Every project, no matter how large, small, simple or complex, requires that a range of people be included. There’s you, the project manager. There are your team members. There’s the client (if your project is not in-house). There are also members of management and other higher ups involved. This makes the question of determining who your stakeholders are very difficult. Who are they? How do you assign value or rank to them so you know the most important ones right off the bat?
External Stakeholders
A wide range of people outside your organization or business could be stakeholders in your project. For instance, end consumers could be stakeholders if your project is to develop a new product. If you’re working on a construction project for a client, then you have a whole slew of stakeholders in the client company. Community organizations and partners can also be stakeholders. Essentially, anyone your project impacts can be considered a stakeholder.
Internal Stakeholders
In addition to external stakeholders, there are also internal ones as well. Board members and upper management are stakeholders in your project almost by default. However, you might also have other departments or department heads that have a stake in your project. Again, the general rule here is if they’re impacted by your project, they’re technically a stakeholder.
Identification of Stakeholders
For any project, regardless of industry, scope or budget, the process of identifying stakeholders should start in the very beginning, before the project actually goes live. While there may be additional stakeholders identified later on, after the project is online, it’s important that you do your research and identify as many as possible of the major stakeholders right away as possible. Some of these will be obvious (your manager and the project’s sponsor, for instance, or the client). Some of them will not be quite as obvious (the department manager heading up the graphic design team handling the packaging for your new product, for instance).
There are plenty of free stakeholder identification tools and charts available online for download. Take advantage of these. However, don’t rely solely on these tools. Use your knowledge and expertise to help you nail down names right off the bat.
What to Do After Stakeholder Identification
Identifying the stakeholders in your project is only part of the process. Once you know who they are, you need to take some specific steps. Perhaps the most important thing is to ensure that all of your stakeholders are kept in the loop at all times.
While not all stakeholders will need access to every bit of information about the project, you as the manager need to know which stakeholders need to know what piece of information about the project. You should also encourage stakeholder advocacy, as this can play a huge role in the success of your project. Ongoing communication and leadership are vital to encourage advocacy.
Armed with the information about who your stakeholders are, you should be able to enjoy a more successful project.