Herding Cats: Tips for Stakeholder Management

A communications director’s tips for working with faculty and staff

There’s a particular GIF that is often shared amongst my co-workers when we’re asked to obtain approvals from a large group of faculty, leadership, or staff. It shows a team of increasingly frustrated cowboys attempting to herd an impossibly large number of cats across an open plain.

Navigating the large group sign-off is an unfortunate necessity of higher ed marketing work. However, I’ve found a few ways to keep your cowboys stress-free.

Use A Funnel

It’s best to start with a plan and clarity about who should be in the initial review group and who should give the final sign-off. Then, structure your process using a funnel shape: start with the largest group of stakeholders at the beginning and give them a designated amount of time to review the document. Then, send subsequent rounds to a smaller and smaller group.

Remove Access

Once you’ve allowed for the big group review—and given strict, but fair, deadlines—it’s time to lock things down. This means removing edit access for everyone except the person giving final sign off. Yes. Removing edit access. This might seem extreme, but it keeps you safe from the surprise 11th hour edits by a person who should have *ahem* reviewed it last week. 

Make It Pretty

Having trouble getting the attention of your final reviewer? Still sharing that same old Google Doc that they never open? Time for step three: make it pretty! The most effective solution is to move copy into the designed template (web page, email, slide deck, etc.). Once you have a visually formatted deliverable, try sending that out to your final reviewer. Sometimes simply seeing the item in a different way can spark their attention. 

Leave The Station

If you’re really stuck trying to get someone’s attention and nothing else has worked, it’s time for a new strategy. I call this tactic “the train is leaving the station.” It involves language like: “Hello there, Here’s a final test of the email you requested. I am sharing it with you for your reference. It will be sent out at X o’clock unless I hear otherwise from you.” This is a strong move, to be sure, but it has always paid off in my experience and is excellent for removing traffic jams and moving on to the next enrollment marketing or communications project.