When you are clear about what you want to achieve, it is often frustrating to find that others do not share your enthusiasm. A great deal of time and effort is expended building the case, considering the risks and planning the execution. Everything seems to make sense and you are keen to get going – you want to implement swiftly. Then the problems start.
Reaching out to your stakeholders, you begin to find out that some are not interested. They fail to buy-in to your project or, worse, don’t even give you the time to explain your plans. When you do get to see them, they start to share insights with you about other things going on elsewhere in the organisation, which seem to be in direct conflict with what you are working on.
Trouble is, you can see that they may have a valid point. Doubts begin to set in as you realise that what you have been tasked to achieve is not necessarily going to be as straightforward as you originally thought. Indeed, you probably start to wonder why
the people above you can’t agree on what should be done – must be the politics!
If you are facing this situation you will need to get to grips with it thoroughly before your performance starts to suffer. Delaying isn’t likely to be too helpful. Here are a few questions to get you moving…
- Specifically, what agendas are in conflict? Can you list them? Many people struggle to describe exactly what they are up against, and this makes it very difficult to make solid progress. If you don’t know or cannot be specific, start talking to people to get more insight.
- Can you uncover any hidden agendas? There is always a reason. Just because you cannot see it right now doesn’t mean that it is purposely “hidden”. Thinking it is a hidden agenda sets up an unhelpful attitude – one where you might see the proof that it is hidden and miss the proof that it is not. It could be that you have not asked the right questions yet or, the level of trust in your relationship with the stakeholder needs to rise.
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- Is the agenda you are up against personal or professional? Handling a stakeholder’s personal agenda requires a higher level of trust and, sometimes, a professional agenda can be a cover for what they are really driving for. Careful questions and investigations can start to uncover what is really going on.
- Which of the agendas would be most beneficial to you if you could remove the conflict? Lay out the different agendas you have so far considered and determine the priority one to work on. If you could only handle one, which would it be?
- What creative options can you think of that would minimise the differences between your agenda and the one you are conflicting with? Sometimes things get lost in translation. It may just be a superficial misunderstanding caused by describing them in different ways. Perhaps, the way you are positioning your agenda could change. From experience, this is often the pivot which creates substantial improvement.
One key question remains…
Should you abandon your agenda? Sometimes, and this is a tough one, your agenda is never going to be realised. Just because it is in your objectives doesn’t make it right. It could be a timing issue, or something else may have changed which now invalidates what you were tasked to achieve. A lot of courage is required here, and if you take responsibility and push for the closure of what you are working on, new opportunities could flow quickly. But be careful!
Learn more about Handling Conflicting Agendas:
- Conflicting Agendas: How to Handle the Politics with Ease and Integrity
- How to Manage When Agendas Conflict
- Improving Processes for Problem and Conflict Resolution
Colin Gautrey
Provocative Coach/Mentor | Specialism: Impact and Influence
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