In order for risk associated with projects to be minimised it is essential that stakeholders are engaged. There are four significant stages in the management of stakeholders.
Stakeholders are “any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organisation’s objective” (Freeman, 1984)
A project is a culmination of effort from motivated stakeholders that have varying degrees of influence. For large projects, stakeholder identification should be considered across the organisation between organisations and external stakeholders.
A system was developed for categorising stakeholders. This system developed an understanding of the interests of the stakeholder, finding ways to identify their needs and wants. Classification strategies for identifying stakeholders is important as it determines the importance to the project and assists in developing the appropriate relationship management.
Planning Stakeholder Engagement
The process of developing strategies that involve stakeholders in the project is an important step in the project cycle. The project manager is focused on how the project addresses the stakeholder’s needs, expectation, interests and potential impact on the project.
It is essential that the project manager should start this process with a clean slate and that the needs and expectations of stakeholders are focused on and that none are neglected or presumed.
Inputs for stakeholder engagement include;
- The Project charter
- The Project Management Plan – such as resource management plans, communications and risk management plans
- Project documents – assumption and issue logs, project schedule, risk and stakeholder registers
- Agreements – for example procurement agreements
- Enterprise environmental factors – culture, trends, political climate are all factors in managing stakeholder expectations
- Organisational process assets – lessons learned repository assists in understanding stakeholder behaviours and actions can be planned accordingly.
The tools and techniques that are implemented in this process include the expertise of the management team, the ability to gather, analyse represent relevant data and conducting appropriate meetings.
Output is the stakeholder engagement plan that is used in conjunction with the project management plan. Its formality is variable and should be in line with the stakeholder’s expectations.
Managing Stakeholder Engagement
The process of bringing stakeholders into the project conversation takes place now. It is where stakeholders provide input into the setting of priorities, objectives and the purpose of the project. They can assist in the identification, prioritisation of issues and rank the various opportunities.
Inputs include;
- The Project Management Plan – such as resource management plans, communications and risk management plans
- Project documents – stakeholder management and communications plans, change logs.
- Organisational process assets – lessons learned repository assists in understanding stakeholder behaviours and actions can be planned accordingly.
The tools and techniques that are implemented during this phase include the expertise of the management team, relevant meetings as well as soft skills such as conflict management, cultural and political awareness, negotiation, observation and also developing a set of ground rules.
The outputs of the manage stakeholder engagement process include:
- Change requests – whereby the input from stakeholders as required change
- Updates – where further thought as developed plans for better communication, improvements to the management plan as well as the stakeholder management plan.
- Document updates – such as the change, issues and lessons learned registers, as well as the stakeholder register (Project Management Institute 2017).
Monitoring Stakeholder Engagement
The engagement of stakeholders brings them to the planning table and allows them to provide input into the evaluation and choice of planning options. The focus for the project manager is to provide improvements of efficiency and effectiveness to the project plans as it evolves through its life cycle.
Inputs include project management plans, project documents such as issues and lessons learned registers, environmental factors such as governance frameworks and risk thresholds and organisational process assets such as various policies and guidelines.
The tools and techniques include:
- Data analysis and representation – including stakeholder engagement assessment matrix as well as alternatives, root cause and stakeholder analysis.
- Decision making – such as multi criteria decision analysis as well as voting
- Soft skills – such as cultural and political awareness, active listening, networking and leadership
- Meetings – using the most effective means to meet which was agreed in the stakeholder engagement plan.
Outputs include work performance information, change requests, project document updates and project management plan updates (Project Management Institute 2017).
The chances of project success increase considerably if there has been due attention given to the identification, managing and monitoring of stakeholders. Stakeholder engagement
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