Building a Coalition

How to bring other supporting stakeholders into the initiative

Identifying Stakeholders

When forming a core team, it is also time to start considering who else to involve — not as core team members, but as stakeholders. Consider:

  1. Who you need.

  2. Who might be impacted.

  3. Who might benefit.

  4. Who you might be competing with.

Of course, the first people to reach out to are usually the people who you need to be on board. These might be sources of funding, partners you might need for their expertise or connections, and anyone whose permission you will need. This amounts to making a pitch. Successful pitches focus first on the benefit, and are very clear and concrete about any risks. If risks are described accurately, rather than glossed over, people will trust you more.

Besides those who you might need, it is important to consider who might be impacted negatively, and reach out to them. Try to build a relationship by listening to their concerns and taking a genuine interest in mitigating those concerns.

People who might benefit are an easier case, but it is important to reach out to them as well. Find out what they think. Bring them into the fold: alleviate any suspicions that they might have.

The last category, those who you might compete with, deserves extra attention because it is often possible to turn potential competitors into allies by finding a way to work together for collective benefit.

For example, suppose two drug companies are both planning to pursue a promising new kind of drug. One company has a patent on the molecular active ingredient, and the other has a patent on the ideal delivery mechanism for this new drug. The latter company might agree to focus on the drug delivery — what is called the “pharmacokinetics” — and the other company might focus on perfecting the drug and testing variations in the lab. Together might might pool their resources for clinical trials. Thus, two entities that might have competed are now helping each other, which in this case might lead to faster progress.

Identifying Win-Wins

Recruiting or engaging with a stakeholder is a relationship building activity. To build a business, it is best to start with a small background on what you are trying to achieve, but then immediately shift to them: their goals, their interests, their concerns.

Those are the logical elements though. Building a relationship is often mostly about creating a good feeling: conveying that you are personable and interested in the other person. This matters more for some people than others, and reading that is crucial: is the person someone who needs to “look others in the eye”, or are they someone who likes to keep their distance and focus on the substance to be discussed?

Regardless, the relationship that gets built need to be one of confidence (you can be trusted, and you will deliver) and mutual dependence (you need each other to achieve a win-win).

The task is therefore to find a win-win that is worth investing in. The whole of the win-win must be greater than the sum of its parts — that is, cooperating is more profitable than not cooperating.

Some sacrifice or compromise might be needed in return for cooperation. A win-win opportunity usually requires people to adjust their plans, resulting in some kind of sacrifice, but they will do it if the win-win opportunity is large enough.

Generating enthusiasm or anticipation of benefit is essential. For high-value and high-cost partnerships, things are not purely transactional. People will be shifting their plans a lot, and to do that, they need to be motivated.

There should also be the possibility of an ongoing relationship that will yield additional future possibilities for win-wins. Otherwise, cooperation is purely transactional, and there might be mistrust that once it nears completion, one person will try to get the upper hand in some way. There is no better cooperation motivator than the prospect of future business.

Getting People Invested

  • Once someone invests some of their time, attention, or social capital, they are very unlikely to withdraw.

  • Be transparent and communicate events and progress from the outset: make them feel like they are part of it.

  • Never spin things. Do not exaggerate. The goal is not to sell someone on an idea: the goal is to help them to see the potential value accurately and early. You do not want a stakeholder to have “buyer’s remorse” — that kind of stakeholder will sour other stakeholders and erode support. Besides, spinning things is unethical and unfair to people — do you want to be that kind of person?

Making it Part Of Their Plan

  • Their role in your plan needs to become part of their plan: it needs to move from a possible role to a role that they are counting on — and as such, it becomes part of their plan and what they check on regularly.

Being Transparent and Inclusive

  • Solicit ideas and opinions.

  • Give each stakeholder a role, with ways to participate directly. Expect updates from them, and provide feedback.

  • On a regular basis, review how everything fits together — how the various stakeholder contributions are combining to move toward the goal.

  • Create a dashboard that shows how each stakeholder’s contribution is adding to progress. The dashboard should also show overall progress, as well as issues that have arises. See Creating a Dashboard Culture and Defining Dashboards.

Do We Need an Initiative “Charter”?

  • A charter helps to make each person’s participation explicit, which provides clarity over time, and reminds people of their involvement.

  • A charter can be published, so that the extent of support for the initiative is known.

  • A charter can state ground rules, commitments, and expectations.

  • A risk is that a charter is somewhat inflexible: if the situation changes, amending it is difficult because it generally requires everyone’s agreement. Charter “amendments'“ can be more expeditious than revising the entire charter.

  • To retain flexibility, state only the high level objectives and assumptions, and avoid specifying specific plans that might change.

  • Do not rely on a charter as a method of enforcement: if someone becomes an unenthusiastic participant, it is best to release them from their commitment, because an unenthusiastic stakeholder can foul the entire initiative. People need to stay involved because they want to.