Co-Sensing Exercise
 
Stakeholder Dialogue Interviews

Purpose
The purpose of a stakeholder dialogue interview is to see your work from the perspective of your stakeholders. It answers the questions: What do my stakeholders want from me? What do they need me for?

Outcomes
  • Enhanced clarity about how my work matters from the viewpoint of my stakeholders.
  • An understanding of how my stakeholders assess the value that I create for them.
  • Ideas for quickly improving that value.
  • The identification of barriers and roadblocks that need to be removed.
  • A better and deeper personal relationship with my key stakeholder.

Stakeholder interviews are not
  • Opinion polls ("what do you think about this or that that I am planning?")
  • An opportunity to sell specific activities ("don't you think as well that this would be an important thing to do")
  • A place to ask "closed" questions (those with Yes or No responses)


Figure: Four Levels of Listening

Tip
Stakeholder interviews work best when you are completely open and suspend all judgments. Only then can something new and unexpected emerge. Try to activate your Listening 2, 3, and 4 (see figure above).

Process
1. Make an appointment with your stakeholder (try to make it an in-person interview; if that is not possible, a phone interview is also fine); ask for 30-60 minutes.
2. Create interview questions (see sample questionnaire below).
3. Prepare and take 20-30 minutes prior to the interview to
  • focus on the purpose of the interview
  • imagine the best possible outcome of this conversation (both for you and for your interviewee)
  • visualize the future that you want to create"”and think about how this conversation might be a small first step in that direction

4. During the interview, listen with your mind and heart wide open, take notes, follow the principles below.
5 . Right after the interview, take 5 minutes to reflect on key insights, capture your key thoughts in writing.
6. Send a thank you note: close the feedback loop by sending your interviewee a brief email or voice mail to say thank you for the conversation (within 12 to 24 hours). Use this one-paragraph note to say something about the most important insight you gleaned from the conversation.

Principles
  1. Intention: "The most important hour of a generative interview is the hour before" (Jaworski)
  2. Initial contact: Create transparency and trust about the purpose and the process of the interview; establish a personal connection through eye-to-eye (and heart-to-heart) contact early on; make observations in your interviewee's office or return to themes that came up during the first moments of the conversation in order to establish a more personal connection.
  3. Suspend your voice of judgment (VOJ) to see the situation through the eyes of your interviewee. What matters at this point is not whether you agree with what your interviewee is telling you. What matters now is that you to learn to see the situation through the eyes of your stakeholder.
  4. Access your ignorance (listening 2: access your open mind): As the conversation unfolds, pay attention to and trust the questions that occur to you; don't be afraid to ask simple questions or questions you think may reveal a lack of some basic knowledge (according to Ed Schein, these often turn out to be the most effective questions).
  5. Access your appreciative listening (listening 3: access your open heart): Connect to your interviewee with your mind and heart wide open; thoroughly appreciate and enjoy the story that you hear unfolding; put yourself in your interviewee's shoes.
  6. Access your listening from the future field (listening 4: access your open will): Try to focus on the best future possibility for your interviewee and the situation at hand. What would that best possible future look like?
  7. Ask questions spontaneously: Feel free to deviate from your questionnaire if important questions occur to you. The questionnaire is designed to serve you and your work"”not the other way around.
  8. Leverage the power of presence and silence: One of the most effective interventions as an interviewer is to be fully present with the interviewee and the current situation"”and not to interrupt a brief moment of silence. Moments of silence can serve as important trigger points for deepening the reflective level of a conversation. More often than not, these opportunities go unused because the interviewer feels compelled to jump in and ask the next question. Be courageous. Stay with the moment of silence.
  9. Reflection: "Debrief" and crystallize right away; capture observations and insights in your journal; after the interview, don't make phone calls or have conversations until you have recorded your thoughts and impressions; use a structured debriefing process if possible.
  10. Instant feedback: Use email or voice mail to send a thank you note to your interviewee (within 12 or 24 hours). Use this to articulate and highlight the most important insight you gained from the conversation (in a paragraph or so).

Example 1: Line Leaders (Directors) in a Global Company

"I had already had some conversations during the first weeks in my new position. You have got to do this within the first 100 days of work. I introduced myself to my boss, spoke to some key customers, and had one-on-one conversations with my team members. Told everyone what I was going to do and got a number of requests, also support. So I was wondering at first when I heard about the stakeholder interviews how these could be any different from that. Then I chose to have a conversation with the head of Production; that was tentatively a difficult relationship because in the past co-operation has not been highly effective. I was concerned that if I asked the question "what do you need me for?" he would answer "we don't need you at all. You guys from Corporate make our lives difficult." Then I realized that I used to think the same way when I was in Production. That experience helped me to put myself into the shoes of the head of Production before I started the interview. So I wasn't approaching the interview with the mindset "how Corporate could sell itself to Production" but rather talking from production guy to production guy. To my big surprise we had a great conversation about things that he had always wanted Corporate to do for him but never got done because it just wasn't on their screen and no one ever asked him: what do you need us for? From there we began exploring some new and practical ways to move forward. It was great. Later in the conversation I learned that he had had a team meeting with his staff and asked for input on each of the four questions. So all of the answers he came up were based on input from his whole team. I really felt great about it because through this simple email and conversation I had been able to reach and connect with his whole team"”not just with him. I wished I could have used this process with all of my stakeholders right at the beginning of my new job."



Interviews in the case of newly promoted directors in this global company involved conversations with four different type of stakeholders: 1. bosses, 2. customers, 3. their team, and 4. their wider network. The interviews were based on the following four questions:
  1. What is your most important objective, and how can I help you realize it? (What do you need me for?)
  2. What criteria will you use to assess whether my contribution to your work has been successful?
  3. If I were able to change two things in my area of responsibility within the next six months, what two things would create the most value and benefit for you?
  4. What, if any, historical tensions and/or conflicting demands have made it difficult for people in my role or function to fulfill your requirements and expectations?
  5. How can I more effectively keep creativity at the center of our work?


Resource:

O. Scharmer, Theory U: Chapter 21 (2.54MB)