michaelsvanbeek/stakeholder-comms

Stakeholder Communication

When to Use

• Preparing an executive briefing or leadership update
• Managing expectations when timelines slip or scope changes
• Negotiating priorities with product managers or peer engineering leaders
• Escalating a blocking issue through the org
• Delivering difficult messages (missed targets, team changes, resource constraints)
• Building influence and visibility for your team across the org
• Presenting technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders

---

Communication Principles

1. Know your audience — Tailor depth, language, and framing for the recipient
2. Lead with "so what" — Why should this person care? Start there.
3. Be direct — State your point in the first 2 sentences. Context comes after.
4. Propose, don't just present — Come with a recommendation, not just options
5. Quantify — Numbers build credibility. "3 customers impacted" > "some customers affected"
6. Close the loop — Every communication should end with a clear next step or ask

---

Communicating Upward (Manager, VP, Exec)

What They Care About

• Business impact: Revenue, customers, retention, time-to-market
• Risks: What might go wrong and what's the plan?
• Decisions needed: What do you need from them?
• Confidence level: How sure are you about your plan?

Format: Executive Briefing

## [Topic] — [Date]

### Bottom Line
[1–2 sentences: the key message. Put the most important thing first.]

### Context
[2–3 sentences: enough background for the reader to understand the situation]

### Options
| Option | Pros | Cons | Effort | My Rec |
|--------|------|------|--------|--------|
| A | ... | ... | ... | ← |
| B | ... | ... | ... | |
| C (do nothing) | ... | ... | ... | |

### Recommendation
[Which option and why, in 2 sentences]

### Ask
[Specific: "I need a decision by Friday" or "Approve option A so we can proceed"]

Tips for Upward Communication

• Don't bury the lede — If the project is off track, say so in sentence one
• Frame problems with solutions — "X is at risk. Here's my plan to address it: Y"
• Respect their time — Executives get hundreds of messages. Be ruthlessly concise.
• Use their language — Business metrics, not story points. Customer impact, not code complexity.
• Pre-wire important decisions — Socialize with your manager before presenting to the VP

---

Communicating Laterally (Peer EMs, PMs, Designers)

What They Care About

• Dependencies: What do they need from your team? What do you need from theirs?
• Shared priorities: Are you aligned on what matters this quarter?
• Capacity: Can you take on their request? Can they take on yours?
• Coordination: Release timelines, migrations, shared component changes

Format: Cross-Team Alignment

## [Topic] — Cross-Team Update

### Context
[What's happening and why does it affect both teams?]

### Our Plan
[What we're doing and our timeline]

### What We Need From You
[Specific, timeboxed asks]

### What You Can Expect From Us
[Deliverables and dates]

### Open Questions
[Things we need to resolve together]

Tips for Lateral Communication

• Be transparent about constraints — "We can do X but not until Sprint 7" is more useful than "maybe"
• Negotiate, don't mandate — You don't have authority over peer teams, only influence
• Document agreements — Follow up Slack conversations with a written summary or email
• Proactive > reactive — Tell peers about changes before they discover them

---

Communicating Downward (Your Team)

What They Care About

• Context: Why are we doing this? How does it connect to the bigger picture?
• Impact on their work: What changes for them?
• Recognition: Is their work valued?
• Honesty: Are you being straight with them?

Tips for Downward Communication

• Share context generously — The "why" matters more than the "what"
• Be transparent about uncertainty — "I don't know yet, but here's what I do know"
• Celebrate publicly, coach privately — Wins in Slack, feedback in 1:1s
• Don't sugarcoat — Teams respect honesty about challenges
• Repeat important messages — Say it in Slack, say it in standup, say it in the 1:1

---

Escalation Framework

When you need to escalate an issue:

Before Escalating

1. Attempt to resolve at the current level first
2. Document the issue, its impact, and what you've tried
3. Notify the other party that you plan to escalate

Escalation Message

## Escalation: [Issue Title]

### Situation
[What is happening — factual, no editorializing]

### Impact
[Business impact: customers affected, revenue at risk, timeline delay]

### What We've Tried
[Steps already taken to resolve]

### What We Need
[Specific decision or action from the escalation recipient]

### Timeline
[How urgent: "Need a decision by EOD" or "Blocking until resolved"]

Rules

• Stick to facts — No blame, no emotion, just the situation
• Quantify impact — "3-day delay affecting 200 customers" not "this is really bad"
• Propose a path forward — Don't just throw the problem over the wall
• Follow up — After the escalation resolves, close the loop with all parties

---

Difficult Conversations

Delivering Bad News

1. Be direct — "We're going to miss the deadline by two weeks" not "we might have a slight delay"
2. Own it — Don't blame external factors reflexively. If your team could have done something differently, acknowledge it
3. Bring a plan — Bad news + recovery plan is 10× better than bad news alone
4. Give advance notice — Get ahead of it. Finding out through a missed deadline is worse than hearing about it a week early

Pushing Back on a Request

"I understand the importance of [their request]. Here's the trade-off:
taking this on would mean [what we'd have to deprioritize].

My recommendation is [alternative approach]. If [their request] is the
higher priority, I'm open to adjusting — I just want to make sure we're
making that trade-off intentionally."

---

Anti-Patterns

| Anti-Pattern | Problem | Better Approach | |-------------|---------|----------------| | Burying bad news | Erodes trust when discovered | Lead with the most important/difficult item | | Presenting problems without solutions | Makes you a messenger, not a leader | Always propose a path forward | | Using team jargon with execs | They don't understand and won't ask | Translate to business language | | Escalating without trying first | Burns political capital | Document what you've tried before escalating | | Vague asks | "Provide more support" vs. "Approve 1 additional headcount" | Make every ask specific and actionable | | Over-communicating | People tune out | Match detail to audience; less is more for execs |