Stakeholders are individuals (or teams) that are directly or indirectly impacted by the work being conducted by the project team. These could be groups that will either be using, managing or maintaining the product or process after it is handed off (delivered) by the project team.
It is always advisable to have a properly formulated and documented Stakeholder Management plan which is properly circulated within the team to ensure that it is well-understood, accepted and executed by the relevant team participants. This becomes particularly crucial for large programs or projects that have high visibility within the organization.
It is always advisable to have a properly formulated and documented Stakeholder Management plan which is properly circulated within the team to ensure that it is well-understood, accepted and executed by the relevant team participants. This becomes particularly crucial for large programs or projects that have high visibility within the organization.
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An effective Program /Project Stakeholder Management plan should include and address the following five aspects:
- Identification of stakeholders- it is important to identify all the stakeholders for your program or project.
- Analysis of their needs, expectations and influences- one can utilize the power and interest quadrant system of analysis to understand and assign stakeholder interest.
- Develop appropriate strategies and communication plan to work with the stakeholders in the four interest categories.
- Develop a plan to address any conflict of interest situation if (and when) it is to arise between stakeholder groups.
- Develop of log of stakeholder issues and complaints (particularly for large, highly visible or ‘not welcome’ projects) and indicate clear resolution steps that have been taken by the program/project team to address and mitigate them. Keeping a separate stakeholder issue and complaint log provides clear indication of importance being given to the stakeholders- that their voice is important and is not being diluted by being mixed with the general program/project issues register.
Having a detailed Program/Project Stakeholder Management plan shows preparedness of the program/project team to appropriately engage various levels of stakeholder interests. It helps to address leadership angst, particularly towards highly visible or complex programs/projects.
Sandhya U Bhat MSc, CSSMBB, CSSE has developed several new (under patent filing) and enhanced existing strategic methodologies to improve technology and human capital utilization, produce greater ROI on investments and streamline service delivery. She is an acclaimed author, speaker, a sought after thought leader and an avid world traveler.
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