Go Beyond Good Enough: Stakeholder Engagement Best Practices
From the Voices on Project Management Blog
by Cameron McGaughy,
Lynda Bourne, Kevin Korterud, Conrado Morlan, Peter Tarhanidis, Mario Trentim, Jen Skrabak, David Wakeman, Wanda Curlee, Christian Bisson, Ramiro Rodrigues, Soma Bhattacharya, Emily Luijbregts, Sree Rao, Yasmina Khelifi, Marat Oyvetsky, Lenka Pincot, Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres, cyndee miller
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By Linda Bourne
As we all know, the problem with best practices is that they slowly slip away as we respond to time pressures, and bad habits take root. We know what’s supposed to be done but settle for good-enough practices—until it’s too late.
Well, the start of a new year brings a new opportunity to refocus on re-establishing good habits in all areas of project management, including stakeholder engagement.
The following four best practices will help you engage with your team and other stakeholders:
1. Listen well and respond promptly
This is the first lesson in stakeholder engagement for a project manager dealing with demanding and influential stakeholders: Listen well and respond promptly to stakeholder requests as appropriate to the level of need and the stakeholder priority.
Responding quickly to a request shows you respect the person making the request; but responding does not mean you’re agreeing or dropping everything else. A suitable response may be to say no or to schedule an action at an appropriate future date.
2. Connect with others who share your goals
Stakeholder engagement is required when you alone cannot achieve your goals, particularly goals that you share with others. You cannot achieve these goals without ongoing, effective stakeholder dialogue. This includes connecting with your team, networking with your peers and building “organizational currency” for use in the future when you need to influence others (see my post from a few years back about “Influence Without Authority”).
3. Commit to consultation before decision-making
Don’t try to engineer in advance the outcomes of stakeholder dialogue. An open discussion, without prejudicing any of the outcomes in advance, almost always results in a better decision. If stakeholders think you are just trying to persuade them to accept an outcome that is already set in stone, they will disengage and become cynical.
However, if you’ve already made a decision, respect your team and pass on the information—don’t pretend to consult.
4. Stay focused on common goals
In project management this ought to be easy—a successful project outcome benefits everyone. But project managers sometimes fear that stakeholder engagement will force them into doing things they may not want to do. This is unlikely to happen if you focus your communication and engagement activities on the common goals you share with your stakeholders. The dialogue then becomes a discussion about options for achieving shared goals, not a series of demands by either party.
None of this is rocket science, but effectively engaging your stakeholders, leading to constructive dialogue that drives project success, does require planning, processes and time. Given the myriad time pressures we all face day-to-day, it’s all too easy to see these simple practices as low-priority activities and start ignoring your stakeholder community—until it’s too late and you have a major crisis on your hands.
Make 2016 the year you move beyond crisis management.
Posted
by
Lynda Bourne
on: February 16, 2016 05:38 PM |
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Comments (9)
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George Lewis
Program/Project Manager| DXC Technology Company
Heredia, Costa Rica
1. Listen well and respond promptly
2. Connect with others who share your goals
3. Commit to consultation before decision-making
4. Stay focused on common goals
fosco frongia
Senior project manager| ENTE PATRIMONIALE CHIESA GESU' CRISTO SUG
Fino Mornasco, Como, Italy
great article Linda. many thanks for sharing it
Lynda Bourne
Director, Professional Development| Mosaic Project Services Pty Ltd
South Melbourne, Vic, Australia
Very practical insight , thanks Lynda for sharing this.
Lynda Bourne
Director, Professional Development| Mosaic Project Services Pty Ltd
South Melbourne, Vic, Australia
Thak you for the feedback - Part 2 of this post is now published.
Jorge Espinoza
Cybersecurity Lead| Growth Acceleration Partners
Heredia, Costa Rica
Very good.
In terms decision making, for me it's important to present many options or alternatives to the key stakeholders without trying to persuade them , but providing them promptly possible solutions.
Lynda Bourne
Director, Professional Development| Mosaic Project Services Pty Ltd
South Melbourne, Vic, Australia
Lynda - thank you for reminding us about these facts
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