Stakeholder management involves identifying stakeholders, understanding their interests and level of commitment to a project's objective, and influencing them appropriately. It is an ongoing process of engagement that aims to build support and address any issues. Key aspects include identifying stakeholders and their concerns, assessing their current and desired commitment levels, developing a stakeholder management plan with engagement strategies, and regularly reviewing progress. The goal is to achieve the project objective while maintaining appropriate commitment among those impacted.

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Contact
Awareness
“I’ve heard about the project”
Understanding
2
3
4
5
6
7
Engagement
“I want to know more about the project”
Acceptance
“The project is going to happen”
Commitment
“I want to help make the implementation work”
Internalisation
“It’s the way we do things here”
1
LevelofCommitment
Time
Stakeholder Management

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What is Stakeholder Management?
Stakeholder Management is forming and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and
influencing them in order to achieve an objective – or at least not undermine it
An objective might be identifying new opportunities, winning a bid or delivering a project
A Stakeholder is any person or group with interest in or impacted by the objective
– either positively or negatively
Stakeholder Management is two-way communication and incorporation of feedback to:
build and sustain appropriate levels of commitment to the objective
identify and mitigate resistance
Who are the most important stakeholders?
Those who can stop you achieving the objective

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The Business Network
Objective
Stakeholder
Management
Budget
Owners
UsersPartners
Account
Management
Project
Delivery
BidCaptureCampaign
Influence to
achieve an
objective
Gather
intelligence to
inform a bid
Managing
stakeholders common
to an organisation
Delivering a
winning bid
Delivering a
successful
outcome
Keeping all
stakeholders
on board
Miller Heiman:
Economic Buyer

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When is Stakeholder Management done?
Stakeholder Management starts as soon as the objective is agreed
and continues until the objective has been achieved
A pre-defined approach should include:
A process of stakeholder identification, analysis and on-going monitoring to drive the
actions required to build appropriate levels of support and deal with any issues
Key messages around business rationale, benefits, transition plans & impacts
Stakeholder Management roles and responsibilities

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Why do Stakeholder Management?
Stakeholders may significantly influence the success or otherwise of achieving the objective
Stakeholders will have a variety of understandings, expectations and levels of commitment
So it is vital to understand:
Who are the interested parties?
What is their reaction to the objective?
What is their role within the interested community?
What are their current and future levels of commitment?
What level of power and influence do they have?
Who or what influences the stakeholder?
Stakeholder Management will enable effective time management

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Stakeholder Management Process
Identify
Name each stakeholder and determine their interest in the
objective and what information they will require
Assess
Understand the level of interest, influence and commitment of
the stakeholder to appropriately manage them
Plan
Record the required level of engagement, any change needed and
name of the gatekeeper in a Stakeholder Management Plan
Create a Stakeholder Map to visualise groupings and relationships
Act
Engage with stakeholders as planned
Regularly review and update the Stakeholder Management Plan

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Identify Stakeholders
Stakeholders can be individuals, groups, functions or organisations and fall into categories:
Those groups or individuals impacted by the objective
Those whose involvement is essential
Those able to influence the outcome
Those who just need to be kept informed
requiring communications but not themselves impacted by the objective
The Gatekeeper is the main point of contact who will manage each stakeholder
All contact should be co-ordinated through the gatekeeper
There may other colleagues who play a supporting role
It may be necessary or desirable to manage a stakeholder indirectly
– perhaps by managing someone who has influence over them

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Identify Possible Stakeholders
Objective
Business
Development
Division
Heads
Executive
Support
Groups
Engineering
Groups
Commercial
Procurement
Executive
Requirement
Owners
Users
Business
Development
Commercial
Executive
Operational
Commercial
Standards
General
Public
Lobbyists
Groups
Internal
External Customers
Suppliers
Partners

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Assess: Where are they on the Commitment Curve
Where they are now
Where we need them in 5 weeks
Contact
Awareness
“I’ve heard about the project”
Understanding
2
3
4
5
6
7
Where we need them in 3 weeks
Engagement
“I want to know more about the project”
Acceptance
“The project is going to happen”
Commitment
“I want to help make the implementation work”
Internalisation
“It’s the way we do things here”
1
LevelofCommitment
Time
Visualise where stakeholders are now and where we want to get them to in the future

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Assess: Analyse for each Stakeholder
How are they affected?
What are the changes they will face?
What are the benefits and disadvantages to them?
What is their reaction?
ChangeDrivers
Where are they now on the commitment curve? How do we know?
What are our concerns?
What are their concerns?
What issues do they have?
Where do we want them on the commitment curve?
How will we know when they are there? What will we be seeing / hearing?
What do we need them to do?
Do they have any requirements of us?
RequirementsConcernsActions
How do we get them up the commitment curve?
Who owns the actions?
When do we need to contact them?
What contact has there been to date?
Who has been speaking to them?
What category stakeholder are they?
Impacted – Involved – Influencers – Keep Informed
Supporter – Opponent – Enthusiast – Neutral – Unknown
Light Touch or Firm Control
To build commitment
and surface resistance
in the required timescale

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Plan: Stakeholder Map
Internal
ObjectiveName – Project Manager
+5D H
Name – Technical Authority
+5D H
Users
Customer
Gatekeeper
User – Function – details
+2U M
Prime
Gatekeeper
P Rime – Prime PM – details
+2D H
Name – System Architect
+5D H
Gatekeeper
Name – Customer PM – details
+5E H
Sub
Contractors
P Rime
S Contractor – SC PM – details
+2T M
Stakeholder Template
Stakeholder – Title, Location
Gatekeeper
U M +2

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Plan: Stakeholder Management Plan
Stakeholder Analysis
Project Name: ProjectID ProjectName
Stakeholder Marker(s) & Influencer(s) Change Drivers Rating
How
Affected
Commitment Curve
#
Buying
Influence
Name Title Location Role
Degree
of
Influence
Mode
Gatekeeper
(Gatekeeper
Supporter)
Stakeholder
Influencer(s)
Key Wins & Results
Benefits &
Disadvantages
-5 to +5
Involve
Inform
Impacted
Influencer
Now Desired By When
Customer
1 Y I L
2 Y E M
Macro to copy selected Stakeholder data
(those selected as Buying Influence in column 2)
to Miller Heiman (MH) Blue Sheet
for Single Sales Objective Analysis
Place the
Stakeholder on the
Commitment Curve
Decide how the
Stakeholder is affected
MH Rating for the
Stakeholder
+5 (Enthusiastic Advocate) to
-5 (Antagonistic Anti-Sponsor)
MH Buying
Influence Role
E/U/T/C/D/I
MH Mode
G/T/EK/OC
Main Point
of Contact
MH Wins
& Results

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Plan: Level of Control
Firm Control
Stakeholders whose engagement requires very tight co-ordination and control
Light Touch
Stakeholders who don’t require tight control
Contact or communication
with a Stakeholder where
not the Gatekeeper:
ASK the Gatekeeper first
Contact
Process
Gatekeeper authorises and
provides current status of
the relationship from their
information and Stakeholder
Management Plan
Contact the Stakeholder,
document any significant
outcome and send to
Gatekeeper
Contact or communication
with a Stakeholder where
not the Gatekeeper
Contact
Process
Refer to Stakeholder Plan to
obtain latest position
Optional: Ask Gatekeeper for
their view on current status
of the relationship
Contact Stakeholder and
inform Gatekeeper of
significant outcomes

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Plan: Gatekeepers
Lead Stakeholder engagement maintaining an overview of current relationship status
Act as the co-ordination point for liaison with Stakeholders, pre-authorising contact with
Stakeholders in the Firm Control category
Identify and implement the activities necessary to build the required levels of Stakeholder
support and buy-in
Record all analysis and regularly update the Stakeholder Management Plan to provide a
complete history of contacts and significant responses
Highlight issues as they arise and identify actions to address them
Escalate serious Stakeholder issues & risks as required
Communicate consistent, clear and agreed messages

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Act: Flagging Stakeholders - Examples
There are issues or concerns present for which no resolution is currently identified
Stakeholder has refused to sign off material
Stakeholder has the power to delay the project and is deemed likely to do so
Stakeholder is communicating negative messages about the project
Stakeholder not at the required point on the commitment curve but unlikely to delay progress
Stakeholder raised issues or concerns which are being managed, unresolved to date, but can be resolved
Stakeholder not signed-off or seen material on schedule but no reason to believe they will raise issues
Insufficient contact to enable Gatekeeper to make reliable status assessment – status unknown
Stakeholder has seen and approved all relevant material for the current stage of the project
All Stakeholder issues addressed to their satisfaction at this stage
Stakeholder at the required point on the commitment curve for this stage of the project

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Act: Validation & Maintenance
Has the whole lifecycle and every aspect of the programme been considered?
e.g. all technical, managerial and organisational impacts
All appropriate reporting lines covered for the Stakeholders identified?
Avoid ‘black holes’ i.e. ensure an awareness at all appropriate levels
Does everyone understand the content of the Stakeholder Management Plan?
Is it clear, specific and unambiguous?
Actions sufficient to build required commitment and surface resistance in the timescale?
How will progress along the commitment curve be measured?
What will Stakeholders be saying and doing at each stage?
Do the actions focus on priority Stakeholders in relation to timing of impact?

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Cautions
Stakeholder Management Plan content must comply with Data Protection Legislation
Data protection legislation entitles individuals access to information recorded about them
Only record fact, not assumptions or perceptions

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Author Profile
In my board role I led a team of 22 Project Managers and 5 Quality Engineers, and ensured Roke’s £79m
project portfolio delivered better than budget profit. I set-up and ran a virtual PMO and created REP,
the Roke Engineering Process, also managing the engineering tools to support it.
After 4 years as an electronics engineer for Siemens, achieving Chartered Engineer,
I moved into project management for 14 years, at Siemens and Roke Manor Research.
Successfully delivering Roke’s most challenging whole lifecycle product developments
on time and under budget led to a role as Director and board member for 6 years.
In 2013 I returned to hands-on project management as Programme Director at
Cambridge Consultants, founder member of the Cambridge Science Park.
Creator of the APM corporate accredited PM Excellence Programme,
I chaired a quarterly PM forum to share best practice and built a
supportive PM community. I coached seven PMs to RPP, five to PQ,
and all passed APMP.
These investments in PM professionalism led to a turn-around and
annual improvement in project results across a 400 project portfolio
and delivered an above budget performance in five consecutive years
with profits totalling £7.9m above budget.
Passionate advocate of PM professionalism, Fellow of the APM and
the IET and author of articles published in Project and PM Today.
Professional Development
Winning Project Work
Planning
Estimating
Risk Management
Earned Value Management
Change Control
Stakeholder Management
3 Steps to Professional Project Management: Case Study
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