How to Manage Stakeholders (A beginers guide)
From Business Analysts Handbook
This is a simple introduction to stakeholder management. There are tons of ideas about this topic out there and there are methods, models and systems that suit specific industries, types of stakeholders and so forth, but in the interest of keeping it simple here is an introduction today, ready to use.
Stakeholders are defined as people or groups that are impacted by a project and/or its deliverables.
Effective stakeholder management is crucial to project success. At Telstra Stakeholders will usually participate in the Pre-Launch Check and have a right of veto on the project going live. If stakeholder needs have not been identified and managed in the course of the project it is likely that the project will fail to deliver to Telstra’s quality standards.
Projects should follow an iterative three step process for managing stakeholders: Identify Analyse and Manage. This process is iterative as projects are iterative processes, constantly learning more about the uncertain future and adjusting plan accordingly. Similarly, just because stakeholders are identified at the beginning of a project does not mean the list is exhaustive, nor that it won’t change as the project progresses.
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[edit] Stakeholder identification
The project manager will organise a kick-off meeting for the project where the primary objective is to identify all project stakeholders and how the project impacts them.
This will be done by discussing the scope and asking if the people present are impacted and whether they know of anyone not present that should be contacted as a potential stakeholder.
Any potential stakeholder will be contacted by the Project manager and their stakeholder status assessed.
The stakeholder list will be published with the project status updates, and new additions or changes shall be flagged.
[edit] Analyse Stakeholder Needs
Once stakeholders are identified their needs and involvement need to be analysed.
There are three things to specifically analyse in GTM projects; • Influence/Interest • The specific needs • Approver Status
Influence/Interest is the two main variables of stakeholder engagement. If a stakeholder is interested but not influential they are not a priority. If a stakeholder is influential but not interested they could spell trouble for the project. You need to understand the stakeholder’s level of engagement and manage accordingly.
Read more about this analysis technique here.
[edit] Manage Stakeholder Needs
[edit] Communicate
Listen: Find out what needs to be done. Document your understanding and incorporate it into your action plan.
[edit] Act
Implement the actions as you need to resolve the stakeholder’s issues. If you can you should involve the stakeholder in the action plan to facilitate more buy-in and engagement.
[edit] Communicate
Report back on what you did and what the outcomes were. The stakeholder may now be satisfied, or they may have further clarifications for you. It is likely that this will be an iterative process.
