Our second speaker from within our community for the May event is Marc Vandamme – Creating alignment with your teams and leaders. Marc is Senior Product Manager @Performio. Loves climbing and is looking for indoor & outdoor lead climbing buddies!

Creating Alignment with your teams and leaders
– Marc Vandemme

When it comes to driving success in product management, evangelism is key. This involves fostering alignment with your teams and leaders, ensuring that everyone not only understands the direction but genuinely believes in it. Here’s my perspective on why alignment matters and how to achieve it.

Understanding the Roots of Misalignment

Change often originates from leadership, and when it does, it’s typically accompanied by a lack of clear product strategy. With too many priorities vying for attention, focus can be lost.

At the same time, teams are expected to be agile and involved in every decision. However, they don’t always document these decisions, creating gaps in communication and alignment.

The result? Misalignment.

But alignment isn’t just about agreement; it’s about belief. Your team should be ready to defend the product strategy even in your absence. That’s when true alignment has been achieved.

Stepping Into Their Shoes

To solve misalignment, start by understanding your audience. Ask yourself:

Leadership Perspective

• What does their world look like?
• What are their main concerns?
• Who do they answer to?
• What motivates them?

Developers’ Perspective
If your developers seek purpose, you can’t simply say, “We need to do this because management says so.” Instead, give them a clear purpose that connects their work to meaningful outcomes.

Marketing Team’s Perspective
If marketing is focused on creating marketable content, align your priorities accordingly. Work with their goals in mind and present your ideas in terms they value.

Convincing Your Audience

Once you’ve assessed perspectives and concerns, the next step is to convince them. Effective communication is critical, and here’s what I’ve learned from my experience:

Lesson 1: Speak With One Voice

In my team, we found ourselves with five different documents, each using varied language. These documents were shared with stakeholders at different times, leading to inconsistency and confusion.

Our solution was simple: create one document to share with all stakeholders. This single source of truth evolves over time as more information becomes available. It ensures everyone is on the same page.

Approach 1: Use the Power of Being Wrong

When asking for information, include your plan and assumptions. Why? People love pointing out errors! If your plan has gaps, stakeholders will eagerly highlight them, effectively providing the information you need.

Approach 2: Avoid Group Surprises

Introducing contentious topics for the first time in a group setting is a recipe for disaster. Instead, have one-to-one meetings with key decision-makers beforehand. Use these sessions to address concerns and build consensus. When the topic is later discussed in a group, it’s more likely to gain formal agreement.

Approach 3: Master the Art of Negotiation

Negotiation is a vital skill for building alignment. My favourite tactic? Include something small and easy to disagree with in your proposal. Starting with a “no” sets the stage for both parties to work towards a “yes” quickly.

Building Belief, Not Just Agreement

Ultimately, alignment is about more than just agreement; it’s about belief. When your team and stakeholders truly believe in your vision, they’ll champion it even when you’re not in the room.

By stepping into their shoes, communicating clearly, and mastering negotiation, you can foster this belief and drive your product’s success.

For other presenters in this session, please follow these links or head back to the main summary to catch up on the Q&A:

• Felicity Bodger – How to become a Killer Product Manager in 3 Easy Steps.
• Nick Kardamitsis – Beyond the numbers: Harnessing data for smarter product decisions.
• Marc Vandamme – Creating alignment with your teams and leaders.
• May 2024 Warp Up