Influencing Stakeholders: Three Mistakes You Must Avoid

Recognized as one of Engagedly’s Top 100 Global HR Influencers of 2021, Vivian Blade is a sought-after leadership expert and thought leader. She works with the world's top brands, equipping leaders to build better, more resilient workplaces equipped to thrive in spite of insurmountable odds. She helps companies solve the pressing burnout, turnover, and workplace culture challenges your company is struggling with right now.

  Change Management   Leadership  

This article is a companion piece to the on-demand webinar SCALE Your INFLUENCE: A Model for Project Success.

Janet was reviewing the stakeholder register for her project. The company was implementing new technology to improve routing for field service technicians. This new system promised to improve technician productivity and timeliness.

There were all types of stakeholders, each with different opinions and requirements, including the VP of Field Service (who was also the project sponsor), systems engineers working on the software, the field service technicians who would be using the new system, and long-term customers who would benefit from improved service levels.

This project meant a change for all involved. Not everyone was very happy about the process changes being proposed. Janet felt like they just didn't understand the changes yet, but they would love it when everything was in place. How could she get stakeholder level of support to the 4 or 5 the project team needed? This would definitely take some influence!

Janet and two others from the project leadership team, David and Molly, sat down to review the stakeholder register. Where was the current level of support for each stakeholder, and what were their concerns? Which would be a harder sell? How could they influence these stakeholders to work with their team constructively?

Crafting Their …

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