A step-by-step guide to master stakeholder management

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In today's issue, I'll show you a practical guide to stakeholder management.

If you manage your stakeholders well, you can turn your critics into your biggest fans. It will help you manage up, get the decisions & resources you need, and navigate internal and external politics.

In short, stakeholder management is a key component of successful projects.

Unfortunately, many project managers fail to do it effectively.

Stakeholder management is more than reporting; it means involving people.

There are 5 common reasons why stakeholder management fails:

• Lack of stakeholder identification & analysis

• Poor communication & engagement

• Failure to manage expectations

• Poor stakeholder relationship

• Inability to resolve conflicts

All of these things lead to a lack of support for your project, delays, setbacks, and even failure of your entire project.

But there's good news too: it's easier than you think, and I'm going to show you how you do it. Let's break down the steps one by one:

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Step 1: Identify your stakeholders

Who's going to notice what you're doing?

A stakeholder is anyone who will be affected by your project, in the broadest sense. This means that they'll notice it, may have an opinion on it, or maybe even have to go through a change as a result of your project.

While you'll never get an exhaustive list, the ones you really want to list are the ones that will - in whatever way - influence your decision-making.

As part of your planning process, sit your team down and try to answer these 3 questions:

1. Who cares about our project?

2. Who can influence our project?

3. Who will be impacted by our project?

Stakeholders break down into two broad categories: internal and external.

Internal examples:

• Project team & manager

• Other departments & teams

• Program management & executives

External examples:

• Users

• Investors

• Suppliers

• Authorities

• Customers

• Contractors

They can be individuals, positions, groups, teams - anything. Get as specific as possible, and name names if you can. This will help you in the next step.

Step 2: analyze your stakeholder list

Next up, you need to process the list you just created. For each of the stakeholders, answer the following questions:

1. How much interest do they have?

2. How much influence do they have?

3. Are they likely to be positive, neutral, or against your project?

You don't need to get scientific, just jot it down in a few bullets. Discuss every stakeholder briefly, and get everyone's perspective.

Step 3: Plot a stakeholder map

Now that you have each stakeholder identified and analyzed, it's time to map them out.

Take a pile of sticky notes and write the stakeholder names on the stickies, plus whether they are against, neutral, or positive. Then draw the following cross on your wall or whiteboard:

You guessed it: you're going to plot each stakeholder on the wall together with your team. This visualization will cross-check your initial analysis, as you'll see "X is further right than Y, but Y has more influence". The map you end up with is just an artifact, the value is in the exercise with your team.

Step 4: Understand stakeholder needs

Your job is not to include everything that every stakeholder wants and needs in your project, but to understand them. Make them feel heard.

Someone you think of as a "difficult stakeholder" might just be someone with different priorities. Put yourself in their shoes, and see it from their perspective.

A few questions to get you started:

1. What do they want & need?

2. Why is that?

3. How does that align or clash with your project?

There are no answers inside the building. You can do this exercise with your team, but ultimately, you'll have to talk to the stakeholder too.

Step 5: Make your plan for communication & engagement

This step is where the magic happens, and where you can shine as a project leader.

You now know

• Who you'll need to include

• What their influence & interest is

• What their initial opinion of the project is

• What they need, and how that aligns with the project

In most cases, a generic communication plan for the left and bottom quadrants will be just fine. Decide when & how you'll communicate with them, the best medium, and what you'll include. This could be a simple report, a public hearing, or a post on the intranet. Your mileage will vary, depending on the context.

The top right quadrant is 20% of the stakeholders, but they make 80% of the impact. This is where you should be spending most of your time. These people or groups will probably need a custom communication & engagement plan for each of them. Before you make that, ask yourself a few more questions:

• How do I reach these people?

• Can I influence them via secondary sources?

For a very powerful and interested executive, a 5-bullet weekly email might be perfect. For a skeptical end user or department VP, you might need to involve them in the development phase or talk 1:1 weekly.

Do what it takes to create momentum in favor of your project, and be strategic about it. Involve your sponsor as they'll have a broader view and may have a personal relationship with someone that's hard to reach for you. Learn to play the game.

3 resources if you want to learn even more:

1. My favorite book on change management from Chip & Dan Heath - Switch!

2. If you need to present your project, this framework I learned from McKinsey may help.

3. This all-time classic explains change in the workplace through a story of cheese.

Putting it together

Stakeholder management is simple, but not easy.

It's all based on trust, and never surprising your stakeholders.

• Identify & analyze

• Map influence x interest

• Against, neutral, or in favor?

• Prioritize & plan their engagement

• Be inclusive, clear, honest & available

Give them what they need, when they need it.

It may seem like a lot of work, but you can do it in a few hours for a smaller project. It's a great exercise for a new team, and the output is always worth it.

If you're looking to separate yourself as a project leader from everyone that's too busy building charts and budgets - this is your answer. Great stakeholder management is a cheat code for project success, and a fantastic way to network - a great way to get noticed!

That'll do for this week - until next Tuesday!

Cheers,Jasper