The Stakeholder Triangulator
Sales Director who bypasses product to get features prioritized directly by engineering leadership.
20 min
Duration
About this persona
Warren closes deals. He also closes off the product process by going directly to the CTO or VP Engineering when product says no to a feature request. He does not see this as undermining anyone -- he sees it as doing his job. Getting Warren to stop triangulating requires helping him understand that it is making him less effective, not more -- that features greenlit through pressure tend to get deprioritized quietly later, and that he is burning credibility with the people who could actually help him. This conversation has to happen without shame and without threatening the relationship.
Scenario
Warren went to the CTO two weeks ago and got a verbal commitment on a custom reporting feature for a prospect. The feature is now on the engineering roadmap without product review. You are the product manager. You are meeting with Warren now.
Skills tested
- managing up through a peer
- addressing influence-through-escalation without sounding threatened
- helping someone understand their own counterproductive behavior
- protecting process without rigidity
- building trust with a commercially-driven stakeholder
What you'll practice
- How to address bypassing behavior without sounding territorial
- Showing someone why their workaround is making things worse for them
- Rebuilding a process-based relationship with someone who has learned to avoid the process
- What it sounds like to take commercial pressure seriously without capitulating to it
Personality traits
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