Mastering Stakeholder Engagement: The Key to Project Success
I firmly believe in the principle of "getting it right the first time." To achieve this, fostering meaningful stakeholder engagement is absolutely essential. A fundamental principle outlined in the PMBOK emphasizes that active contributions from both internal and external stakeholders play a pivotal role in shaping a comprehensive understanding of requirements and objectives; which ultimately drives efficiency, productivity, and overall success. This approach underscores the importance of collaboration and foresight, particularly in complex environments where diverse perspectives are necessary to identify potential challenges and innovate effective solutions.
Take the example of U.S. Custom and Border Protection’s (CBP) deployment of Traveler Verification Service (TVS) where I was the Program Manager on the project: when we integrated input from external stakeholders such as the airlines, TSA, and airports combined with internal stakeholders across CBP, the initiative saw streamlined implementation and broader acceptance. It’s a testament to how engaging the right voices at the right time can transform ambitious goals into operational realities.
Conversely, according to the article “Total experience: The missing link in government transformation”, published by Nextgov/FCW, the federal government’s digital transformation efforts had a blind spot: stakeholder engagement. The government’s narrow focus on external users combined with insufficient attention paid to the internal workforce experience manifested in operational inefficiency, increased mission risk, and employee burnout.
Introduction
Stakeholder engagement is a fundamental aspect of project management that can significantly impact the success or failure of any initiative. Stakeholders, including clients, team members, investors, and community representatives, are the individuals or groups with vested interests in the project and its outcomes. Stakeholders can have varying influences or impacts on a project; some may be positive while others may be negative. Identifying and managing both types is essential. Furthermore, it is essential to identify and manage key stakeholders whose support and endorsement are crucial for the sustainment and continuation of the project. Effectively engaging all relevant stakeholders ensures alignment, builds trust, and fosters collaboration, making it a critical strategy in achieving project goals.
This article examines various types of stakeholders and their impact on the project, both positive and negative. It offers guidance and insights for new and aspiring project managers on how to engage and manage stakeholders effectively.
What is stakeholder management, and how can it transform ambitious goals into thriving realities?
Stakeholder engagement refers to the process of identifying, analyzing, and actively involving stakeholders throughout the project's lifecycle. It is not a one-time activity but an ongoing effort to connect, communicate, and collaborate with all relevant parties. By prioritizing stakeholder engagement, project managers create an environment where stakeholders feel valued and empowered, leading to smoother project execution. Furthermore, building strong stakeholder relationships fosters future collaborations and establishes a supportive network beyond the current project. Engaging the right stakeholders offers several advantages, including:
Enhanced Communication: Stakeholder engagement facilitates clear communication channels. The active participation of stakeholders enables them to offer input, express expectations, and raise concerns early in the process. This transparency minimizes misunderstandings and enhances the organization's reputation, thereby securing trust from both the community and its clientele.
Enhanced Endorsement and Support: Involving stakeholders, particularly those with significant influence, leads to a sense of ownership and dedication to the project. When stakeholders are consulted, they are more likely to agree with decisions, commit resources, and support objectives.
Greater Alignment of Mission Goals: Stakeholder engagement helps ensure that the project's objectives align with the expectations and priorities of all parties involved. It addresses differing viewpoints and aims to deliver outcomes that meet stakeholders' needs while achieving organizational goals.
Shared Accountability: Diverse expertise working toward a common goal distributes ownership of success across disciplines, ensuring all relevant parties are accountable for the project's outcome and promoting collaboration over competition.
Emphasis on User-Centered Design: Involving both external and internal stakeholders at the initial planning stage and again during deployment ensures that the design meets its intended purpose with the end user in mind.
Bridging the Silos for Speed and Agility: Engaging the relevant subject matter experts from the outset facilitates efficient decision-making and prompt problem solving by breaking down barriers. This approach leads to more streamlined agile operations and fosters inspired, motivated teams.
Despite its benefits, stakeholder engagement is not without challenges. Project managers often face difficulties in managing diverse and sometimes competing stakeholder interests. Some common challenges include:
Identifying the Relevant Stakeholders: Determining impactful and influential stakeholders can be challenging, especially in large projects with multiple players and teams. Missing key stakeholders may result in communication gaps and missed opportunities for collaboration, potentially risking project success.
Managing Conflicting Interests: Stakeholders often have competing or conflicting priorities, making it difficult to satisfy everyone. Navigating these competing interests involves managing conflicts with diplomacy and implementing strategies that align with mission objectives.
Maintaining Engagement: Keeping stakeholders interested and involved throughout the project is challenging, but not doing so can lead to resource-intensive and time-consuming realignment efforts. Regular updates, consistent communication, and active participation are crucial for maintaining stakeholder engagement.
Demand for Resources: Effective stakeholder engagement demands time, effort, and resources. Balancing these demands with other competing project deliverables and responsibilities can be a daunting task for project managers. Incorporating stakeholder management activities into project planning and scheduling processes can effectively reduce the risk of adverse effects on the project.
How can engaging the right stakeholders turn ambitious goals into thriving realities while avoiding costly pitfalls?
Recently, I was involved in a project aimed at delivering a U.S. Federal benefit to a foreign partner country. The project was nearing completion, remained within the allocated budget, and was prepared for early delivery. After considerable planning and coordination with the partners, two days before the deployment, the Department of State (Dos), under the direction of POTUS, requested that the release be postponed indefinitely. They aimed to leverage this benefit to influence a disputed policy change. If we had engaged with DoS early on, we would have been aware that the conflicting and competing priority directed by a most influential and impactful individual in the U.S. would negatively affect our project. Our failure to do so derailed the project and ultimately hindered our release.
In many complex projects, it is highly probable that there is a “DoS” that may unexpectedly appear and disrupt progress. This disruption can significantly impede or completely derail the project, and in the worst-case scenario, lead to its termination. Not all stakeholders influence the project positively. It is important to identify the appropriate stakeholders to involve, ensuring success and avoid waste and frustration of a stalled project.
Stakeholders, though not directly assigned to the project, can significantly influence its outcome. They come in various forms, playing different roles and impacting the project in unique ways. Let's examine some roles of stakeholders and their influence.
Clients and Customers: those who you will help – These individuals or groups are the consumers of goods and services. They influence the marketability and salability of the products, thereby directly affecting future trends and growth. e.g. consumers using the goods, clients requiring the services, and suppliers leveraging the products
External Partners: those who you will support – These individuals are not classified as consumers or clients, but they can directly benefit from or be adversely affected by the project's success or failure, thereby exerting significant influence on its outcome. e.g. politicians, competitors, affiliates, trade unions
Investors and Executives: those who will lead you – These individuals are in leadership or management roles and have the authority to continue or terminate projects, thus impacting the project lifecycle. They ensure the project aligns with mission goals and provides required resources. e.g. management, investors, shareholders
Regulators and Enforcers: those who will measure you – Typically established by governmental agencies, these individuals are regulators and compliance enforcers tasked with ensuring that goods, services, and related processes adhere to regulatory, legal, or security standards. e.g., inspectors and auditors (ISO, NIST, EPA), regulators (OHSA, SOX, ITAR, Export), legal entities (IP, copyright, patent)
Subject Matter Experts: those who will teach you – These are individuals or groups that possess industry or subject matter expertise. They can assist in rapid troubleshooting and resolution of challenges; identify risks and opportunities and help craft strategies; predict trends and patterns based on facts to identify gaps; provide advice on best practices; and share lessons learned. e.g. researchers and analysts, authors, scholars and academics, industry experts, internal SMEs
Community: those who will judge you – These individuals are concerned with community impact, inclusion and social justice, neighborhood wellbeing, and overall social responsibility. They often become the de facto promoters or detractors, using audience-specific messaging that directly affects the marketability and salability of goods and services. e.g. social media influencers, communities, activists, journalists
Internal stakeholders: those who will help you– These individuals are internal to the organization and include resources directly assigned to the project as well as cross-component teams that influence project delivery. They support the project by providing requirements, allocating resources, working towards delivery, and verifying and validating goods and services. e.g. delivery team, internal SMEs, suppliers and contractors, departments
These stakeholder roles are not mutually exclusive. An individual or a group can assume multiple roles, thereby enhancing their level of influence and impact on the project. During the stakeholder identification process, it is imperative that the project manager not only identifies the stakeholders but also understands their roles, as well as their level of impact and influence over the sustainment and continuity of the project.
Who’s steering the wheel, and who’s throwing wrenches? Let’s dive into strategies that can make all the difference in managing the allies and challengers.
Stakeholders can be the greatest allies or the toughest critics—stakeholders hold the key to a project's fate. Know them, engage them, and watch your project thrive. As stated in the previous section, allies are individuals who assist, support, lead, and guide the project team, thereby contributing to the project's success. With the right strategies, recognizing and satisfying them is straightforward. On the contrary, recognizing the challengers is slightly more complicated. Here are some examples of challengers:
Regulators and Legal Entities: They are generally strict enforcers of laws and regulations. They may not always be flexible or empathetic towards the project's timeline, cost, and constraints. Their primary focus is on compliance, and their decisions may sometimes be influenced by personal biases or agendas rather than the overall objectives of the project.
Competing Influencer: These individuals may have self-interests that could hinder or adversely affect the project's success. Contractors assigned to the project often focus on their business growth, which can conflict with project cost and schedule constraints. Other competing influencers might include projects with similar goals or those needing the same resources, companies offering similar products and services, and sponsors and advocates with opposing interests.
Unqualified or Uninformed: These individuals assert expertise without verified qualifications. They may have a poor understanding of the functional and technical aspects and project's objectives or not have the necessary knowledge to support project deliverables. Such stakeholders may have unrealistic expectations and offer uninformed critiques, potentially derailing the project and disrupting progress.
Forgotten Stakeholders: These individuals believe they should be included and that their opinions and input should be considered. They are often very passionate about the project. As a result, even if their involvement is not necessary, they may feel offended if they are excluded. Consequently, they might deliberately or inadvertently hinder progress or disrupt the momentum.
Overwhelmed Stakeholder: These individuals may feel burdened by the sheer complexity, demands on their time, or pace of the project. Their stress and inability to prioritize effectively can lead to delays, miscommunications, and a loss of productivity within the team.
Nay Sayers and Stubborn Know-it-Alls: Some individuals tend to be confident in their beliefs and opinions, which may be negative or pessimistic, often anticipating irrelevant potential problems. Their frequent criticism can impact confidence in the project, affecting the team's morale and creating a challenging atmosphere.
Inactive or Underperforming Individuals: These individuals often are silent actors or consistently fail to meet expectations. They provide minimal feedback and appear disengaged, which can make it challenging to assess their needs or monitor the progress of their tasks. This can potentially lead to issues that only surface when it is too late and have already transformed into risks.
Demanding Stakeholders: These individuals have urgent but often with unjustified claims or unrealistic expectations. They may lack an understanding of the project complexities and frequently request updates and minor changes to the scope, sometimes bypassing the project manager. Their pressure can result in team member burnout and potentially hinder progress.
Saboteurs: These individuals deliberately or unintentionally try to undermine or disrupt the project due to hidden agendas, resentment, or dissatisfaction. Their actions can range from subtle interference to outright obstruction, often requiring careful handling to prevent damage. This can consist of intentionally withholding information, creating obstacles, or actively working against the project.
Poor Communicators: Effective communication is a cornerstone of project success, but these stakeholders struggle to articulate needs, share information, or respond appropriately, both in writing and verbally. Miscommunication can lead to misunderstandings, wasted efforts, or delays.
Indecisive Individuals: Stakeholders who consistently struggle to make decisions, frequently change their minds, or avoid making decisions can impede progress and create uncertainty. Their indecision often results in a lack of direction, causing delays and confusion, and ultimately hindering momentum.
Politically or Personally Motivated: These stakeholders might prioritize their own interests or political agendas over the project's objectives. Their decisions and actions may be influenced by external pressures or personal ambitions, making transparency and balanced negotiations challenging.
Change Resistance Stakeholder: These individuals resistant to change often prefer the status quo and may fear the unknown. This reluctance can manifest in delays in approvals, lack of cooperation, and creating barriers to innovation and adaptability, or worse undermining the project manager’s authority.
Now that we’ve got a handle on the stakeholders, let’s dive into some potential pitfalls—and how to tackle them head-on!
Managing stakeholders requires understanding their strengths and weaknesses, the value they bring or challenges they may present, and their level of influence on the project. With this knowledge, the project manager can anticipate future actions, develop strategies for responses, and reduce the risk of failure. Even with this understanding, there are some pitfalls project managers should avoid:
Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen: When too many stakeholders, especially those that are highly influential and impactful, are involved without proper coordination, decision-making becomes convoluted. Which leads to confusion and conflicting priorities. It is crucial to streamline responsibilities and ensure clarity among all participants.
Insufficient Subject Matter Experts (SMEs): If the right SMEs are not engaged, projects risk suffering from poor direction to carry out tasks, lack technical clarity needed to address complex challenges, generate unrealistic expectations, and have gaps in knowledge. These elements can compromise the quality of the outcomes. Engaging the right expertise early can prevent these issues.
Stakeholder Voice Not Heard: Ignoring the input or feedback from the customer can lead to misaligned goals and deliverables that fail to meet expectations. Failing to account for the perspectives and input can result in disengagement, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities for innovation. Projects should actively incorporate mechanisms to gather and act upon key relevant stakeholder insights.
Overlooking Influential Stakeholders: Neglecting to acknowledge the significance and authority of key stakeholders may result in ineffective communication and engagement strategies. Failure to prioritize and address their concerns with urgency or manage their expectations promptly can adversely affect their willingness to support, endorse, or allocate resources to the project. Identify and manage key authoritative stakeholders with urgency and timely responses.
Irrelevant Stakeholders: Engaging stakeholders without relevance or authority can lead to distractions and dilute focus. It is essential to identify and engage relevant stakeholders who have a genuine interest, vested interest, and authoritative influence in the project.
Assuming Everyone is the Same: Treating all stakeholders uniformly without addressing their individual needs, interests, and expertise can result in oversimplification or misrepresentation of stakeholder diversity and complexity. This approach may overlook potential conflicts or synergies among different subgroups, leading to ineffective and unproductive engagement, which can negatively affect the overall outcome.
Overlooking Cultural Differences: Not engaging stakeholders who understand cultural nuances may result in problems with rights, values, or norms, which could cause harm or dissatisfaction. This oversight can negatively impact the marketability and profitability of the goods and services overall. Leverage the cultural and ethnic backgrounds and expertise of stakeholders to positively impact the project outcome.
Stakeholder needs, requirements, and levels of influence often evolve throughout a project. Failing to continuously review and update stakeholder management plans in response to these changes can result in misalignment and missed opportunities.
Let’s Explore Strategies for Effective Stakeholder Engagement
Identifying and managing the relevant stakeholders is not a daunting task. To overcome the challenges and optimize stakeholder engagement, project managers can leverage the following strategies:
Stakeholder Analysis: Conducting a thorough stakeholder analysis helps identify relevant individuals or groups who have a vested interest in the project. Understanding their roles, interests, and level of influence and impact allows project managers to tailor and prioritize engagement efforts effectively.
Clear Communication Plans: Developing a structured communication plan ensures that stakeholders receive timely updates, relevant information, and opportunities for feedback. Customizing communication methods and platforms to each stakeholder enhances accessibility and connection.
Active Listening: Listening to relevant and influential stakeholders and acknowledging their input fosters trust and collaboration. By addressing their concerns and incorporating feedback, managers demonstrate commitment to stakeholder satisfaction, which may result in reciprocated commitment to success.
Setting Expectations Early: Defining roles, responsibilities, and project goals at the onset helps avoid misunderstandings and creates a clear framework for collaboration. Aligning project goals and objectives with those of the organization and customer contributes to achieving the desired result. Clearly outlining expectations provides a basis for effective engagement.
Regular Updates and Check-Ins: Consistent communication throughout the project lifecycle keeps stakeholders informed and engaged. Scheduling regular updates, meetings, or progress reports ensures that stakeholders remain invested.
Leveraging Technology: Digital tools such as project management software, collaboration platforms, and data dashboards make it easier to engage stakeholders efficiently. Leveraging technology streamlines communication, documentation, and feedback collection.
How can you ensure that your stakeholder engagement strategies are both effective and adaptable to evolving project dynamics? The steps below outline the path for successfully implementing an effective stakeholder engagement strategy.
Step 1 - Identify: The first step in effective stakeholder engagement is identifying who the stakeholders are. Identifying stakeholders ensures no critical party is overlooked and sets the foundation for meaningful engagement throughout the project lifecycle.
Step 2 - Analyze: Once stakeholders are identified, analyzing their roles, interests, expectations, and levels of influence becomes essential. This analysis helps project managers understand how each stakeholder can affect or be affected by the project. By categorizing stakeholders based on their power and interest, managers can prioritize engagement efforts and tailor strategies to address specific concerns or opportunities presented by each group.
Step 3 - Prioritize: Engaging with every stakeholder equally may not be feasible due to resources or time constraints. Therefore, prioritization is necessary. Stakeholders are generally ranked based on their influence and interest in the project's success. High-priority stakeholders often require more frequent and detailed communication, while lower-priority stakeholders may only need periodic updates. This process ensures efficient allocation of engagement resources.
Step 4 - Engage: Engagement involves actively interacting with stakeholders through meetings, updates, and feedback sessions. The goal is to establish trust, foster collaboration, and maintain open lines of communication. Tailoring engagement methods to suit the preferences and needs of different stakeholders enhances the overall effectiveness of this process. Engagement should be an ongoing effort rather than a one-time activity to ensure continued alignment and satisfaction.
Step 5 - Continuously Assess and Adjust: Routinely assessing the relevance of stakeholders and changes in their influence or impact on the project is essential. Based on these assessments, adjustments can be made to engagement strategies to align with the evolving requirements and direction of the project. This adaptability helps maintain strong relationships and ensures stakeholder satisfaction. Project managers can use retrospectives or a similar process to assess stakeholder engagement.
What’s the best way to identify and categorize stakeholder engagement?
There are many tools for effectively identifying and managing stakeholders. This subject deserves its own article. The two most popular tools used are the Influence-Interest Grid and Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix (SEAM) techniques.
The Influence-Interest Grid is a common presentation style using a two-dimensional matrix. Interest and influence are shown along with a third dimension, often represented by the color or size of symbols classifying stakeholders as Leaders, Advocates, or Blockers.
SEAM is a project management tool used to analyze and document the current (C) and desired (D) state of stakeholder engagement. It classifies stakeholders according to their degree of interest, influence, and vested role, allowing project managers to evaluate and implement strategies that enhance the desired engagement.
Conclusion
“Getting it right the first time!” - Stakeholder engagement is an indispensable element of successful project management. It fosters communication, builds trust, facilitates resource allocation, and aligns goals, ensuring that the project delivers meaningful outcomes that satisfy all involved parties. While challenges exist, employing effective engagement strategies and maintaining a clear focus on collaboration allows project managers to turn potential obstacles into opportunities for growth. In doing so, stakeholder engagement not only strengthens the current project but also lays the foundation for enduring relationships and future accomplishments.
