1 hr 14 min
See Part 1 here… and Part 3 here
Stakeholder engagement is crucial for successful UX and service design projects. It ensures alignment between the team’s efforts and the organization’s goals. Stakeholders bring insights about strategic priorities, operational constraints, and silo’ed knowledge that shapes the design process. Without their input, teams risk creating solutions that miss key business or stakeholder insights, leading to wasted efforts, more risks or missed opportunities.
Engaged stakeholders also foster cross-functional collaboration. Service design often involves multiple departments, each with its own priorities and workflows. Active management of stakeholder relationships helps break down silos and ensures everyone has a shared understanding of the project’s objectives. This collaboration can uncover hidden pain points and identify opportunities for innovation that may not emerge otherwise.
Why this matters: Teams suck at stakeholder management. Narrowing in on tactics and skills can help get it right and avoid derailed UX or Service Design efforts. Experience shows that if stakeholders do not deeply understand UX and Service Design value, they can create cultural patterns that reverse UX gains. A classic example is having UX focus on Visual Design or using UX to support technical delivery, missing out on strategic UX management.
The ‘So What?’: Proactive stakeholder management mitigates risks. Early involvement builds trust and minimizes resistance to change. Stakeholders who feel heard and included are more likely to champion the project, helping overcome institutional inertia or skepticism. It also allows teams to identify and address potential roadblocks—such as budget constraints or technical limitations—before they escalate.
In this Stakeholder Management tactics Masterclass Frank Spillers will share his latest field-tested learnings for how to appropriately manage and engage your stakeholders. The idea is to create better stakeholder collaboration. Engaged stakeholders feel a sense of ownership and commitment, leading to better outcomes and user advocacy. User advocacy is the ‘gold star’ skill of org UX maturity momentum. Better UX maturity means repeat success of UX efforts and outcomes.
These monthly meet-ups are topic-driven live events with an informal presentation by Frank Spillers and group activities and discussions. Monthly MasterClasses are included as part of your membership. They allow a deep dive into important UX topics, with insights drawn from process best practices and case studies from Frank’s two decades in the field.
The UX Inner Circle is a professional learning community with a program of monthly events for UX researchers and designers, managers, and directors practicing UX and Service Design. We are a small group of 50+ UX and Service Designers, Directors, and Researchers currently 100% working in UX. Attendees come from orgs like Harvard, Google, IBM, Accenture, Deloitte, Capital One, US Bank, healthcare, government, and non-profits. So why join?
Financial inclusiveness membership: USD$49 per month for Nonprofit-Student- or you live in the Global South/ Emerging Market (.org; .edu)
Regular membership: USD$99 Individual per month
20% discount on Annual Price; switch anytime, cancel anytime.
