Neglect quiet stakeholders at your own peril!
From the Easy in theory, difficult in practice Blog
by Kiron Bondale
My musings on project management, project portfolio management and change management.
I'm a firm believer that a pragmatic approach to organizational change that addresses process & technology, but primarily, people will maximize chances for success.
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While I’d hate to draw any similarities between project management and psychopaths, there’s a saying which is frequently uttered by the neighbours of serial killers right after they have been apprehended: “But he/she seemed like such a nice, normal person“.
That phrase comes to mind when I think about just how complicated stakeholder management can be.
It’s bad enough that you have to manage highly complex projects under challenging or even unrealistic constraints, but when you add to that a mob of stakeholders which occasionally resembles a classroom of unruly preschoolers who’ve consumed too much Halloween candy, and you might be forgiven for dreaming about committing some pretty heinous crimes!
My focus is not on the needy, high maintenance stakeholders who frequently consume too much of your time. Instead, I wish to warn you about the dangers of ignoring the ones who you never hear from.
Here are just a few ways in which quiet stakeholders could cause you grief:
- They might be actively subverting your project by poisoning the air with their staff, your sponsor or with other key stakeholders.
- You might assume that they are out there performing the groundwork with their organizations to receive the changes brought about by your project, but they may either be unaware that they need to be doing this, or, because you haven’t followed up with them regularly, they might have given this preparatory work no attention.
- If you are not meeting with them regularly to keep them up-to-date on your project, who is? What misconceptions or myths about your project might be getting passed along to them?
- They might think you are purposely ignoring them which might turn a potential change advocate into an active resister.
When things get extremely busy on your projects it can become very tempting to consider silent stakeholders as a blessing, but beware – those silent waters might run deep enough to drown your project!
(Note: this article was originally written and published by me in November 2013 on my personal blog kbondale.wordpress.com)
Posted on: February 03, 2018 11:00 AM |
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Comments (8)
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Anish Abraham
Privacy Program Manager| University of Washington
Auburn, Wa, United States
You are absolutely right, quiet stakeholders always cause grief and sometimes they micromanage the team. Personally I have experienced this several times.
Good article, Kiron and thanks for sharing.
Great post Kiron.
Some quotes come to mind: "silent but deadly", "the clam before the storm" and "keep you friend close, but your enemies closer".
In some ways it's the silent stakeholders you need to focus on, as the noisy ones are always in the loop anyway.
Good point Kiron
Quite stakeholders are no different from negative stakeholders, in analyzing the grid I think we as a PM should manage all stakeholders no matter of their low influence or interest we need to keep everyone advocating for our favor to enhance the successful deliverables. Managing all stakeholders is an art.
Like the saying goes "still waters run deep".
Watch your back to avoid a stab in the back. Feed that quiet stakeholder.
Good article Kiron.
Drew Craig
Sr. Agile & Product Coach| Vanguard
Philadelphia, Pa, United States
Thanks, Kiron. Great points. We appreciate you sharing your experiences and insights with us.
Great article Kiron, I remember reading this post of yours on PM Hut.
Silent stakeholders can sometimes be project killers, one should be aware of them.
Thanks Anish, Sante, Riyadh, Drake, Andrew & Najam!
Dr. Grant's comments from the first Jurassic Park always come to mind when I think of silent stakeholders:
"A turkey, huh? OK, try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period. You get your first look at this "six foot turkey" as you enter a clearing. He moves like a bird, lightly, bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex - he'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares right back. And that's when the attack comes. Not from the front, but from the side, from the other two raptors you didn't even know were there."
Kiron
Indeed, a little attention can go a long way
Thanks for sharing
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