Why is stakeholder identification so important in a projects success? Ask yourself, how do you plan to communicate when you don’t know first who you are communicating with?
The stakeholder identification process is one of the most important processes in project management. The success of any project relies on satisfying and fulfilling the requirements of your stakeholders.
But first you will have to find them, involve them, and keep them engaged with your project.
There’s this quote that goes – “You can miss important stakeholders but they won’t miss you. “
So, how do we ensure we don’t miss them? It’s all about brainstorming. To do this, we use the four I’s.
- Influence - who can influence project works. Think politicians and government departments.
- Interest - who will be interested in the project. Think outside of the local community and think about special interest groups.
- Involvement - who will be involved in the project. Think internal (understand the projects requirements with the organisation and the contract).
- Impact - who will be impacted by the project. Think local community and emergency services.
Stakeholder identification is a continuous process that takes place for the duration of a project. You have to keep looking for project stakeholders and think about how different project activities will impact different people.
Learn from the past
Look at the past engagement on the project and think about where you can improve. Learn from past failures and think about where you can you reach beyond this existing comfort zone to engage with lesser-known stakeholders.
Understand requirements for engagement
Understand the organisations existing engagement style and requirements. What stakeholders communicate regularly with the organisation? What groups do they cover well? Who must they engage with?
Be diverse
Include a diverse range of stakeholders. This is an opportunity to reach out and mix the old with the new. Remember the key stakeholder groups - influencers, collaborators, advocators, and implementation partners. Also remember not all stakeholders are obvious to us and we have to think outside the box.
Be social, look online
Google the area and look at what is not on the ground. Social media provides an opportunity to identify and reach lesser-known stakeholder groups.
In saying that, also STICK TO THE BASICS
Talk to the community, ask them questions. They have a wide range of expertise and can be fantastic advocates for the project and can often point our key stakeholders.
