • No distractions around

    • Your sound is working

    • I find an additional monitor will help

    • You’re in a good mental headspace for the call

  • Finally, set-up your FigJam for the session that includes:

    5. Finally, the fun part - run those workshops

    1. Again, make sure your set-up is good to go

    2. Have a pen + notebook ready to make notes about people as they present

    3. Arrive to the call at least 5 minutes early

    4. Consider add music in the background I usually use low-fi style, but this part is up to you! Just make sure its work appropriate.

    5. Be prepared to be open and vulnerable, it will make other people feel more comfortable to share about themselves

    6. If you’re using my FigJam template, then follow this structure:

      1. Do a quick overview of FigJam and basic functions audience will needExplain what you’ll be doing and go over the entire board

      2. Set a 5 minute timer and let people fill out information about themselves in Section 1

      3. Once the time is up or everyone finished, go around the table letting people introduce themselves and answer questions you’ve put down

      4. Always listen actively during this time and make additional notes that the person may have not written out

      5. Always thank each person about sharing before asking for the next volunteer

      6. If you’re meeting with Engineers, make sure to do a knowledge check on Figma

      7. Then go into questions about their department

        • Make sure folks know that this part will remain anonymous

        • If you’re running low on time, propose to do this part ASYNC

        • If you’re doing it ASYNC, ensure to give folks a due-date

        • Nudge them (nicely!!) when the due-date approaches

        • Iterate that this part should not take more than 5-10 minutes of their time

        • Plus it remains anonymous

      8. Wrap-up the meeting on time and make sure to thank everyone for participating!

        • Bonus: if your company has the budget and your manager approves it, send them a gift card for a beverage or lunch

    6. Final step: recap your learnings and document it

    • Its important to document the information you learned about your stakeholders

    • Apply this information whenever you collaborate with them

    • Things I’m especially careful with documenting:

      • Their timezone

      • What are their work hours

      • Their preferred style of communication

        • You might be surprised, but some people prefer phone calls

        • Others want to be called-out in the working group chats

        • Some people are strict on emails

      • How to pronounce their name

        • The least you can do is pronounce and spell their name correctly

Anna Gordiyevska
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