Learn to uncover what your managers, clients, customers and other stakeholders need before doing what they ask
People don't know what they need. The wants we communicate to others are shaped by our subconscious and the familiar, and limited by what we think is possible. But they don't always reflect our actual needs.
In Stakeholder Whispering: Uncover What People Need Before Doing What They Ask, author Bill Shander demonstrates how to get from your stakeholders' "order" - what they're asking for - to what they really need. You'll learn how to uncover the needs and desires of your clients, colleagues, bosses, customers, and other stakeholders based on what they ask for and how they ask for it, and how to deliver products and services that meet those needs.
Inside the book:
- Help your stakeholders accomplish their goals and make the best decisions possible by helping them see what they really need
- Shift from executing on tactics driven by others' commands, to strategic action driven by underlying needs
- Transform your organization from one filled with "order-takers" into one where people work collaboratively to meet goal-oriented requirements
Perfect for managers, executives, and other business leaders, Stakeholder Whispering will also earn a place on the bookshelves of entrepreneurs, founders, designers, product and project managers, UX experts, data and business analysts, and anyone else hoping to better meet the expectations of their coworkers, managers, clients, and customers.
Table of Contents
Preface vii
Whisper While You Work xi
WHAT & WHY 1
Nothing Is As It Seems 3
More Rolling Stones, Less Coldplay 14
Everything Is UX 21
Who Are You? 31
HOW IDEAS 35
You Belong 37
Just Asking Questions 47
Useful Paranoia 54
Kill the Cat 59
Can You Hear Me Now? 65
A Rigid and Flexible Process 72
Peeling the Stakeholder Onion 81
HOW HANDS-ON 89
How to Run a Therapy Session 91
I Feel You 99
Starting Broad, Digging Deep 107
Chunky Segmentation 120
Gained in Translation 126
The Art of the (Im)Possible 131
Bobbing for Apples 139
Silence Is Golden 144
Good Questions 151
Turn It Around 157
Whispering En Masse 163
Let’s Talk About Bias, Baby 173
What It’s Really All About 179
Trouble 181
When You Know You’re Done 191
NOW WHAT 199
Prequalifying Whisperability 201
Influence Without Authority 207
Final Thoughts, Including Some Love for the Stakeholders 218
Index 223
