Getting distrustful stakeholder groups to share information openly and work together

As a product manager, you find that the stakeholders around your product do not trust one another and are not open with each other: information that others need is not being shared. How would you address the situation? ```hint Find the cause before the fix Distrust usually has a history: a broken commitment, a surprise decision, goals that pull against each other, or information only some people receive. Work out which one applies here, then think about what you control as the PM, namely how decisions and information move between the groups. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Is the distrust between the stakeholders and you, or between stakeholder groups (for example engineering and marketing) with you in the middle? - Is there a known trigger, such as a missed launch date, a reorganization or a decision made without some groups in the room? - Are these all internal teams, or does the group include external partners whose incentives differ from yours? - Should you answer with a past situation you handled, or describe how you would approach this one? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Diagnosing the root cause with each stakeholder, through one-on-one conversations, before proposing fixes. - Concrete mechanisms that make plans, decisions and risks visible to everyone, including bad news. - A shared objective and agreed ways of working: who decides, who is consulted, and how disagreements are raised and settled. - Rebuilding credibility through the PM's own behavior, such as keeping small commitments, telling every group the same story and crediting others. - Signals that trust is recovering, and how to handle a stakeholder who keeps undermining what was agreed. ### Follow-up Questions - One stakeholder agrees with decisions in meetings and then lobbies your director privately to reverse them. How do you handle it? - A teammate asks you to hold back news of a slipping date until they can fix it. What do you do? - A quarter later, how would you know that trust between the groups has actually improved?