How to Uplevel Stakeholder Management for User Researchers
4.8 (13)
2 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Advance your career and drive strategic impact by tapping into the participants no one talks about, your cross-functional partners.
How to Uplevel Stakeholder Management for User Researchers
4.8 (13)
2 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Advance your career and drive strategic impact by tapping into the participants no one talks about, your cross-functional partners.
Course overview
Research Smarter, Not Harder: Become a real partner and get your research heard
Here's the thing, your research doesn’t matter if your stakeholders are skeptical.
Sure they hired you to conduct research, but that doesn't mean they're bought in.
Do you find yourself stuck in a loop of canceled stakeholder meetings and disregarded research? Are you constantly running from one stakeholder request to "run a survey” to another?
We've heard it all. So many people come to us frustrated, asking for help because yet again they...
... did user research that went nowhere
... fulfilled stakeholder’s asks only to be told “that’s not helpful”
... lack a seat at the decision-making table
And that's where we come in!
We believe that choosing the right method to answer stakeholder questions is what makes for impact and success, but it’s really about learning your stakeholders and their concerns that gets you there.
This is not something that gets taught in boot camps or most UXR master programs.
This course aims to empower you with the tools you need to lead your stakeholders along the journey of discovery and obtain buy-in, position yourself like an expert, push back with confidence, and “sell” a new approach.
We'll help you:
* treat your stakeholders like research participants
* cut through the research request noise
* obtain buy-in from the start
* use your precious time well
* make sure your stakeholders take your fabulous research and actually use it
* position yourself as a trusted partner and expert with key decision makers
We'll do this with:
* an immediately actionable and applicable template for success
* stories of our own experiences and learnings
* a toolbox of our favorite tricks and tips
* engaging roleplaying and put-it-into-practice activities
Who is this course for
01
Junior and mid-career user researchers who want to accelerate their career with stellar stakeholder management skills
02
Researchers looking to move from being a ticket-taker to becoming a trusted partner for your design, PM, and Eng stakeholders
03
Researchers who struggle with being stuck in an endless loop of low-impact prototype evaluation research
04
Current or past academic researchers who want to succeed in the industry
What you’ll get out of this course
Framework for zeroing in on the most impactful research you can do now
How to distinguish which research requests truly have the time commitment and support behind them, so you can do your best work and not run after stakeholders.
Push back on unreasonable requests with confidence
How to say a nuanced yes to incoming research requests so you can focus on the research that matters. You’ll leave with a script and actionable set of questions to speak up and the confidence to do so respectfully.
Get to the bottom of each stakeholder request
Never execute irrelevant research again. You will learn to treat your stakeholders like research participants with a set of actionable questions you can use anytime.
Become a true partner to your stakeholders
Learn how to move from a ticket-taker to a true collaborator
This course includes
8 interactive live sessions
Lifetime access to course materials
18 in-depth lessons
Direct access to instructor
3 projects to apply learnings
Guided feedback & reflection
Private community of peers
Course certificate upon completion
Maven Satisfaction Guarantee
This course is backed by Maven’s guarantee. You can receive a full refund within 14 days after the course ends, provided you meet the completion criteria in our refund policy.
How to Uplevel Stakeholder Management for User Researchers
Course syllabus
Week 1
Sep
17
Session 1: Laying the groundwork for success
Sep
18
(Optional) Office Hours #1
Sep
19
Session 2: Your stakeholders, unpacked
Sep
20
(Optional) Office Hours #2
Fantastic questions and where to find them
The journey of a successful research project & critical failure points
Research Intake Process
Stakeholders' deep dive: motivations, behaviors, and how-tos for researchers
Moderation principes for stakeholder interviews
Influence without Authority
Week 2
Sep
24
Session 3: Mindsets and methods to win
Sep
25
(Optional) Office Hours #3
Sep
26
Session 4: Putting it all together
Sep
27
(Optional) Office Hours #4
Combating UXR negative image
Common mistakes with pushback and how to avoid them
AGR framework: acknowledge, get curios, reassure
The art of nuanced yes
Prioritization framework
Four horsemen of stakeholder apocalypse and how to tame them
Pitching projects to your stakeholders
Bonus
A "cheat sheet" with our favorite questions for common scenarios.
4.8 (13 ratings)
What students are saying
Meet your instructor
Amanda Gelb
Principal Researcher
Amanda is a seasoned UX researcher and manager with a robust background at leading tech companies including Asana, Lyft, HUGE, and Google.
She's most passionate about empowering clients through artful research and strategic inquiry, while using data as a north star for decision-making, and often speaks internationally about her process and the products she’s helped bring into the world.
Perhaps the best part of her job is creating bespoke trainings and workshops for teams of all levels and adjuncting at NYU. Above all else, Amanda sees herself as an experiential educator who makes learning engaging, practical, and memorable.
Outside of her professional endeavors, Amanda is a devoted experimenter and maker- prototyping designs from the laser cutter in her NYC bedroom, testing and tasting new cookie recipes, and running after her greatest creations, 3 little kids.
Anna Avrekh
Senior UX Research Manager
Anna is a UX Research leader with 20 years of experience in the field, currently a Senior User Research Manager at Zillow. In addition to working as a hands-on researcher at Google for over 10 years, Anna has build, grew and led diverse UXR teams at Betterment, Compass, and Meta.
Anna has a deep passion for mentoring and coaching and has been teaching a User Research class as an adjunct professor for the Cornell Tech Studio master program for the last three years. Anna is also an active mentor with Tech Stars accelerator, advising start-up founders on user needs discovery.
Anna's goal is to help researchers at any level realize their full potential, especially when it comes to skills rarely taught in HCI programs: stakeholder management, storytelling, and growing and developing their influence within the organization. Anna believes that above and beyond methods and interview facilitation, knowing how to ask the right questions, especially at the beginning of a research project is the key to unlocking full potential of user research.
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How to Uplevel Stakeholder Management for User Researchers
Course schedule
4-6 hours per week
Tuesdays & Thursdays
12:00pm - 1:00pm EST
Formal presentations and engaging activities
Weekly projects
2 hours per week
Actionable and immediately applicable lessons to practice between class sessions.
[Optional] AMAs // Office hours
4 hours
Optional time to chat about any course content, homework, or things that are coming up for you at work. Offered on Wednesday and Fridays for the weeks the course runs.
Learning is better with cohorts
Active hands-on learning
This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects
Interactive and project-based
You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams
Learn with a cohort of peers
Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you
Frequently Asked Questions
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