How can you engage your stakeholders without more "let me explain"...
Someone working on change make a really good business case, but their main stakeholder isn't that engaged... so the person tries to explain harder and give even more detail.
The problem though, is that resistance from a stakeholder can come from different barriers they have or constraints you have.
This is why the most articulate, well-prepared people in orgs still struggle to engage stakeholders....because they're solving for the wrong thing, say treating a motivation problem like a knowledge problem or an resource constraint like a mindset issue.
See, when someone says "show me the evidence" they might actually be thinking
→ This threatens who I am (identity) → We tried this before and it failed (past experience) → I don't trust you (credibility) → This competes with what I'm measured on (misalignment)
None of these respond to a better slide deck, or the classic let me explain... each requires a different strategy
You need to change your question and instead of asking yourself: how do I convince them? you should be asking yourself what condition do I need to change for them to want to act?
This reframe changes everything, because you stop seeing resistance as an obstacle to overcome and start seeing it as diagnostic information.
In the end, stakeholder engagement is about behavior. The person is choosing to support, resource, or unblock your initiative, and the barriers are often political, relational, and identity-driven.
What's missing for most is a diagnostic and strategic layer, which is something I have been working on...and using to help people working in change (in trainings and comsulting).
Remember, you're not trying to change their minds...you're trying to change the conditions so that supporting you becomes easy.
I will be opening the tool up for more testing soon, as we are building more data into it... so you may see an email soon from me, if you are on my substack...
What's the hardest stakeholder barrier you've had to navigate?