Stakeholder Relationship Management: Make it Personal

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

  Communications Management   Lessons Learned   Stakeholder Management   Talent Management  

Technically, a project’s stakeholder is any person or organization that has an interest in a project. However, it is difficult to manage a relationship with an organization. So, practically speaking, stakeholders are really a person(s) who represent themselves or an organization that has an interest in a project. Therefore, as a project manager, when developing your stakeholder relationship management (SRM) plan, you should really focus on the relationship you are going to build and nurture with individuals. In essence, you need to make the process personal.

The fostering of any successful relationship requires us to see the world, issues, concerns and needs through the lens of the other person. Additionally, you need to factor the person’s influence, position and attitude toward you into your assessment of how to cultivate and manage the relationship. This holds true for SRM as well; and consciously and purposely taking these elements of the relationship into account when designing your communications plan will only add to your success. Failure to do so can lead to complications, pain and even failure for you as the project manager--and for the project.

In an article published in the Project Management Journal entitled “A Case Study of Project and Stakeholder Management Failures: Lessons Learned“, J Scott Sutterfield, Shawnta S Friday-Stroud …

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