Most people fail to engage the right stakeholders
From the An Influential Project Manager Blog
by Colin Gautrey
Today, more than ever, a project manager needs to be an influencer.
The purpose of this blog is to stimulate your journey towards greater influence. With influence, you can overcome the roadblocks thrown in your way, overcome opposition, align stakeholders and, enjoy your role even more.
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It may seem pretty obvious, but when it comes to engaging and managing stakeholders, most people focus on those they know best or have easiest access to. Instead of stepping out of their comfort zone and talking to the people who are most likely to be able to help them, they hide behind their bosses and friends, hoping that they will influence on their behalf.
This is tantamount to sitting on your backside waiting for things to happen, rather than stepping out and making it happen. There is a lot to learn about how to engage, and before you try to do that, make sure you're aiming for the right people. For instance:
- Who are the biggest winners if you achieve your goal?
- What about the losers? Who is going to block you from succeeding?
- Who are the most powerful people who will gain or lose?
- Who can have the most impact (for or against) what you are trying to do?
- Who else could be influencing these powerful people?
Now, who do you need to get within your sights?
Posted on: February 14, 2017 11:59 PM |
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Comments (6)
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Rami Kaibni
Community Champion
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
You definitely have a good point Colin. Ive seen this happen a lot.
You said it,Colin ! You alone are the best Architect of your destiny.It is a different matter that most of the individuals look up to other as their Architect to carve out destiny and that is the reason we have more followers than leaders.One can succeed provided he engages with the right stakeholder to excel in life and script a success story.
Deepesh Rammoorthy
ICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood Service
Tarneit, Vic, Australia
Great Points Colin Hence the need to go through PMP processes and tools and use
"Identify Stakeholders" , Prepare the "Power/Interest Grid" , "Manage Stakeholders", "Manage Communications", "Control Communications"
Sergio Luis Conte
Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Time ago I wrote an article that was published by the IIBA and the PMI as "best practice". Perhaps it helps to somebody in this matter. Here the brief of the article:
English: https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-post/19547/Simple-method-to-plan-the-work-with-stakeholders
Spanish: https://www.projectmanagement.com/blog-post/19534/M-todo-simple-para-planificar-el-trabajo-con-los-Interesados
Karthik T
Senior Engineering Manager| Nike
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
True, this happens often.
Colin Gautrey
Author, Executive Coach and Trainer| The Gautrey Group
United Kingdom
Of course, it is interesting to ponder why this happens. I see a lot of people hesitant to engage with powerful stakeholders, instead going for the easy ones to talk to.
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