Part 3: How to handle pushbacks like a Buddha
In your product management journey, you’ll definitely face pushbacks when you say ‘we can’t prioritize this request’.
This post focuses on 3 techniques I learned from experience + read from The Power of Positive No and Crucial Conversations, that helped me handle resistance with grace.
I hope this these techniques will help you in your journey too.
Technique 1: Understand the Stages of Acceptance & Types of Resistance
Others may need time to process your ‘No’, and the alternative solution you offered.
Give your counterpart time to process. Understanding stages of acceptance, and the type of resistance you may see at different stages, can help you not overreact.
During this time, you may also see behaviors, including:
Technique 2: Repeat your ‘no’
If new information comes in that changes the prioritization decision, then you want to stay agile, open-mind and incorporate the new information to re-prioritize.
Assuming you don’t have new information, stay consistent and persistent with your ‘no’.
When you waver, you send the signal that ‘the loudest and most persistence voice wins’, whether the feature request brings the highest impact.
Technique 3: Address unmet interests
When you offer an alternative solution, the other party may reject your proposed solution. When this happens, you need to understand why.
Ask open-ended questions to uncover unmet interests:
- Help me understand why you rejected this potential solution
- Help me understand your concerns.
Re-state your intention to collaboration. e.g. I want to come to a workable path with you going forward
Then, stop talking and listen 🙂
ps: links to other posts in this series -
