What Surprise Awaits?

 

What Surprise Awaits?

In today’s world we do not need another surprise.  It seems like we have surprise upon surprise occurring on a regular basis.  So, let’s make sure we control what we can and secure solid footing for successfully managing projects in these turbulent times.  Consider this….changes don’t occur in a vacuum.  To be successful, you must involve the right people at the right time.  Follow these steps to identify and engage the right stakeholders.

1. Identify Project Stakeholders
   1. Stakeholders are: key customers and suppliers; anyone who relies on the output of what’s being changed; anyone whose support or lack of support contribute to the success or failure of the change; people responsible for completing the work
   2. Depending on project scope, the stakeholders can cross multiple organizational levels
2. Assign stakeholder to a group
   1. Segment stakeholders into 5 groups: responsible, helps, permits, questions, and unaware
   2. Group Definitions:
      1. Responsible: must have involvement to be successful
      2. Helps: need role-based assistance
      3. Permits: doesn’t help or hinder the change
      4. Questions: questions, has reservations, or actively resists the change
      5. Unaware: unaware of the change effort
3. Action Steps
   1. Once a stakeholder has been assigned to a group, determine the necessary actions steps
   2. Is it OK if the stakeholder stays in the assigned group, or is movement to a new group required? (i.e. from unaware to helps, or questions to permits)
   3. If movement is required, what actions steps need to be taken to achieve the desired movement?
   4. Remember, not all stakeholders are created equally, so focus your efforts on the stakeholders that will have the most influence

Unsure about how you’ve segmented the stakeholders, or want some suggestions on how to influence important stakeholders?  Reach out to trusted partners, fellow program/project managers, or discuss with project team members.  Be well and stay safe!