The 04 steps of the stakeholder management process play a crucial role throughout the project. So, in this article, we’ll discuss these steps of the stakeholder management process.
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What Is Project Stakeholder Management?
Stakeholder management in project management is the process of organizing better communication with stakeholders (primary stakeholders and secondary stakeholders) and effectively managing their expectations. So, project stakeholder management is crucial because it plays a vital role throughout the project life cycle. As a project manager, you’re responsible for managing your stakeholders because they have some type of interest in or influence on your project. As such, it’s crucial to communicate your project’s details with them regularly. However, you should communicate those details with the right stakeholders at the right time because it may enhance their satisfaction. On the other hand, stakeholders’ satisfaction can influence future projects or business opportunities.
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04 Steps of the Stakeholder Management Process in Project Management
Project stakeholder management involves four processes (according to the PMBOK 6th edition), which are identifying stakeholders, planning stakeholder engagement, managing stakeholder engagement, and monitoring stakeholder engagement. These processes help project managers manage their stakeholders effectively and efficiently to achieve the project’s objectives. So, in this article, we’ll explore 04 steps of the project stakeholder management process.
Identifying Project Stakeholders
Identifying project stakeholders is the first process of project stakeholder management that will help project managers identify stakeholders regularly and analyze and document relevant information regarding their influence, interest, involvement, interdependencies, and potential impact on project success. Typically, this process is performed periodically throughout the project as needed.
Understanding project stakeholders is crucial before deciding on tools and techniques to engage with them. It involves recognizing who the stakeholders are, what they care about, and preferred methods of communication. So, you can use some documents such as project charter, business case, and communication management plan to identify their details.
- The project charter helps you identify the primary stakeholders list of your project, as well as it may contain information regarding the responsibilities of the stakeholders.
- The business case is a document that helps you identify the project objectives and identify an initial list of stakeholders affected by the project.
- The communication management plan is a document that includes information sources of knowledge about the project’s stakeholders.
Furthermore, you can use tools and techniques like stakeholder mapping or power-interest grids, meetings, stakeholder cubes, surveys, or focus groups to identify and analyze stakeholders. Stakeholder mapping and power-interest grids help you categorize stakeholders based on their influence, interest, and impact on the project.
Once you have identified stakeholders during this process, you should document all the identified stakeholders’ information on the risk register. As well as this document is the main output of this process. Typically, this document includes information as follows.
- Identification information includes stakeholders’ names, organizational positions, contact details, locations, and roles on the project.
- Assessment information includes stakeholders’ requirements, expectations, potential for influencing project outcomes, and the phase of the project life cycle where the stakeholder has the most impact or influence.
- Stakeholder classification includes the classification model chosen by the project manager. For example, internal/external, impact/influence/ power/interest, or upward/downward/outward/sideward
As a project manager, this knowledge will help you move on to plan the stakeholder engagement process.
Planning Stakeholder Engagement
Plan stakeholder engagement is the second process of stakeholder management. In this process, you should develop approaches or strategies to involve project stakeholders based on their interests, expectations, and potential impact on the project. Therefore, when you develop strategies, you can use inputs such as project charter, project management plan components, project documents, and agreements to ensure its success.
Project charter provides information such as project purpose, objectives, and success criteria. So, this information will help you when planning how to engage stakeholders.
Project management plan components such as risk management plan, resources management plan, and communication management plan will help project managers during this process. Accordingly, the resources management plan provides information regarding the roles and responsibilities of the team members and other stakeholders listed in the stakeholder register. As well as a risk management plan may contain risk thresholds that can assist in the choice of the optimal stakeholder engagement strategy mix.
Furthermore, project managers can use tools and techniques when developing strategies during this process. Those are as follows.
- Assumption and constraint analysis – this tool helps project managers analyze current assumptions and constraints because that may be conducted to tailor suitable engagement strategies.
- Mind mapping – this tool helps project managers to visually organize information regarding stakeholders and their relationship to each other and the organization.
- Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix – this tool supports project managers in comparison between the current engagement level of project stakeholders and the desired engagement level required for successful project delivery.
- Meetings – this tool helps you discuss and analyze the input data of the stakeholder engagement planning process and develop a better stakeholder management plan.
According to that, the stakeholder management plan is the final output of the process. Furthermore, this is also a component of the project management plan and helps you identify strategies and actions required to prompt the productive involvement of project stakeholders in execution and decision-making. In short, the stakeholder management plan may include specific approaches (or strategies) for engaging with project stakeholders.
Important💡 By planning the stakeholder engagement in detail, you can ensure that the engagement is well-established, organized, transparent, and productive in achieving its desired goals. The following aspects should be considered when planning the stakeholder engagement process.
- Leadership and facilitation
- Timing and location
- Project stakeholder invitation and communication
- Key messages and questions
- Data gathering and analysis
- Reporting and sharing of results
- Evaluation and improvement
Managing Stakeholder Engagement
Managing stakeholder engagement is the third process of project stakeholder management. In this process, you should communicate and work with project stakeholders to meet their needs and expectations, identify issues, and foster suitable stakeholder involvement. As a result, this process allows you to improve stakeholders’ support and minimize obstructions.
The stakeholder engagement plan plays a crucial role when managing stakeholder engagement. Here are some examples of its activities.
- Engaging stakeholders in suitable project phases to obtain, confirm, or maintain their continued commitment to the project’s success.
- Handling stakeholder expectations via communication and negotiation
- Identifying any issues or potential concerns related to project stakeholder management
Furthermore, managing project stakeholder engagement helps the project manager ensure that stakeholders clearly understand project goals, objectives, risks, and benefits of their project. On the other hand, you can understand how their contribution will increase project success. So, here are some documents that will help you to manage your stakeholder engagement.
- Communication management plan – this document guides you regarding the methods, formats, and technologies used for stakeholder communication.
- Risk management plan – this document helps you understand the risk categories and other relevant information that can be used to handle stakeholder engagement.
- Stakeholder management plan – this document provides guidance and information on handling stakeholder expectations.
- Change management plan – this document helps the project manager for submitting, evaluating, and implementing changes to the project.
In addition to these documents, the stakeholder register provides crucial information for managing stakeholder engagement. As well as when managing stakeholder engagement, you can use the following tools and techniques.
- Communication skills
- Interpersonal and team skills
- Meetings
When managing stakeholder engagement, you can measure their satisfaction using appropriate tools such as surveys or related metrics. Through that, you can address any issues or problems for improvements. For example,
A mode chart is a metric that helps project managers track the mood or reactions of the team. At the end of each day, team members can use indicates such as colors, numbers, or emojis to show their mental status. Then, the project manager can track the project team’s mood, which will help address issues or areas for improvement.
In short, once you have planned your stakeholder engagement plan, you must manage your stakeholder engagement according to your plan. So, you should communicate regularly with your stakeholders using tools and techniques appropriately. Through that, you can listen actively and respectfully, address any issues, and document and record the data or feedback. By implementing your stakeholder engagement plan, you can assign responsibilities, maintain open channels for communication, and stick to your schedule.
Monitoring Stakeholder Engagement
Monitoring the stakeholder engagement process is the fourth step of project stakeholder management. In this process, the project manager should monitor stakeholders’ relationships and tailor strategies for engaging stakeholders via modification strategies and plans. Furthermore, monitoring stakeholder engagement helps the project manager enhance the efficiency and productiveness of stakeholder engagement activities. As well as this process is performed throughout the project life cycle.
As a project manager, you can use some documents when monitoring the stakeholder engagement process. It involves project management plan components such as resource management plan, communication management plan, and stakeholder engagement plan.
- The resource management plan helps you identify methods for team members’ management.
- The communication management plan provides the plans and strategies for communication to the project’s stakeholders.
- The stakeholder engagement plan helps the project manager define the plan for handling stakeholder needs and expectations.
In addition to these documents, the risk register, stakeholder register, and project communication provide crucial information for monitoring the stakeholder engagement process.
Furthermore, you can use tools and techniques such as data analysis, decision-making, data representation, interpersonal and team skills, communication skills, and meetings for monitoring stakeholder engagement. Moreover, these are will help you monitor stakeholder engagement progress, adjust strategies as needed, and ensure stakeholders’ needs are met. Regularly evaluate outcomes or deliverables to drive continuous improvement, flexibility, and better collaboration.
Important💡As a project manager, you should thank your stakeholders for their participation, explain how their feedback has influenced your decisions or actions, and report and share the results of your engagement. Furthermore, you should evaluate and reflect on your engagement process, address your weaknesses and strengths, and learn from your failures and successes.
Conclusion
Stakeholder management in project management plays a vital role throughout the project life. Identifying stakeholders, planning stakeholder engagement, managing stakeholder engagement, and monitoring stakeholder engagement are four processes of project stakeholder management. Each process plays a crucial role in achieving the project’s objectives. As such, you should use appropriate tools and techniques for each process to get better results or outcomes.
