By Caroline Nderitu
People often describe stakeholder management as a soft skill, something you can master through sharper communication. But anyone who’s worked in the finance sector already knows it’s a lot more exacting as it involves a delicate handling of power; both the authority you can see and the kind that’s hidden beneath the surface.
That tension is especially clear within organizations themselves, where despite the presence of governance frameworks and clear decision-making processes, influence tends to follow relationships, shared history and informal networks. It is not uncommon for a stakeholder to appear difficult because they have informal authority that doesn’t always match their job title, and opinions that are already formed before any official meeting happens. Under these environments, decisions are basically made long before anyone sits down to talk.
For professionals in finance, this creates a fundamental tension because we are trained to make decisions anchored in data, risk and accountability. Our role is to ensure that choices can withstand scrutiny, both internally and externally. But we often find ourselves in situations where not all decisions follow that discipline, often with adverse consequences. Where influence keeps winning over process, governance gets weaker and decisions end up being about what is acceptable, and not what’s right. For women in senior roles, this challenge is often greater as boundaries aren’t always respected, and sometimes professional firmness is viewed as stubbornness.
Nonetheless, good stakeholder management remains all about consistency. You need to know what you can compromise on, and what you can’t. It’s also about treating people with respect but standing your ground when it matters.
In practice, this consistency is anchored in three key disciplines. First is clarity in decision-making. When choices are based on data, policy, and risk, it’s much harder for people to sway things behind the scenes. Clarity leaves less room for power plays.
Second, it is critical to hold the line on boundaries. Effective leaders know where flexibility stops and real rules begin, understanding that this is less about rigidity and more about keeping the organization honest and strong.
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Third, as a leader, it is important to maintain composure under pressure. Influence is often tested in moments of pushback and it is in those moments that steadiness signals authority. Resisting the easier option of compromise when it undermines the rules is often where leadership is quietly refined.
Meanwhile, organizations need to take a hard look at themselves. Having rules on paper isn’t enough if people just work around them. Companies must ask whether their culture really supports accountability, or whether influence is quietly rewarded over process and principle. Indeed, when informal power begins to shape decisions, even the most capable leaders find themselves spending more time navigating internal politics than delivering results, with dire consequences for productivity, governance and risk.
Against this backdrop, focus cannot rest solely on individual resilience. Instead of just celebrating those that are adept at navigating complex internal dynamics, companies must confront and correct those conditions that make such navigation necessary in the first place. Doing this will create the strong systems that resilience always follows.
The writer is the Director- Finance, Retail & SME Administration at Minet Kenya
