Chapter 3 Stakeholder Management

1. Chapter 3Stakeholder Management Strategies for continuous engagement

2. Chapter overview Identifying stakeholders Mapping power and interest Planning stakeholder management Manage stakeholder engagement Control stakeholder engagement

3. Identifying stakeholders A vested interest (positive or negative) in the project Drive decision making and related activities A mix of champions, workers and protagonists Roles, responsibilities, egos, personalities and agendas Stake in the process and/or result

4. Mapping power • Positive power – • running political interference, endorsing the decision-making procedures, supporting the change control process, modelling appropriate behaviours, supporting SMEs and other team members, escalating appropriate issues, responding promptly to all communication requests, approaching all performance variations in a collaborative manner • Negative power – • short circuiting agreed procedures, circumnavigating change control processes, bullying other stakeholders, creating disruption, being critical and judgemental, not attending meetings, undermining the project manager’s authority, having a track record for raising issues and complaining, completing work poorly, ignoring instructions and directives, not following through on information requests, white-anting’ the project

5. Mapping interest • Positive interest – • adhering to new operating procedures, attending training workshops, demonstrating visibility and involvement, contributing ideas and feedback, reading the handover documentation, promoting the change to other stakeholders, demonstrating appropriate change agent behaviours • Negative interest – • Passivity, public apathy and indifference, malicious compliance, constant challenging and questioning, outright non-compliance, conscious activity leading to damage and disruption

6. The power and interest matrix • Minimal effort • Low interest, low power • Keep informed • High interest, low power • Manage closely • High interest, high power • Keep satisfied • High power, low interest

7. Planning stakeholder management Name and position Roles and responsibilities Information needed Ideal format/media Required frequency Persons responsible for managing

8. Manage stakeholder engagement Managing engagement means more than simply running through and ticking off the line items in the stakeholder management plan. It means using the plan to increase the chances of delivering the project to plan and, ultimately, of project success. It will involve: gaining ongoing commitment to the success of the project ensuring goal achievement with negotiation and communication anticipating future problems and associated risk clarifying, resolving and/or escalating issues anticipating reactions to different situations updating change register/log and their impact

9. Control stakeholder engagement gaining stakeholder buy-in identifying what has led to low/high engagement nominating periodic review timeframes knowing what it is you actually want to measure assessing if what information needs have changed determining what the percentage of work/project is complete determining what variations have been approved determining what issues are still current revisiting the project communication register recommending corrective/reinforcing changes documenting and circulating the amended plan.

10. Review questions Define what is meant by the term ‘stakeholder management’. What is it important to identify the stakeholders in any project? What information would a stakeholder plan contain? What are examples of different stakeholder engagement strategies? Why does the process of stakeholder management need to be controlled?

11. Group learning activities Challenge the notion that all stakeholders contribute equally throughout the project Develop a list of the key stakeholders in a workplace project Identify additional characteristics that define project stakeholders Discuss the challenges in engaging with stakeholders Evaluate the effectiveness of either the RACI or PARIS matrix in managing stakeholders

12. Assessment options Create a stakeholder management matrix identifying the key stakeholders and how they will be managed Develop a rating score/descriptor to scale project stakeholders For each of the four stakeholder management strategies, develop a number of ‘practical’ strategies of what these would look like in the workplace Short answer questions Multiple choice questions