Product Managers wear many hats. This role has a range of responsibilities that span from creating a roadmap to the next big product release to discovering creative and cost-effective means of delivering current customer demands. This role provides vision and insight to senior leaders as well as work instructions and guidance for implementation teams. Although the responsibilities of the role span from operational to marketing to strategic, product managers typically have no direct reports, must be persuasive to higher level leaders, and must garner support from cross functional peers. So, being able to influence others without authority is essential to a Product Managers' success.
Here are 10 things that successful product managers do to increase their influence.
1. Develop expertise
Of course, product managers must be subject matter experts in their assigned product area. This helps enable them to write up specifications, use requirements, and guides. Experienced Product Managers know that this is just the beginning. Highly successful Product Managers have studied the fundamental tools and techniques of the field as well as in their company and know how and when to deploy them. In addition, they understand how to gain knowledge from Business Intelligence (BI) tools, local subject matter experts who know how to make things work and company ‘historians' who can help them to understand why things are the way they are. The very best are lifelong learners who challenge themselves to develop a range of broad analytical, business, leadership, and strategic thinking skills. In essence, a successful product manager is able to amass large sums of knowledge and skill in a wide range of areas, not just product knowledge.
2. Align others to a common vision
A successful product manager must be able to not only craft a vision in the face of unknowns and uncertainty, but also, to lead stakeholders to this vision in their own ‘language'. If the stakeholder is a senior business leader, then the product manager must be able to speak the language of business to concisely deliver a compelling business case in terms of strategy and financials. If the Product Manager is speaking to a member of the implementation team, then this vision may come in the form of a tactical project plan with clear deliverables. A successful product manager must inspire confidence by striking the right balance between being able to defend the plan and being open to input. It is the Product Manager's responsibility to make sure that the vision is built based on a solid understanding of key stakeholder needs and on constraints. And it is essential that he or she obtain alignment on what success looks like. Influential Product Managers know that their ability to influence comes from crafting a solid vision in versions that suit the different lenses and languages of stakeholders.
3. Communicate effectively
Senior leaders like to see mountains of work boiled down to a few bullet points. Implementation teams are activated by clear and doable steps that demonstrate that the ask has been thought through and will help make them successful. Whether the action is related to Legal, Marketing, or Sales considerations, a Product Managers cross functional peers understand explanations written in the language of their fields. Within these distinctions, individuals have different preferences, capabilities, propensities, and social styles. When it comes to outside customers, consideration must be given to sharing what they need to know and keeping confidential information that should not be shared externally. A successful Product Manager develops and applies an understanding of what types of communications work best at all levels in all interactions and stages of solution development and execution. Successful product managers are mindful of the propensity of some for oversharing and take measures to prevent the misuse of information. Successful product managers may also take on the role of writer, reviewer, or editor to guide others to communicate effectively as well. Influential Product Managers manage the message.
4. Use collective expertise
A successful Product Manager treats each member of their team as an expert panelist. He or she taps into the thoughts, experiences, and concerns of others in order to leverage best knowledge. Peers and colleagues of these highly valuable contributors clearly see that their voice counts because they see their contributions included in plans. They also understand why or if the team decides to go in a different direction. This is because a successful product manager is an effective leader, reviewing and adjusting as needed and explaining what is happening and why each step of the way. The end result is a path forward that is based on the collective expertise of the cross functional team – and team members that are eager to contribute to and support plans crafted by the Product Manager. Therefore, successful Product Managers gain influence by leveraging the insights and expertise of others.
5. Enlist help
An effective Product Manager mobilizes support. As mentioned above, an influential Product Manager earns support from the team by factoring in their insights into the path forward. In addition, a Product Manager gains influence by presenting well thought out proposals to senior leadership, advocates, and champions detailing what they would like to accomplish and what support is needed. Product Managers empower others to gain knowledge and to make decisions without their direct involvement. And the very best Product Managers enlist help with an ask that can be achieved with the organization's resource constraints and existing assets and with presentations that present the case for change in terms of a ‘what's in it for them. They also make sure that they get a clear commitment from others which is then documented and shared. Successful Product Managers influence others by asking for help and making sure that others commit before moving forward.
6. Manage expectations
Businesses eager for more success faster often ramp up goals and shorten timelines, often disregarding calls to temper down on these escalations by countering with an expectation that teams find a way to rise to the challenge. This can result in Product Manager fatigue and burnout. Successful product managers manage expectations by alerting leadership to the risks while inserting managerial decision points and documenting contingency plans. The very best Product Managers relay expectations that are realistic yet ambitious and provide a range of possible outcomes (e.g., best case, expected case, and worse case scenarios) based on collective insights (from their experience and analyses, from the team, and from external influences) and commitment gaps (from customers and leadership). Successful Product Managers set the bar for themselves and their teams.
7. Master time and prioritization
A successful Product Manager is a master of time. This can come in the form of being able to respond with how long it will take to achieve a certain milestone, helping teammates to understand what needs to be accomplished and by when to help coordinate efforts, managing reminders, or managing his/her own time. A successful Product Manager understands that he or she must keep tabs on tasks that have been delegated to or from others. In cases of conflict, a Product Manager who is able to help an organization achieve high impact objectives is able to help resolve conflicts regarding priorities. The most skilled Product Managers are able to work at a task, project, program, or oversight level as needed on any project to make sure that work is completed in a timely manner. In addition, they know how to develop, vet, establish, and meet business objectives for their assigned product line based on internal/external insights in order to determine priorities. Knowing these levers is key. The very best Product Managers put systems in place that help team members to prioritize day-to-day decisions without their direct involvement using decision-making frameworks, vision maps, and ranking tools. They also strive to practice good time management so that they can be there for others while also completing individual obligations on time.
8. Understand power
Novice Product Managers are often overwhelmed; they try to please and appease everyone. A successful Product Manager understands the nuances of getting things done by working within the power structure of their organization. For example, a Product Manager has many demands for their time and attention. Each functional group feels that their needs define the role and that their needs should command the full attention of the Product Manager. This leads to a tug of war as to whether to focus on the needs of engineers and developers, to place emphasis on operational implementation and quality, or whether P&L actions like pricing and cost controls, growth strategies, product rationalization, or other measures should be front and center. On other fronts, others feel that Product Managers should spend a majority of their time in front of customers learning about needs and trends. In truth, it's easy to spend all of your time in one area and neglect others as a Product Manager. So, how do you choose? A successful Product Manager survives by enthusiastically adapting to shifts in thinking as guided by changes in leadership and leadership direction and by helping others to shift their thinking as well.
9. Build trust
Product Managers often have to step away from the world of the known into a place of growth and change in order to keep their organization progressing and growing. Doing so effectively requires trust. Senior leaders allowing their funds, personnel, and reputation to be tied to your latest initiative must have faith in your ability to deliver results. Peers working with you must trust that supporting your initiatives is a good use of their time. Implementation teams are highly tactical and must take a leap of faith to accept that there are new opportunities for growth and change beyond what they currently do today. So, it is important that Product Managers build trust. Trust is earned through predictable and consistent follow-up. Broadcast what you are going to do, you do that, and then you tell people what you did – everyday. This starts with having meetings planned and well organized. They start on time and meeting notes follow. If you said you would do something, it gets done. When things come up as they will do, you are open and transparent about it, you make every effort to help others to look good in public, and you address developmental opportunities and concerns directly but privately. Product Managers who take this approach find that panic and other non-productive energies subside, attempts to bring chaos fail, and the work environment remains conducive to steady progress, team synergy, and trust. Alerting leadership to progress, obstacles, and where you would like their input builds trust with senior leadership. Due to building trust, superstar product managers maintain trust by providing a steady, even gait towards the ‘finish line'.
10. Inspire
Successful Product Managers allow themselves to dream a bit. They develop a sense of “if I ruled the world” this is the action I would take based on insights. This growth and innovation mindset is grounded in practicality and necessity, however. On the necessity side, Product Managers are aware that business leaders are looking to them to deliver ‘the next big thing'. The concepts of doubling revenue in x number of years and being tasked to achieve 10% growth in a mature business are common. And Product Managers must devise proposals that achieve the growth and P&L goals of the business – and often with very short timelines. And product Managers often feel uncomfortable with having to make assertions that they feel puts them in the position of overpromising and underdelivering. At the same time, they know that a minor step change is unlikely to gain leadership support. This brings the practicality of the vision into play. A successful Product Manager balances these conflicting views by providing a “Reason to Believe” that is grounded in fact, analysis, and insight. And they then apply the combined traits described above to develop an actionable plan that team members can align with. Thus, by combining each of the traits above combined with balancing his or her own mortality when it comes to delivering high impact results, a successful Product Manager an inspire people at all levels to aim high. Being able to motivate an organization to move forward based on a vision is the ultimate measure of influence without authority for a Product Manager.
Product Management is a challenging role. The demands to accomplish commercial success is very high. And this role is often tasked with ensuring the commercial success without the authority. Competencies in the above areas are essential for success.
If you are interested in an online training program for commercial business leaders, such as product managers, marketing managers, new business development, or sales, please contact Felicia Littlejohn.
About the Author
Felicia Littlejohn, Ph.D., is Learning and Development (L&D) professional, leadership coach, and former commercial business leader who empowers others to achieve their goals. Her work in leadership development, coaching, and strategy consulting has helped businesses, teams, and professionals to upskill, cultivate leadership potential, enhance performance, and overcome growth hurdles. Felicia is a Certified Professional Coach (C.P.C.) who holds a Ph.D. in Engineering, an M.B.A. in Marketing, and is currently pursuing an M.Ed. in Instructional Design.