Some Advice for Productive Interactions with Stakeholders: Be Swift to Hear, Slow to Speak, and Slow to Wrath

It has been my experience that negative interactions with stakeholders are much more common than the rare interactions with happy and thankful anglers, but I have learned that in many cases, an interaction that begins negatively can often be ended on a positive note by embracing three simple principles: swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.  “Swift to hear” means listening.  Respectfully listen to the other person’s perspective and be willing to concede that you could be wrong.  “Slow to speak” means to do more asking than stating.  Ask the other person questions to better understand his views, to show that you value his views, and to help him see the flaws in his views if he is wrong.  “Slow to wrath” means remaining cool and calm even when the stakeholder is emotional, abusive, and irrational.  In this presentation, I will give some general introduction to these principles and provide several examples from my career of how these principles have helped me form peaceful, professional working relationships with antagonists of my agency.