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Killing dreams softly: Managing difficult stakeholder conversations

Killing dreams softly: Managing difficult stakeholder conversations

Confab | Friday, April 26, 2019 | 9:00–9:50 a.m. | Breakout session | Room BC
This session will put you on the inside track to finding the “yes” message hidden inside every necessary “no.” Great content relies on articulating clear priorities and empowering expertise to determine what to say, how to say it, to whom, and where. Priorities lead to better outcomes. They also result in difficult conversations about ideas, processes, or words that didn’t make the cut, or even worse, in team logjams and costly delays.

Yes, you can keep your priorities intact while genuinely honoring everyone’s input. In this session, Courtney will share practical, (mostly!) stakeholder-approved techniques developed through real-life, hard-won, battle-tested, emoji-filled experience.

Courtney McDonald

April 26, 2019
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Transcript

  1. Killing Dreams Softly Managing Difficult Stakeholder Conversations Courtney McDonald Learner

    Experience & Engagement Librarian University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries @xocg
  2. Thanks for all your work but we’re going to do

    this! Difficult conversations
  3. Your conflict style is not your conflict strategy. Avoidance Competitive

    Accommodating Compromise Collaborative What’s your conflict strategy?
  4. R - E - S - P - E -

    C - T What’s your conflict strategy?
  5. Quiz! Effective conflict managers are: A. Rude B. Mean C.

    Selfish D. Cold / robot-like E. Not a mess inside What’s your conflict strategy?
  6. Quiz! Effective conflict managers are: A. Rude B. Mean C.

    Selfish D. Cold / robot-like E. Not a mess inside wrong! What’s your conflict strategy?
  7. Meet LARA. L - Listen A - Affirm R -

    Respond A - Add What’s your conflict strategy?
  8. Find the yes Mom says: You are not responsible for

    being part of the equation for someone else’s happiness.
  9. No, any version [you to them] We know you prioritize

    our users. Here’s what they told us. Kill Dreams Softly
  10. No, any version [you to them] We know you prioritize

    our users. Would you like to be part of a short-term research project? Kill Dreams Softly
  11. No, any version [you to them] Now that we [held

    a workshop], we’re asking all content editors to … Kill Dreams Softly
  12. We don’t need content strategy, we already write. Great! Would

    you ever want to try pair writing? I want to understand your subject area better. Kill Dreams Softly
  13. We don’t need content strategy, we already write. OK. I’m

    curious if you have any advice about the interface/process - we talk to the devs all the time. Kill Dreams Softly
  14. Thanks for your work but we’re going to do this!

    Ok, have you tested for accessibility? Can we help? Kill Dreams Softly
  15. … no conversation at all … We discovered some really

    interesting insights about your users, could we come by and share? Kill Dreams Softly
  16. … no conversation at all … We know how busy

    you are! Did you realize XXX visitors came to your pages this month? That’s really high. Can we share some data about your most visited content? Kill Dreams Softly
  17. … no conversation at all … Email: [Absolutely anything]. If

    we don’t hear from you by [reasonable number of business days] we’ll assume this is fine and go ahead. Thanks! Kill Dreams Softly
  18. Here’s our fully finished plan can you make it zing?

    We’d love to. [rewrites] How about this? Kill Dreams Softly
  19. Kill Dreams Softly Mom says: If you’re worried about whether

    you’re being considerate, you’re probably OK. Truly inconsiderate people simply don’t think about it.
  20. Thanks! You folks are swell. Courtney McDonald [email protected] @xocg What’s

    Your Conflict Strategy? And, my Grandma + content strategy: The Stuff of Life flickr