Stakeholder Management: How To Influence Stakeholders In Cross-Functional Organisations

As we progress in our careers, influencing stakeholders becomes more important than ever. In most organisations, resources are limited, and no team is given everything they need to run an initiative independently. Whether you are asking for resources, driving change management, or bringing cross-functional teams together around a shared objective, your ability to influence others becomes a critical leadership skill.

There is also something incredibly rewarding about convincing someone else to invest their time, resources, and energy into what you are trying to achieve. Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work across many large-scale initiatives involving change management and cross-functional collaboration. While there are countless articles written about stakeholder influencing, these are some of the principles that have consistently worked well for me.

Relationship And Understanding Come First

I believe the foundation of stakeholder management starts with understanding people properly. This means understanding their roles and responsibilities, their KPIs, how they run their day-to-day business, the challenges they face, and, if possible, what motivates them both professionally and personally.

Without that understanding, collaboration often becomes transactional. And if people feel that you do not genuinely care about their priorities or pressures, it becomes much harder for them to invest their time and effort into supporting your goals.

One practical lesson I also learned while working in highly cross-functional organisations is the importance of creating clear “marketing material” for your own team.

It is a time consuming exercise but trust me it is worth it! Many teams assume everyone understands what they do, but that is rarely true in large organisations. Having simple materials that clearly explain your team’s mission, priorities, projects, and impact makes collaboration significantly easier because you are not repeatedly explaining the same context in every conversation.

Find Alignment, Not Just Agreement

Another important principle is finding alignment.

In sales, I often talk about the importance of “creating a reason to buy”, and I think stakeholder management follows a very similar principle. Whenever you are asking another team to support an initiative, you should always think carefully about "what is in it for them?"

Will your project help them hit their targets? Will it create efficiencies for their team? Could it increase their visibility internally or create opportunities for learning and growth?

People are far more willing to support initiatives when they can clearly see how success benefits them as well.

And when you receive resistance or hear “no”, it is important not to take it personally. Instead, try to understand the underlying reason. Is the issue related to time, resources, conflicting priorities, or lack of clarity?

Very often, resistance is not about disagreement. It is simply about friction.

Reduce Friction Wherever Possible

One of the most useful habits in stakeholder management is reducing friction wherever possible without compromising your non-negotiables. The people who influence effectively are usually the ones who have thought carefully about their requests, simplified execution, and made collaboration feel manageable rather than burdensome.

In my experience, the leaders who build the strongest cross-functional relationships are not necessarily the loudest or most persuasive people in the room. They are usually the ones who understand others deeply, communicate clearly, and make collaboration easier for everyone involved.