As a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), hereâs one thing I know: effective stakeholder management is a key component of successful project delivery.
Taking the time to engage and organize your stakeholder group properly ensures all stakeholders are on the same page about their individual influence, responsibilities, and how their roles fit into the bigger picture.
It also allows for quick and easy communication between project stakeholders, promoting collaboration and encouraging creative solutions when faced with challenges along the way.
In this guide, Iâll walk you through some of the strategies project managers can implement to execute a solid stakeholder management planâengaging both internal and external stakeholders from the beginning to the end of a project.
Project stakeholder management is a critical process in the project management life cycle that involves identifying, analyzing, and engaging key stakeholders throughout the course of a project. By effectively managing stakeholders, project managers can ensure alignment between stakeholder needs and project outcomes, facilitating project success. This article provides a comprehensive overview of what project stakeholder management entails, its key concepts, processes, and why it is an indispensable discipline for project managers.
Defining Project Stakeholder Management
Project stakeholder management refers to the systematic identification, analysis, planning and implementation of targeted strategies and activities to effectively engage project stakeholders. It encompasses all the processes required to identify key project stakeholders, understand their interests, requirements and potential influence on the project, and develop suitable management strategies to engage stakeholders in project decisions and execution.
The key objectives of project stakeholder management include:
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Identifying all individuals groups and organizations impacted by or with an interest in the project.
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Determining stakeholder needs, concerns, roles, interests, and potential influence on project outcomes.
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Developing suitable strategies to effectively communicate with, engage and manage stakeholder participation and expectations throughout the project lifecycle.
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Building positive relationships between the project team and stakeholders to facilitate collaboration, support, and project success.
Effective stakeholder management enables project managers to navigate complex stakeholder dynamics, increase stakeholder alignment with project goals, optimize resource contributions from stakeholders, and proactively address stakeholder issues to minimize project risks.
Key Concepts in Project Stakeholder Management
There are some key concepts central to understanding project stakeholder management:
Stakeholders
Stakeholders refer to various individuals, groups or organizations that have an interest, claim, or stake in a given project. They can be internal or external to the organization. Common stakeholders include:
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Internal: Project managers, project team, sponsors, operations team, other departments/units.
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External: Clients, end-users, suppliers, contractors, partners, regulatory bodies, general public.
Stakeholder Register
A stakeholder register is a document that comprehensively outlines all identified stakeholders. It defines their roles, responsibilities, interests, influence, importance, and key requirements. It serves as a reference for managing stakeholder relationships.
Stakeholder Analysis
This involves assessing identified stakeholders to determine their levels of interest, influence, expectations, importance to project outcomes, and potential positive or negative impacts. It is key to developing suitable engagement strategies.
Stakeholder Engagement
This refers to the interactive process of effectively communicating with stakeholders, seeking their feedback, addressing their concerns, and involving them in project decisions and activities. It helps manage stakeholder expectations.
Stakeholder Management Strategy
The overall approach defining the processes, techniques, and activities to be undertaken to engage and manage different stakeholders based on analysis of their attributes and desired level of participation.
Key Processes in Project Stakeholder Management
Project stakeholder management involves the following key processes:
Stakeholder Identification
- Using various techniques like interviews, workshops, background research and documentation to identify all potential stakeholders.
Stakeholder Analysis
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Gathering information on stakeholder interests, influence, importance, positions, and potential impact.
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Prioritizing stakeholders based on attributes like power, urgency, and proximity to project outcomes.
Stakeholder Engagement Planning
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Developing a stakeholder management strategy and plan defining engagement approaches for different stakeholders.
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Determining frequency, channels, and content of stakeholder communications.
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Defining desired level of stakeholder participation.
Stakeholder Engagement Implementation
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Executing activities to inform, consult, involve, collaborate with, and empower stakeholders as per plan.
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Adjusting strategies based on feedback and changing dynamics.
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Tracking stakeholder engagement activities and outcomes.
Monitoring and Control
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Continuously gathering stakeholder feedback to evaluate effectiveness of engagement activities.
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Updating stakeholder register with new stakeholders, interests, and attitudes.
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Re-assessing strategies and plans to adapt to changing needs and expectations.
Importance of Project Stakeholder Management
There are several key reasons why actively managing project stakeholders is critical:
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Maximizes support for the project – Stakeholder engagement fosters greater commitment from stakeholders, securing buy-in and active participation.
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Minimizes resistance – Addressing stakeholder needs and concerns early on minimizes opposition, roadblocks or resentment later in the project.
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Optimizes resource contribution – Stakeholders can provide resources, expertise and funds to facilitate project execution. Their contributions can be optimized through active engagement.
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Manages expectations – Open communication channels allow clear management of stakeholder expectations, avoiding issues from misaligned assumptions.
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Enables change adoption – Stakeholder collaboration enables smoother adoption of project changes and long-term sustainability of outcomes.
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Reduces risks – Proactively engaging stakeholders helps identify, analyze and address project risks that may arise from stakeholder-related issues.
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Builds trust and transparency – Frequent communication and engagement establishes credibility, trust and confidence between the project team and stakeholders.
11 stakeholder management strategies
The first step in the stakeholder management process is identifying stakeholders and their roles and interests in the project. This helps ensure all potential stakeholders can be involved in the project and its decisionsâyou can only manage or influence what (and who) you know! This is the first step in creating a useful stakeholder map to inform how you manage stakeholders throughout the project. In this example, I included data points such as job titles, team/department, project role, preferred communication methods, and level of influence:
Involve stakeholders in decision making
Invite stakeholders into decision-making processes whenever possible, so they feel like they have a say in how projects unfold from start to finish. This helps build stronger stakeholder relationships between teams and more informed results-oriented decisions. I suggest a scenario-background-decision required-options presentation model to get everyone oriented, informed, and aligned in making quick decisions.
What is Stakeholder Management? Project Management in Under 5
What is stakeholder management?
Stakeholder management is the process of collaborating with stakeholders and maintaining stakeholder relationships and rapport. A stakeholder is either an individual, group, or organization who is impacted by the project outcome.
Who is a stakeholder in a project?
A stakeholder is an individual, group or organization that is impacted by the outcome of a business venture or project. Project stakeholders, as the name implies, have an interest in the success of a project, and can be internal or external to the organization that is sponsoring the project.
What is Stakeholder analysis in project management?
Here’s how. What is stakeholder analysis? Stakeholder analysis is a strategic process that involves identifying and assessing individuals, groups, or organizations that have a vested interest in a project’s outcome. These stakeholders can influence or be influenced by the project’s success or failure.
Why is project stakeholder management important?
There are some examples that demonstrate how Project Stakeholder Management is essential for understanding stakeholder needs, managing expectations, resolving conflicts, and ultimately achieving project success by ensuring the alignment of project goals with stakeholder interests. Here are a few examples of project stakeholder management: 1.
