How can you understand stakeholder emotions?

Actually I agreed on this point. Everything has a cause and source. Finding out the right sources of emotion is important. Then only we can act upon. That only possible if you are connected with your stakeholder throughout the project life cycle.

Generally- the source of emotion begins just when the concerned comes in connect with or get associated with subject. It’s important that the stakeholders are constantly kept aligned and communicated of any development. Making them part of and moving along together can be the best in terms of appreciating emotions and getting better results . The bottom line is “ respecting “ each other ( as a person, views , opinions , thoughts , style , leadership etc) is key.

Identifying the source and clearing understanding if it's a fact or perception is very important. It will help you define the way forward and prepare you to address the course of action to address the stakeholders emotion effectively While facts have to be acknowledged and ensure we work on them for a positive change.. Perception have to be dealt with a little more delicately, where you will begin with first addressing the reason for such a perception and then work on turning it into a positive one.

Recognizing the impact of being fully present during stakeholder conversations, it's not just physical presence; it's mental and emotional engagement. Despite temptations to multitask, I've learned that it hinders understanding. To truly grasp nuances, give undivided attention, tuning into words, tone, and body language. Emotional cues often hide beneath the surface, but when attentive, you can sense excitement, frustration, anxiety, or a need for validation.

Stakeholders always makes me think of gold diggers staking a claim during a gold rush. All fighting to secure the gold for themselves but usually ending up dead or poor. The modern office is no different if its poorly visioned with little strategic intent. Instead of stakeholders I use a different nomenclature. I call them humans. Even if the 'stakeholder' us an entity it's still represented by humans. Humans have heritage, culture, economic needs, habitus. Recognising humanity is vital. The two way street analogy can be useful, although typically only considered as an illustration of give and take. However, if you consider how you navigate into the traffic on a two way street the analogy takes on many more dimensions.

It's selfish to approach a conversation without being open ahead of time to new viewpoints - communication is always a two(+)-way-street. Try not to interrupt, be wary of your judgement without understanding the full story, and don't make sweeping assumptions. Use your senses to read and understand the situation in the room (easier said than done, I know!). Ask relevant questions, and word these properly!

Three Steps for Improving your Emotional Intelligence 1. Learn to catch and recognise your emotions What emotions are you feeling right now? Can you name them? When in a stressful situation, what emotions arise? Can you stop to pause and reconsider your response? 2. Ask for feedback Audit your self-perception by asking managers, colleagues, friends, or family how they would rate your emotional intelligence. Ask them about how you respond to difficult situations, how adaptable or empathetic you are, and/or how well you handle conflict. 3. Read books Studies show that reading books improves empathy. Reading stories from other people’s perspectives helps us gain insight into their thoughts, motivations, and actions

Two ways to ensure proactive action on stakeholders. (1) Profile your key stakeholders, eg your customers/ partners, including their ‘journey’ with your product. Do this with others in the business so you all ‘get’ it. And don’t make it up, use real insight data. Keep checking your decisions against ‘ what would xxxx say?’ (2) In your senior leadership and board meetings, ensure ( the equivalent of ) a seat at the table for each stakeholder. Check how they would intervene or vote. Physically to have an empty chair ‘filled’ with a voting stakeholder is very powerful. It helps keep a board both alert to, and aligned to, stakeholder needs. One stakeholder I have helped boards do this with is ‘ the natural world’, changes the conversation.

Practice observing the feelings of others. Try to call out the emotions, and build your understanding of these through sensible and relevant follow-up questions. Communicate properly and pay attention to your OWN thoughts, judgements and questions that arise. Always query your own role and responsibility within these situations.

Clarity and transparency are critical to any functional working relationship. Asking the right questions, in the right way, at the right time is key. Some people prefer to feedback indirectly: leading questions that give you the pieces of the answers you seek and require you to build the puzzle. Try to extract meaningful information, in a non-imposing manner.

Agreeing with the perspective that understanding stakeholder emotions is not enough, and adjusting your communication style to their emotional state and preferences is crucial for effective communication, can be supported by the following two points: 1. Improved Relationship Building: By tailoring your communication style to a stakeholder's emotional state, you demonstrate empathy and show that you value their feelings and concerns. This fosters trust and rapport, making it easier to build positive relationships, which are essential for long-term collaboration and cooperation. 2. Enhanced Decision-Making: Adapting your communication to match the stakeholder's goals and values allows for clearer and more persuasive messaging.

Do some research on communication style frameworks and you'll quickly find these split into four (very) different definitions. What I try to do is zoom out, take the environment as a whole, and sum up the communication styles within that particular environment into four or five different ones. Do not class an individual into any given one before your conversation, but rather actively listen and assign the communication style as you communicate with the person.

In my initial days as a business analyst, I was challenged by an influential set of stakeholders who just didn’t get on with new system that IT had just implemented. Their views had been escalated to C level so our project manager was under a lot of pressure to take action. I suggested to him that I should sit with them for a whole week so I could be on hand to provide direct support, experience their problems first hand, essentially putting myself in their shoes. During that week, I gained a detailed understanding of why the system didn’t meet their expectations and was able to define a plan of action to address their concerns

Put yourself in their shoes. What do you think is driving their behavior? What would help you in their situation to feel heard? What would help them see the situation from a more productive perspective?