Stakeholders: how to improve engagement
From the The Money Files Blog
by Elizabeth Harrin
A blog that looks at all aspects of project and program finances from budgets, estimating and accounting to getting a pay rise and managing contracts.
Written by Elizabeth Harrin from RebelsGuideToPM.com.
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Every stakeholder on your project is going to come to the work with a different level of engagement. That level of engagement is going to depend on lots of things, like:
- How busy they are
- What other projects they are working on and the priorities of those projects
- Their level of understanding for the project’s goals and objectives
- What is expected of them (and whether they perceive those tasks to be easy, hard, pointless or worth their time).
Often stakeholders don’t exhibit the levels of engagement that we might feel we need from them to get the best results for the project. Here are some thoughts and simple ideas for how to move people into a place where they are prepared to engage a bit more with the project.
Blocker to indifferent
Projects struggle when the wrong stakeholders are blocking the change. In fact, when any stakeholder is resistant to change, that can cause problems.
Blockers are possibly people who don’t see the problem that the project is trying to fix. They might be keen to defend the status quo, whatever that is.
Talk to them about why they appear to be resistant, or what they are worried might happen as part of this project. Try to share the reasons for the project and the ‘why’ behind the change, even if it doesn’t directly affect their team. They might be more open to engaging with the project if they know the reasons driving the change.
There are various things to try here, but it starts with trying to understand their position and probably ends with escalating to their line manager or your project sponsor.
Indifferent to keen
These are stakeholders who are a bit ‘meh’ about the project and you’d like them to be supportive.
Indifferent stakeholders may think the project isn’t relevant to them. Perhaps they don’t see the point of it. The project just doesn’t seem important. You can see this in their reaction to the work, their slow response in getting back to your messages and calls, and their general attitude to the project.
There is also a chance that you’ve asked them to be involved and haven’t been clear enough with the ask. Talk to them about their priorities and those of their team. Share the successes and if necessary, try to get some of their time ringfenced to complete their project work.
Keen to champion
Supportive stakeholders are keen about the project, but they wouldn’t necessarily be a champion – those super proactive stakeholders who really understand and make progress on the work. Some of your stakeholders probably need to be in the ‘champion’ category.
Think about how you best use their time so they don’t sit in meetings and hear updates that they already know about. Ask for some small commitments and see how they get on completing those before you ask for larger tasks.
Not everyone needs to be a champion
You don’t need everyone to be a champion. Some stakeholders are probably OK to simply be indifferent: as long as they aren’t resisting the change that could be good enough.
The idea of looking at stakeholders in this way and seeing where they are on a scale is to understand better about the kinds of engagement – and specifically the time commitment – required for each stakeholder or group. Those that have the furthest to go on the scale are going to need more time and more focused action to move them into the zone where you want them to be.
Does anyone have an example of a stakeholder who has moved into the ‘more engaged’ category that they’d be prepared to share in the comments? I’d love to hear your stories of successful stakeholder engagement 😊
Posted on: January 29, 2024 08:00 AM |
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Comments (11)
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Ritesh Shinde
Principal Analyst| FIS Solutions (India) Private Limited
Pune, Mh, India
stakeholders psychology in brief, thanks Elizabeth.
Kwiyuh Michael Wepngong
Community Champion
Financial Management Specialist | US Peace Corps
Yaounde, Centre, Cameroon
Thanks for sharing these insights
Good article Elizabeth
You may want to expand this by incorporating the aspects of stakeholder mapping. For instance, it will be highly risky to move a stakeholder who is impacted by a project from Blocker to only Indifferent as this stakeholder is key later on in ensuring the business benefits are realized. Therefore this stakeholder need to be no less than Keen.
Great share Elizabeth. Good to know that you don't need all stakeholders to be a Champion. Even though some are indifferent, in some cases, it's better than having them being resistant
@John, yes it's important to use this idea as only one part of your stakeholder mapping. Thanks for the suggestion!
Very well-articulated in a practical perspective @Elizabeth.
It's really very challenging to engage all stakeholders in our projects, here leader's "power kills" plays a crucial role.
Thank you sharing Elizabeth Harrin.
Reshma Rizvi
Scientific Project Manager| University Of Saskatchewn
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Highlighting the level of engagement: Stakeholders; nice concept. Thanks!
hao lin
Project Manager| Shanghai Yiling Information Technology Co., Ltd.
China, Mainland
In the past time, we perhaps had wasted too much time on communication with the wrong person. We should try to recognize the keen stakeholders, instead of a blocker. If a project is relevant to many blocker stakeholders, We need to decide whether the project should start up.
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