Stakeholder Identification

Quick reference

• 00:05 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
• 00:06 I'd like to talk with you about stakeholder identification and
• 00:09 its importance on your project. >> The project manager body of knowledge,
• 00:16 the PMBOK guide tells that stakeholders are individuals, groups or
• 00:20 organizations who may affect, be affected by or perceive itself to be affected
• 00:26 by a decision, activity or outcome of a project, program or portfolio.
• 00:31 Stakeholders are people who care or should care about the project.
• 00:35 That's why we want to manage our interactions with them.
• 00:39 Now I recognize you normally don't manage stakeholders,
• 00:42 in fact often they're the ones managing you.
• 00:46 But we can manage our interactions with stakeholders.
• 00:49 We will manage the stakeholder relationship with the project.
• 00:52 We can manage how we communicate with them, the frequency and the topics.
• 00:57 One of the reasons we need to proactively manage these interactions
• 01:01 is that stakeholders change throughout the life of the project.
• 01:05 Different stakeholders are engaging at different times.
• 01:08 And those who are engaged on the project will change their interest
• 01:12 as the project progresses or as business circumstances change.
• 01:17 Sometimes managing our interactions with stakeholders is referred to as
• 01:21 working the power takes of the organization.
• 01:23 And there is an element of that.
• 01:25 Part of stakeholder management is understanding
• 01:28 who has power to affect your project and who does not.
• 01:33 So let's address how we identify stakeholder that matter.
• 01:38 We start by identifying the stakeholders who have direct involvement
• 01:42 in some aspect to the project.
• 01:44 There are several categories of individuals in this group,
• 01:47 there are the people who will make decisions about aspects of the project.
• 01:51 Some of these maybe your project team members, and
• 01:54 some maybe reviewers at oversight meetings.
• 01:57 Now team members are also stakeholders, but
• 01:59 we'll talk about them more in another lesson on teams and team building.
• 02:04 On some projects, customers are major stakeholders, especially if
• 02:08 they are paying for the project and, of course, their senior management.
• 02:12 These individuals are providing resources and reviewing the project progress.
• 02:16 There may also be other functions or organizations providing resources,
• 02:21 such as suppliers, or people from locations outside your organization.
• 02:25 In addition to those individuals who will be directly involved in some aspect of
• 02:29 the project,
• 02:30 there may be some additional stakeholders whose interactions you need to manage.
• 02:35 This is a judgement call on which ones to include.
• 02:38 They're usually those who are affected by the project result but
• 02:41 are not directly involved with the work of the project.
• 02:44 The group may include community groups and regulatory bodies who have
• 02:49 very strong ideas about what succesful projects should or should not do.
• 02:53 When there are only two or three stakeholders, this is easy.
• 02:57 But when there are many stakeholders,
• 02:59 I suggest that you set up a stakeholder register.
• 03:03 According to the project manager bogy of knowledge,
• 03:05 the PMBOK guide, this is a project document including the identification and
• 03:10 assessment and classification of project stakeholders.
• 03:13 The way I use it,
• 03:14 it's just a simple table to help you manage the communication process.
• 03:19 Start by listing all the stakeholders we've just mentioned.
• 03:22 Then we add their contact information.
• 03:24 Typically, that would mean email and phone number.
• 03:27 But list whatever contact information you'll need to contact them.
• 03:31 I also list the stakeholders goal or objective with respect to the project.
• 03:35 We'll talk about that in another session.
• 03:38 The last column is the interaction strategy.
• 03:40 There are a number of different ways that you can use this column.
• 03:43 I like to complete it using the stakeholder interaction queue.
• 03:47 Let's take a look at this queue.
• 03:49 Power is one side, interest on another, and attitude on the third.
• 03:54 For power and interest, the corners are low and high.
• 03:57 For attitude, the corners are positive and negative.
• 04:01 The positive stakeholder who is interested but
• 04:04 has no power with respect to your project is your friend.
• 04:08 Leverage their support where you can.
• 04:10 The positive stakeholder who is powerful, but
• 04:12 not interested, is the unfocused stakeholder.
• 04:15 In this case, you need to gain their interest, and win them over.
• 04:19 The stakeholder who is interested and powerful, but
• 04:22 negative towards the project is a Saboteur.
• 04:25 You need to defend your project, and the team from them.
• 04:28 The stakeholder who is interested, but with low power, and
• 04:31 a negative attitude Is an irritant, do your best to pacify them.
• 04:36 Stakeholder who has no power or interest, but
• 04:39 is otherwise positive is just a bystander.
• 04:42 Consider engaging with them to turn them into a friend.
• 04:45 The stakeholder, who has power, but
• 04:48 is uninterested in likely negative, is a sleeping dog.
• 04:52 Don't annoy them and turn them into a saboteur.
• 04:55 If they aren't interested, have no power and will likely be negative,
• 04:59 they're not a player, with respect to your project so I suggest just ignore them.
• 05:04 You have too many other things to worry about.
• 05:07 But if the stakeholder is interested, positive and
• 05:09 powerful, they are a pillar of support.
• 05:12 Maintain full and open communication with them.
• 05:15 Use this cube to create your communication and interaction strategy.
• 05:20 This should guide the creation of a communication plan
• 05:22 which we'll talk about in another lesson.
• 05:24 Sometimes, I'll change the definition of a deliverable in order to move someone to
• 05:28 a different position on the que moving them say from positive to negative or
• 05:33 putting them in a position of power or no power.
• 05:36 Of course,
• 05:37 the project goal remains unchanged. >> Identifying your stakeholders is
• 05:41 the first step to managing your relationship with them.
• 05:46 Knowing who they are, allows you to plan and
• 05:48 execute your project in a manner that keeps them supportive.

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