How to Build and Maintain Stakeholder Trust as a Product Owner
Any stakeholder management framework is ineffective if there is no trust between you, as a product owner, and your stakeholders. Trust is challenging to gain, resourceful to maintain, and very easy to lose.
For stakeholders, you represent your team, your product, and your organization. If they don't trust you and consider you an unreliable partner, then it is a chain effect with a downward spiral.
How to build and then maintain that trust? It is straightforward - deliver expectations. If you can't deliver, then manage those expectations.
Understanding Your Starting Position
To establish trust, you must first understand your current baseline position. It depends on the current state of affairs and your starting position in it.
The New Project Scenario
If it is a new project, then you have some credit for future trust. Everyone is new to each other. Initially, everyone is more optimistic about future endeavors.
You can utilize that capital to build trust and then make it good enough to maintain it. A trick is that such optimism often leads to higher but unfulfilled expectations when things become rough. And things will become rough after the honeymoon, when a few program increments have passed and things no longer look so promising.
Taking Over a Successful Project
Another case is when you jump into an ongoing project where a person in your previous role, or the project team itself, has gained considerable trust. Now your job is not to break things. You are thoroughly observed, as stakeholders are suspicious because they don't know you.
Managing expectations, you can set a low bar, taking the time for onboarding. But that is limited, and if you still use it as an excuse after several months, that will damage your relationship with stakeholders.
Also, if everything worked well before you arrived, you are not expected to start breaking things and make changes to suit your preferences. As individuals, we are often reluctant to change, especially when the change seems unnecessary.
Making drastic changes in a stable environment undermines the work of the previous person. Plus, it puts you in a vulnerable position if such changes backfire. You can't afford even a little bit of failure with your new world order, as stakeholders quickly downgrade your credibility.
The Damaged Trust Scenario
The worst situation you may encounter is joining an ongoing project where trust has already been broken. That could include a demotivated team, nervous program management, and frustrated customers, among other issues. Sometimes, more often than we would like, software implementation projects take a wrong turn.
You might be seen as someone who can get things back on track. I have one main piece of advice for you: don't act like Jesus Christ.
Avoid the Superhero Complex
Don't overestimate yourself as a superhero who will immediately save the day. People who were and still are on the project are not stupid. Sometimes you can have brilliant minds in the room, but things don't go as expected.
Simple rule: if something seems to be easy, it's more likely that it isn't.
Be humble, don't rush with quick, unchecked solutions. Those might have been tried before. If they didn't work, that doesn't mean they wouldn't work again. Take time to analyze the pretext, actions, and consequences.
With rushing, you can quickly exhaust your credit of trust.
Strategies for Building Trust
Start Small and Be Consistent
How to gain the trust back? Start with little things. Pay attention to small promises. If you said you would return with an update the next day, you would return with an update the next day. Even if there is nothing to say and there are only "no updates, I will reach out to you ASAP when something appears."
Practice Extreme Transparency
Practice extreme transparency. I follow the "Clarity over comfort" principle, which I found in Matt LeMay's book. Be transparent about blockers and dependencies. Articulate your expectations from other parties clearly & loudly, and in a documented manner.
If something is your fault or the fault of your team, be ready to take responsibility and learn from it.
Avoid the Blame Game
Don't blame others. That is a reference to a key point: if a trust between parties goes awry due to complex issues, blaming one party (even if that party is not present) is a poor move. Finding a scapegoat can drive some quick alignment, but in the long term, it is a bad strategy. First, someone can be offended by that and cause unexpected consequences in the future. Second, some people may find this behavior unprofessional. Third, you can quickly become one to blame if you introduce the "blaming" culture.
Listen Actively and Be Helpful
Be helpful and listen carefully. Sometimes you only need to listen. Some people simply talk without listening to others. In this case, those who are not listened to will soon stop expressing their thoughts, as they no longer have trust. Why talk then? If it were to happen, that trend would be tough to reverse.
My other obvious advice: shut up and listen. When stakeholders trust you, they provide additional information that allows you to learn more about them, which in turn fosters stronger bonds. That might be something personal or about the industry, other products, stakeholders, and so on.
That may seem trivial, but for a decade, I have seen people trying to dominate and push their agendas instead of simply listening to stakeholders.
Go the Extra Mile (Strategically)
Do extra steps. If you asked for help, but it falls outside your usual responsibilities, do anything to help. Some limitations: (1) Be very selective about whom to do that extra help by enabling your political sense. (2) Keep it transactional: I do something for you, expecting something from you in the future. If such a rule is broken, the game changes.
Build Personal Connections
Use every opportunity to go out with stakeholders with whom you need to build or regain trust. Consuming beverages together (coffee, beer, anything else) is the strongest bonding thing humanity has invented so far. But practice that wisely.
Key Takeaway: Trust in stakeholder relationships isn't built through grand gestures or quick fixes. It's earned through consistent delivery, transparent communication, and genuine care for stakeholder success. Whether you're starting fresh or rebuilding damaged relationships, focus on small wins, active listening, and maintaining integrity in every interaction.