How to Influence Without Authority

So what does influence look like? We synthesized tactics across our projects to uncover what works, when, and why:


1. Understand the strategic connection inside out

Consider how your insights can fit into the processes stakeholders already use and the work that is already being done. Before a project begins make sure you know:

• What's the problem we're trying to solve? Not just the design challenge, but the underlying business problem.
• How does this work connect to business value? What revenue, cost, growth, or strategic outcomes does it support?
• What assumptions are we testing? And importantly, what happens if those assumptions are validated or invalidated?
• How has similar work been received in the past? What created momentum, and what generated resistance?

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2. Know your audience

Individuals don't all make decisions the same way, so think through what you know about their personalities, priorities, and responsibilities and how that shapes their communication style. That could mean making multiple versions of a research report depending on the stakeholder groups.

• Would they prefer bullet points or narratives? Visuals or context-heavy documentation?  
• Access their profiles in a tool like Personalysis, DiSC, or StrengthsFinder if you have it to better understand communication and preferences.
• A low-effort, low-cost tactic—talk to people who have worked with your stakeholders before.
• Use storytelling to build empathy or data to establish credibility, depending on what your stakeholders value.
• Cite existing organizational knowledge and prior research to demonstrate credibility, acknowledge complexity, and address potential objections before they derail the conversation. 

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3. Speak their language, not yours

Your stakeholders probably think in terms of increasing conversion, reducing operational costs, accelerating adoption, or improving customer retention—not usability, user needs, and friction.

• Ask stakeholders what KPIs they're responsible for and connect your recommendations to one or two of those metrics.
• Replace UX terminology with business consequences. For example, instead of "poor discoverability," say "users aren't finding the feature, which could limit adoption."
• Pull relevant metrics from existing analytics dashboards to show the scale of a problem alongside your qualitative findings.
• Use a simple Problem > Business Impact/"So What"> Recommendation structure when presenting findings.

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4. Make stakeholders part of the discovery, not just the audience for the findings

One of the most effective ways to build buy-in is to let stakeholders experience the evidence firsthand, so they have time before your final presentation to process what the insights mean. 

• Include stakeholders in your project kick-off, gathering their expectations from the start.
• Invite decision-makers to observe at least one live user interview or usability test.
• Create a short highlight reel of users encountering the most important problems and share it with stakeholders.
• Host an analysis workshop, where everyone works together to create meaning.
• After research sessions, ask observers to share their top three takeaways before revealing your own conclusions.
• Connect design concepts to strategy and explain pros/cons when presenting options.

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5. Socialize your thinking 

The final presentation shouldn't be the first time stakeholders encounter your recommendations. Depending on your stakeholder and working norms, consider:

• Send a weekly update with three things: what we're learning, what it might mean, and what we're exploring next.
• Schedule 15-minute one-on-ones with key stakeholders to preview potentially controversial findings before the final presentation.
• Share early design concepts or recommendations and ask, "What would prevent us from moving forward with this?"
• Bring preliminary findings into existing product or team meetings rather than waiting for a formal readout.

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6. Have a point of view (and be willing to share it)

Your expertise is valuable precisely because you can help people make informed decisions, so when someone asks for your opinion, give them one. 

• Understand the bigger picture, including the organization's goals, broader market landscape, business constraints, and the context in which decisions are being made.
• Before a decision-making meeting, write down your recommendation, the evidence supporting it, and the strongest counterargument.
• You don’t need to have all the answers. Don't be afraid to say, "Based on what we've learned, here's what I think we should do, and here's why."