Scope or: how to manage projects for organization success; stakeholder analysis template

Each project has unique stakeholders, influencers, and customers.  With a stakeholder analysis template you get critical knowledge of as many project stakeholders as possible, what they contribute to the project, and how they support the project.

A stakeholder is anyone, or any group, who can positively or negatively impact the project outcome. A fine line may exist between each, but all fall under the stakeholder umbrella. Jump ahead for Stakeholder Template.

With an earlier impact analysis template your project can assess departments, companies, suppliers, teams, and divisions that the project risks. Risk is anything that can positively or negatively impact the project outcome.

So, identify and manage project stakeholders as an important step to identify and manage project risk.

Each stakeholder may have their view, their filter, their domain, their turf, and their livelihood that concerns each and protect against the very change a project disrupts.

The best case:  stakeholders improve project roll out, utility, and adoption.

The worst case: ... well, the road to hell is paved with projected intention.

A Stake In the Ground

Prior to a project's go-ahead identify groups and individuals who have a stake in the project success or failure.  Make sure to understand concerns, motivations, and perceptions of these audiences in order to mitigate the risk to over look, or under appreciate, stockholder position. Stakeholder analysis is crucial to:

• Identify potential advocates and critics of the change;
• Eliminate resistance to change;
• Create a team atmosphere;
• Establish a level of trust;
• Create a sense of ownership for participants involved in the change; and
• Raise the level of communication effectiveness

Stakeholders are both individuals and groups, to include:

• Employees,
• Customers,
• Managers,
• Business units,
• Departments,
• Executives,
• Suppliers,
• Partners and Subsidiaries, and
• Vendors

The objective is not to win all stakeholders over, but to discover someone or something that, previously, overlooked helps the project.  Whether a new voice of reason, a siren song of caution, or a champion in the wings simply waiting for an invitation, an impact assessment should reveal a host of stakeholders to engage. Stakeholder assessment identifies a range of interest to plan and manage project scope.  Stakeholder awareness invites people into the change they will become a part of and is worth any amount of time to make sure there is an accurate pulse on who is affected by the project. Stakeholder analysis will lead to an effort to generate support via awareness, communication, feedback, and collaboration.  Stakeholder management ensures change support exists. After stakeholder identification, plans are built for those individuals or groups affected by and capable of influencing the change process.  For all stakeholder groups we need to clearly understand:

• Impacts (should have a healthy start on this from the impact analysis step)
• Benefits
• Concerns/issues
• Potential reactions, to current/planned project activity
• Accountability and actions

Once Bitten Twice Shy

The steps involved in stakeholder planning and execution are:

1. Identify all key stakeholders and conduct interviews, as required
2. Conduct analysis
3. Develop plan to manage stakeholders - to include communication and change management
4. Implement initial set of actions

This blog and link to the downloadable and customizable Stakeholder Analysis template coincides with slides 35 - 39 of the eBook.

Link to download Stakeholder Analysis Template - fully editable Excel .xls file via Amazon Web Services

Of special benefit within the file are the columns titled "Predisposition".  In this case predisposition is someone who already views the project with particular attitude or acts in a particular way.

A sense of stakeholder project predisposition is a good way to understand perceptions and concerns.  Predisposition becomes great information to build out communication plans.  Columns D, E, F, and G of the attached file allow you to identify each stakeholder's predisposition to the project:

• Negative Support/Low Influence;
• Negative Support/Moderate Influence;
• Negative Support/High Influence;
• Positive Support/Low Influence;
• Positive Support/Moderate Influence; or
• High Support/High Influence

This is in no way a scientific study, but a best-guess on how the stakeholder perceive the project and how you perceive their influence on the project's success.

Matrix Management

The Stakeholder Matrix is on the second tab of the Stakeholder Analysis Template Excel file and is fully customizable.With these columns you can plot their current state on the second tab of the file:  Stakeholder Management Matrix.

Link to Stakeholder Analysis template - fully editable Excel .xls file via Amazon Web Services

Once plotted on the stakeholder matrix, identify where communication strategy is best served and build a plan to communicate and engage.

The stakeholder matrix is a project performance management tool to identify low support/high influence stakeholders and high support/high influence stakeholders.  This stakeholder matrix presents important details to add to your stakeholder management plan.

The only way to manage projects for organization success is to identify and manage the stakeholders that the project impacts.

For highly-influential stakeholders we need to clearly understand:

• What does this stakeholder stand to gain and lose?
• What is the quality of our relationship with this stakeholder?
• How does this stakeholder best process information? Make decisions? Prefers communication?
• Who are the relationship owners?
• What actions are needed?

To move stakeholders from awareness to commitment you need to identify stakeholders risk before project launch.

This is not only a baseline view of stakeholder analysis, but becomes a management, monitoring, and measurement tool to track and update along the project road.

With a stakeholder analysis and a subsequent stakeholder plan you will identify and address various concerns, issues, beliefs, and expectations that stakeholders may express.

As I've mentioned before, participation is the difference between getting a project done and getting a project accomplished.  Understanding stakeholders means you understand the scope of the project impact.

Stakeholder management is an input to scope management and managing scope is managing risk.