knowing how to create a stakeholder register for a project will help you understand your stakeholders and their needs and expectations, plan and execute effective stakeholder engagement and communication activities, and manage stakeholder risks or issues. So, in this article, we’ll discuss 4 steps to create a stakeholder register for a project.
Table of Contents
What Is the Stakeholder Register?
The stakeholder register is the output of the process of stakeholder identification. This document includes stakeholders’ identification information, assessment information, and stakeholder classification.
- Identification information includes stakeholders’ name, organizational position, location, contact information, and role in the project
- Assessment information includes major requirements, main expectations, potential influence in the project, and phase in the life cycle with the most interest
- Stakeholder classification includes internal and external stakeholders, as well as supporter/resistor/neutral
Read more: Stakeholder management in project management
The stakeholder register must be consulted and updated regularly because the stakeholders may change. Furthermore, A stakeholder register is a useful project management tool because it keeps your stakeholder information in one easily accessible place, simplifying the process of tracking which stakeholders are involved in the project and how they influence the project’s deliverables or outcomes.
Benefits of the Stakeholder Register
The stakeholder register is an important document in project management because it helps you understand your stakeholders and their needs and expectations, plan and execute effective stakeholder engagement and communication activities, manage stakeholder risks or bottlenecks, leverage stakeholder opportunities, and facilitate effective collaboration.
Having stakeholders’ roles, expectations, and interests clearly defined helps create targeting communication strategies tailored to your stakeholders’ needs, ensuring everyone is aligned on project goals. It also leads to enhanced accountability, improved decision-making, and conflict resolution, as well as improved stakeholder satisfaction and support for your project and improve your project quality and performance.
Read more: Importance of the stakeholder register in project management
How to Create a Stakeholder Register?
The following are the steps for creating an effective stakeholder register in project management.
Identify Stakeholders
The first step in creating a stakeholder register is identifying appropriate stakeholders to drive your project. Stakeholders are persons, groups, or organizations that may affect a decision, or be affected by a project activity, or its deliverables. As a project manager, you can use various sources of information, such as organizational charts, project documents (Project charter, procurement documents), contracts, interviews, surveys, or brainstorming sessions to identify appropriate stakeholders for your project.
Primarily, you should consider internal and external stakeholders when identifying them. Internal stakeholders include managers and employees. External stakeholders include customers, suppliers, contractors, local, national or international, government, etc. Furthermore, you should also include any potential or hidden stakeholders who may change or emerge during the project.
Pro tip💡 Identifying stakeholders is crucial because it helps project managers understand who can influence or be affected by a project, manage their expectations, build relationships, minimize risks, and make better decisions to increase the chances of the project’s success.
Analysis Stakeholders
The second step in creating a stakeholder register is analyzing stakeholders based on their level of interest and influence on your project. As a project manager, you can use a power-interest grid or a stakeholder analysis matrix to categorize them into four groups as follows.
- High power, High interest
- High power, Low interest
- Low power, High interest
- Low power, Low interest
This will help you determine how to communicate and engage with each stakeholder group and prioritize their needs and expectations. On the other hand, this will help you manage stakeholder relationships and ultimately enhance project success.
Pro tip💡 As a project manager, you can conduct workshops or meetings to validate your stakeholder analysis because this can provide a platform for them to voice their concerns and priorities. Furthermore, you can ensure your stakeholder register reflects their true interest and influence.
Map Stakeholders
The third step in creating a stakeholder register is mapping stakeholders based on their relationship and attitude towards your project. As a project manager, you can use a stakeholder map or a salience model to visualize how your stakeholders are connected and how they perceive your project. Furthermore, you can use a stakeholder onion diagram or a stakeholder influence diagram to show how your stakeholders influence each other and your project. Moreover, this will help you address any potential conflicts, risks, or opportunities among your stakeholders, and develop strategies to handle them.
In short, mapping stakeholders involves visually representing your stakeholders’ relationships, interests, and influence on the project. This will help you understand their connections, identify key influencers, tailor communication, and engage strategies accordingly.
Document Stakeholders
The fourth step in creating a stakeholder register is documenting your stakeholders in a stakeholder register. A stakeholder register is a table that summarizes the following key information regarding each stakeholder.
- Name
- Role
- Contact details
- Interest
- Influence
- Expectations
- Communication preferences
- Engagement strategies
As a project manager, you must update your stakeholder register regularly throughout the project life cycle, as your stakeholders may change. As well as you should share your stakeholder register with your project team and other relevant stakeholders, as appropriate.
Important💡 Use project management tools or software such as MS Project, Trello, Asana, or Jira to maintain and update your stakeholder register. Then, this can streamline communication and ensure everyone has access to the most current information.
Conclusion
A stakeholder register is a project document that details a project’s stakeholders, their interests, and influence. It’s created by identifying stakeholders, documenting their needs, and assessing their impact and influence. Identifying, analyzing, mapping, and documenting stakeholders are the major steps for creating an effective stakeholder register.
