Product Therapy Coaching Stakeholders
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Jan 22, 2026 In this conversation, Chris Jones, a partner at SVPG with extensive experience in coaching product organizations, shares insights on the often-overlooked role of stakeholders. He discusses how to transform perceived adversaries into allies by fostering trust and healthy communication. Listeners learn the importance of stakeholders sharing problems rather than solutions, and the necessity of context for effective collaboration. Chris also emphasizes shifting finance priorities from project-based funding to outcomes, alongside strategies to avoid the dreaded stakeholder ‘black hole’.
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Earn Trust By Demonstrating Capability
- Product organizations must earn stakeholder trust by demonstrating they can deliver results under the product model.
- Invest in training, staffing, or examples that prove teams can assume responsibility for outcomes.
Do Your Homework Before Asking For Context
- Teams should proactively gather context before approaching stakeholders using available resources like regulations or summaries.
- Use that foundation to focus stakeholder conversations on the remaining unknowns.
Defuse “Because I Said So” With Practical Questions
- When stakeholders respond “because I said so,” ask practical clarifying questions like how we will know this solved the problem.
- Use counterfactuals: ask what remains true if we don’t build this to surface the real need.