Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) is no longer a niche function reserved for compliance or security teams. It's a business-critical discipline. Yet in many organizations, the path to effective TPRM is riddled with obstacles, and one of the most persistent is internal stakeholder misalignment. When too many stakeholders with competing priorities are involved, the result is often gridlock, delay, or, worse, an outright failure in risk management. 

At the heart of the issue is the reality that each stakeholder group has valid concerns, but these concerns are rarely aligned. Business owners are under pressure to move quickly, onboard new vendors, generate revenue, and meet time-sensitive operational goals. The CISO, meanwhile, is rightly focused on minimizing risk exposure and ensuring compliance with security protocols. Procurement wants to follow a structured sourcing process that ensures consistency and due diligence. Finance leaders, such as the CFO, may prioritize cost control and efficiency. Legal, privacy, compliance, and other departments bring their own lenses as well. 

This complexity can put TPRM in a difficult position. It becomes the bottleneck, caught between urgency and caution, cost and control. Too often, it is deprioritized — not because it lacks importance, but because it lacks consensus. 

When everyone owns a piece of the process but no one owns the outcome, risk management suffers. Decision-making slows to a crawl. Third parties are onboarded without proper due diligence, or the opposite occurs — critical partnerships are delayed or dropped entirely due to unresolved internal friction. The organization ends up either accepting too much risk or losing opportunities. 

To fix this, organizations need to shift from competing priorities to collaborative ownership. Effective TPRM depends on clear communication, shared goals, and defined roles. Rather than treating risk as a blocker, it must be framed as a shared responsibility and enabler of smart business. 

Here are four strategies that help.  

• Establish a Governance Framework – Create a steering committee or working group with representation from all key stakeholders. This formalizes stakeholder collaboration, creates space for discussion, and provides a mechanism for resolving disputes. 
• Define and Communicate the Value of TPRM – TPRM should be positioned not just as a gatekeeper, but as a partner that helps the business grow safely. Highlight how good risk management accelerates decision-making and protects long-term value. 
• Standardize and Streamline the Process – Build workflows that integrate the priorities of security, procurement, legal, and the business into a cohesive onboarding journey. Use technology to automate the routine and elevate the strategic plan. 
• Utilize HITRUST – HITRUST can be positioned as a unifying standard that helps break through stakeholder gridlock by offering pre-vetted assurances and trusted, consistent assessments that speak to everyone's concerns — security, compliance, procurement, and even financial prudence. 

When internal politics and misalignment are the biggest risks to your TPRM program, it's time to treat stakeholder collaboration as a risk domain of its own. By building bridges instead of silos, organizations can turn a fractured process into a competitive advantage where security, speed, and strategy coexist.