Tools and techniques to identify stakeholders are essential because they help you recognize appropriate stakeholders for your project. So, in this article, we’ll discuss 5 tools and techniques to identify stakeholders for a project.
Table of Contents
What Is Stakeholder Identification?
Identifying stakeholders is the process that involves recognizing individuals, groups, or organizations that can influence the project or be impacted by its outcomes. This is the first process of project stakeholder management. Furthermore, this process typically occurs when the project charter is developed and approved. It is repeated as necessary but should be performed at the start of each phase and when there is a significant change in the project.
Read More: 4 steps of the stakeholder management process in project management
Pro tip💡 Each time this process is repeated, the project documents and project management plan components should be consulted to identify relevant stakeholders for your project.
Read More: Stakeholder management in project management
Tools and Techniques to Identify Stakeholders for a Project
As a project manager, you can use tools and techniques (According to the PMBOK 6th edition) such as expert judgment, meetings, data gathering, data analysis, and data representation to get valuable insights into potential stakeholders.
Expert Judgment
Expertise should be considered from individuals or groups with specialized training or knowledge. So, they have specialized knowledge and training in the following topics.
- Knowledge of individual team member contributions, expertise, and type of project deliverables
- Understanding power structure and policies in the organization, etc.
Using their specialized knowledge and training, they can identify appropriate stakeholders for a project.
Meetings
Meetings are another vital tool to identify stakeholders for a project. This tool can be used to develop an understanding of significant project stakeholders. Project managers can hold different types of meetings, such as small group guided discussions, facilitation workshops, and virtual groups using social media technologies or electronics to share ideas and analyze data.
Read more: 6 Types of project meetings in project management
Data Gathering
Data-gathering techniques such as brainstorming, questionnaires, and surveys can be used to identify stakeholders for a project. Brainstorming as used to identify stakeholders can include both brain writing and brainstorming. Brainstorming is a general data-gathering and creativity technique that elicits input from groups such as subject matter experts or team members.
Brain writing is a refinement of brainstorming that allows individual participants to consider the questions individually before the group creativity session is held. The information can be gathered using virtual groups or face-to-face groups.
Data Analysis
Data analysis techniques such as document analysis and stakeholder analysis can be used to identify stakeholders for a project. Document analysis helps project managers to access the available project documentation and lessons learned from previous projects to identify appropriate stakeholders and other supporting information.
Stakeholder analysis results in a list of stakeholders and relevant project information such as their role on the project, position in the organization, level of support for the project, and their interest in information about the project. Stakeholders’ stakes include interest, ownership, rights, knowledge, contribution, etc.
Data Representation
Data representation is a technique that can be used for stakeholder mapping/representation. Stakeholder representation is a method of categorizing stakeholders using various methods. This will help the team to build relationships with the identified project stakeholders. The following are some methods of data representation.
- Stakeholder cube
A stakeholder cube combines the grid elements into a three-dimensional that helps project managers and their teams identify and engage with their stakeholder community.
- Salience model
This technique describes classes of stakeholders based on assessments of their power, urgency, and legitimacy. This model is useful for larger complex communities of stakeholders. It is also helpful in determining the relative importance of the identified stakeholders.
- power/interest grid
Power/interest grid is a technique that supports a grouping of stakeholders according to their level of power (authority) level of interest (concern about the project’s outcomes), and influence (ability to influence the outcomes of the project). These classification models are helpful for projects with simple relationships between stakeholders and the project and are also useful for small projects.
- Direction of influence
Direction of influence is a technique that classifies stakeholders according to their influence on the work of the project or the project team itself. Project stakeholders can be classified as follows:
- Upward – Includes senior management of the organization or customer organization, steering committee, and sponsor
- Downward – Includes the team or specialist contributing knowledge or skills in a temporary capacity
- Outward – Includes stakeholder groups and their representatives outside the project team, such as government departments, suppliers, regulators, and end users.
- Sideward – Includes the peers of the project manager, such as other project managers or middle managers who collaborate with the project manager in sharing resources or information.
Benefits of Stakeholder Identification
Identifying stakeholders is a crucial process in project management because it ensures that the analysis effort is well-informed, inclusive, and aligned with the border goals of the project. The following are some benefits of stakeholder identification in project management.
- Identifying stakeholders allows project managers to understand the diverse needs, expectations, and requirements of various individuals or groups involved in or impacted by the project. This understanding is crucial for developing solutions that meet the stakeholders’ needs and expectations and contribute to the project’s success.
- Identifying stakeholders is crucial for defining the scope of a project effort accurately.
- Identifying stakeholders helps project managers develop tailored communication plans and ensure that the right information reaches the right people at the right time.
- Identifying stakeholders in a project helps ensure complete requirements and minimize the risk of rework. Proactively managing these risks helps prevent issues from dealing with the project and allows project managers to develop mitigation strategies.
- Identifying stakeholders helps understand the interests and priorities of key stakeholders which helps ensure project activities and deliverables contribute to the project’s success.
Conclusion
Identifying stakeholders is the first phase of project stakeholder management. In this process, you can use tools and techniques such as expert judgment, meetings, data gathering, data analysis, and data representation to identify appropriate stakeholders for your project.
