How Building Trust Transformed a Resistant Peer into an Ally in a High-Stakes Project

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I'm sorry,

OK. So, I'll tell you about a time when I was, uh, it's my first year at Disney. I was part of a, a newly formed group called the Data Platform Group, part of a, an enterprise-wide reorganization. And as part of that enterprise-wide reorganization, we were tasked, we, the group were tasked with how we were going to bring together 4 independent, um, fragmented data platforms from across Disney, and what the game plan was to bring them all together in one roadmap because as a newly formed enterprise-wide group, we had to go hat in hand to the CTO and say we need these resources and we need this budget. So for about 6 weeks, engineers got in a room and came up with their technology roadmap, which was about 60 pages of engineering speak. I was tasked by the head of data platforms, because I was product marketing, to convert that deck into a strategy and an executive facing presentation. Now, I was not a part of this core group. I wasn't in the room for those few weeks when the engineers, the engineers were talking this through, and so the main program lead, who was, who was charged with building this technology, um, architecture deck, When he heard that I was tasked with what he thought was redoing his work, he was less than pleased. So, uh, he He was difficult to work with. He made sure I understood that he was feeling threatened by the work that I was doing. And so the first thing I did, I, so I did two core things. Number 1, I created a relationship. These were engineers from across all of Disney, had never worked with them before, so I had about a week to turn around. A 50-page engineering deck of technology speak that I was not familiar with into a strategy deck that was going in front of the CTO. I needed to develop trust and build that, uh, partnership very quickly. So I did two things. One, I went out to the engineers who had worked on the deck, and I sat with each of them to get that information, the information that I needed. And the second thing was I needed to develop trust with him because

Both. OK, bifurcated track, basically. I had two strategies. I had this one guy who was against me and everyone else who was agnostic. Um, so, started to talk to the other engineers, but I, I prioritized making sure this person went along for the ride, and the way I did it was have a very open and honest conversation with him to say, my intention is not to redo your work or take credit for your ideas. My intention is to understand what you guys are trying to say and bring it out. I can't do anything without your participation. And so with a tremendous amount of transparency, I laid out. What the fragment, the, the baseline of my deck was going to be. I asked for feedback. I basically brought him along for the ride and asked him for extensive feedback so that he felt he was a part of the process, because what I didn't want them to think was, I'm coming in tapped by the executive to do the work. Where they're the ones that did the work, I'm just making it shine. So I wanted to reset that perception, and by the end of it, we became very, very good friends. He's still a good friend to this day. So I, I put myself in his position. I said, listen, I get it, I hear what you're saying. That's not what I'm trying to do. Let me bring you along for the ride so you can get to know me and how I operate. You are a direct correlation to this being a success. The deck ended up going to the CTO. Um, we ended up getting the buy-in for the, the resources, and we got, we bought about 2 years' worth of time to consolidate 4 different data platforms. Um, and it was, it was what ultimately got us that green light. To lock in sort of that, that approval.

I think it's because my approach has always been That I want, I, I like a team approach. I like collaboration, I like authenticity, and I don't want I wanna do my best to make sure my intentions are not misunderstood. I don't like leaving things open to interpretation, which means sometimes you have to have head-on conversations. Um, I like to channel authenticity, and I think that creates, you can develop trust when you put it out on the table and say, listen, I, I'm getting the feeling that you're feeling this sort of way. Help me understand, is that fair? And if I don't have that right, can you correct me? Because what you need to understand is I can't be successful without you. And I'm being tasked with something, and I need your help. So help, let's, how do we bridge this gap? That's how I feel is the, is, it's worked for me in the past, um, not always, frankly, but it's, it's, it's an approach that I've tried to channel is with authenticity and compassion, you can get people to open up and, and be by your side against the problem rather than be a part of the problem.

Successful presentation; got the resources we needed.