Stakeholders

Why it matters

Projects rarely fail because of technology alone. They fail because the person who could block the launch was never consulted, the users were not asked what they needed, or a key approver heard about the project for the first time a week before go-live. Stakeholder management is the habit of finding everyone who matters and keeping each of them involved in the right way.

Who is a stakeholder?

A stakeholder is any person or group who can affect the project, is affected by it, or believes they are. That last part matters: someone who feels affected will act like a stakeholder whether you listed them or not.

Common stakeholders:

• Sponsor: funds and champions the project, makes the big decisions.
• Project team: the people doing the work.
• Users and customers: the people who will use the result.
• Managers of the people involved: they control team members' time.
• Approvers and specialists: security, legal, finance, accessibility, building inspectors, IT.
• Suppliers and contractors.
• People affected indirectly: neighbours of a construction site, a support team that will get new questions.

For the food bank sign-up site: the volunteer coordinator (sponsor), the board (approves the budget), volunteers (users), the warehouse lead (needs the shift lists), the food bank's IT volunteer (will maintain the site afterwards), the web host, and the four-person project team.

The power/interest grid

A simple, widely used tool is a 2 by 2 grid. Rate each stakeholder's power (ability to influence the project: budget, approvals, the ability to block) and interest (how much they care or are affected). Each quadrant suggests a strategy:

                 low interest          high interest
high power   KEEP SATISFIED         MANAGE CLOSELY
             (brief, regular,       (involve in decisions,
              no surprises)          frequent contact)
low power    MONITOR                KEEP INFORMED
             (light touch,          (regular updates,
              watch for change)      ask for input)

Placing the food bank stakeholders:

Positions change. The IT volunteer has low interest at first, but becomes high interest near handover, when they inherit the site. Review the map at each phase.

Beyond the grid

For each important stakeholder, also note:

• What they need from the project (the coordinator: fewer phone calls; volunteers: quick sign-up on a phone).
• Their current attitude: supportive, neutral or resistant, and what would move them.
• How they prefer to communicate: email, a quick call, a dashboard, a printed one-pager.

Teams often combine these into a stakeholder register, a simple table with name, role, power, interest, needs, attitude, owner on the team and communication plan.

Engaging stakeholders

• Involve early. People support what they helped shape. Ask volunteers to test a paper prototype before anything is built.
• No surprises for high-power stakeholders. Bad news delivered early is a conversation; bad news delivered late is a crisis.
• Tailor the message. The board wants cost and risk in two lines; the warehouse lead wants to see the actual export file.
• Listen to resistance. A resistant stakeholder often knows about a real problem. The warehouse lead may point out that shifts must be split by loading dock.

Be careful with stakeholder information: maps can contain frank notes about people, so store them in team-only spaces and write them professionally.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the people who maintain or support the result after the project ends.
• Treating users as low priority because they have little formal power.
• Mapping once and never updating.
• Communicating the same way with everyone.

Quick recap

• A stakeholder can affect, is affected by, or believes they are affected by the project.
• The power/interest grid gives four strategies: manage closely, keep satisfied, keep informed, monitor.
• Record needs, attitudes and preferred communication, and review the map every phase.

Try it

Open the Do tab and build a stakeholder map and engagement plan for your project.