The product manager role is evolving at an unprecedented pace. The changes we’ve seen in the role over the last decade are head-spinning. And the answer to the question, “What is a product manager?” will be completely different ten years from now (thanks to AI).
But if I were to categorize one of the most significant shifts in the qualities of a product manager recently, it’s the growing need to be a politician of sorts. Product managers must hone their relationship skills to move innovation forward more efficiently and effectively.
Former Sopheon CEO Greg Coticchia has seen this change firsthand. On an episode of the Innovation Talks podcast, we had the opportunity to discuss the evolving qualities of a product manager.
Yes, a product manager needs to understand technology, customer needs, market gaps and how to motivate a team — these are universal qualities of a product manager. But product manager skills have evolved. They now have to be expert people pleasers as well.
This isn’t to say that product managers should instinctively nod their heads to every executive suggestion. In fact, the best product managers work to earn the respect of those above them and have the confidence to say no when necessary. At the same time, product managers must understand how to build and maintain trust with executives, sales and engineers.
“Now, there are a lot of other people in the classic product manager group of stakeholders that they have to please, but for me, these are the three that you have to start with,” Greg noted. “And if you don't have those three as table stakes, you've got nothing.”
A new product manager needs to be strategic in relationship-building; according to Greg, getting early buy-in from developers is critical.
“That's where it really all starts,” Greg said. “The developer engineer has to feel like [the product manager] truly gets their work and their team in their best interest.”
I couldn’t agree more. This relationship leads to collaboration that more quickly develops prototypes that impress those who have to sign off before a product moves forward to the next stages of development. And it leads to trust between the developers and the product managers, creating a positive working culture that creates developer buy-in and accelerates the pace of product development.
Salespeople are often pressed by prospects around perceived gaps in product functionality and bring “this is what we need, or we will lose the deal” statements to product management. And they dangle the threat of lost revenue. The product manager needs to have built trust with sales and forged a solid partnership to work together through issues like these. The sales team needs to be confident that product management will do the right thing and will be of help to sales instead of being perceived as a blocker or threat.
Empathy is also critical when earning trust with the sales team. They’re in perpetual sink-or-swim mode. According to Greg, it’s absolutely essential for product managers to proactively put themselves in a salesperson’s shoes.
“If you're in product management and have not taken a sales training course, shame on you,” Greg noted. “Learn what it takes to be a successful salesperson. Learn about asking questions, learn about pain points, problems, solutions and implications. Know what the whole process for forecasting looks like and why. And what those triggers are. Learn that part of your business. It is absolutely essential.”
Once you have developers and sales onboard, Greg pointed out that product managers should build and make deposits into the trust bank by building a rapport with the executive team. This is a relationship that can remove a lot of friction.
“I've never seen a company successfully implement product management without air cover,” Greg pointed out. “If you do not have executive air cover and support, it'll never happen. [T]here's not a time I've been successful in product management where I haven't had executive sponsorship.”
Let’s say, for example, sales is advocating a product update that isn’t a good fit for the company. It’s really innovative and might make a lot of sense for another company — just not yours. The product manager understands the changes necessary to the product would be misaligned to the company’s mission and goals, but the sales team believes this could yield a huge commission. (To be clear, such an impasse could be avoided via the product manager/sales relationship building mentioned earlier, but for argument’s sake, let’s proceed).
When product managers build trust with the executive team, they can get the support necessary to prevent such a product from moving forward. And with healthy relationships between the groups, executives can serve as objective intermediaries to help both groups avoid potential ill will. Because in the end, all groups need to be able to work together and empathize with each others’ points of view — even if they’re at opposite ends of the spectrum from time to time.
One last bit of Greg’s wisdom I’d like to leave is perhaps the most critical: Product managers must feel empowered and recognize their value. And they can’t earn trust without standing firm and understanding their critical role.
“They've got to make sure that they see themselves as a partner in an equal exchange, but still in service. But that doesn't mean you're less than. You still have an equal role. That’s a really important part of the success of the modern product manager.”
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