Management of stakeholders is one of the major responsibilities of a project, change or operational manager. In any activity (project, programme, portfolio or operational), there are several individuals involved and since the activity manager is at the centre and the integrator of the activity, he/she is expected to meet the prioritised needs of key stakeholders within the activity’s boundaries. This is why the identification, analysis and management of stakeholders are crucial to the success of any activity. If you are a project, programme, portfolio or change manager and need some help with stakeholder management, you can sign up for Training Creatively’s stakeholder engagement training course in London.
Who is a stakeholder?
A stakeholder can be an individual, an organisation or a group who might be involved, affect, be affected or perceive itself to be affected by activity, decision or the outcome of an activity.
Simply put, anyone whose interest is affected either negatively or positively is known as a stakeholder in the activity. Whilst doing stakeholder management, the activity manager has to deal with individuals who have their own agenda and interests. It is can be difficult to gauge the interests of all of the individuals who are affected or involved in operational, project or change activities.
This is what makes proper training in the assessment and management of stakeholder so crucial for the successful management of all activities – operational, change and operational.
Steps to stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder engagement is a technique of systematically collecting and analysing qualitative and quantitative information in order to determine whose interests must be taken into account throughout the project’s lifecycle. It helps in the identification of expectations, interests and influence of the stakeholders related to the activity’s purpose.
There are basically three major dimensions over which thorough assessment is done. Take a look below.
- Identify: The first step is to identify the stakeholders’ characteristics including their roles, knowledge, interests and expectations.
- Analysis: Assess the negative and positive impact of the activity on stakeholders and classify them so that it is easier to come up with an appropriate strategy that works for them.
- Assess: You need to understand how important stakeholders will respond or react to a particular situation. This assessment usually helps project managers to work towards boosting the positive impacts and mitigating the ones that are negative.
Now, there are various techniques when it comes to the analysis and assessment of stakeholders. There are various dimensions that you have to take into account to come up with an appropriate strategy for managing the stakeholders. Unless you have proper training, you might be unable to completely grasp the needs and interests of each of the stakeholders. So, get yourself enrolled for Training Creatively’s comprehensive stakeholder engagement training programme. For more information, do get in touch.