What\u2019s stakeholders engagement?<\/h2>\n
To make sure we\u2019re all on the same page, we need to start by defining what a stakeholder is.<\/p>\n
In essence, a stakeholder<\/a> is anyone who is, in some way, interested or concerned about your project, including clients, managers, suppliers, users, and even citizens, depending on the project (e.g., large urbanization projects might affect entire cities).<\/p>\n We can categorize stakeholders into 2 main branches:<\/p>\n So now that we\u2019re in sync, what\u2019s stakeholders engagement?<\/p>\n Stakeholders engagement is the conscious process of deliberately involving stakeholders during all the stages of the project life cycle<\/a>, aiming to align goals with their expectations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You see, this is vital.<\/p>\n For instance, if you\u2019re designing a new product but never listen to what potential users are looking for, you\u2019ll probably build something nobody wants.<\/p>\n Or if you don\u2019t consider how your project will affect citizens in surrounding areas, you might get into a legal dispute later on.<\/p>\n Said simpler, stakeholders\u2019 opinions matter, and you must listen to them. Otherwise, you\u2019re risking the project.<\/p>\n Keeping stakeholders engaged might seem simple at first glance, but the process comes with potential pitfalls.<\/p>\n To avoid such roadblocks, you must think strategically.<\/p>\n The first questions you\u2019re faced with are: what\u2019s the level of engagement of stakeholders? Do they even know you\u2019re into something? If so, are they supportive or reluctant?<\/p>\n Remember that not all stakeholders are created equal.<\/p>\n Depending on their engagement level, you might take a different engagement approach.<\/p>\n For instance, take a look at the 5 different levels of stakeholders engagement<\/a>:<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t understand these levels and develop an appropriate strategy for each, all your communication will be a mess and, thus, you won\u2019t get good results.<\/p>\n For instance, if you try to bring in unaware stakeholders mid-execution, they\u2019ll probably feel upset. Or if you don\u2019t have a plan to communicate project value to resistant stakeholders, you\u2019ll miss huge opportunities.<\/p>\n With this in mind, the question is: how do you design a strategy that keeps stakeholders engaged and helps you communicate effectively?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s discuss a simple process.<\/p>\n At this point, you already understand the cruciality of stakeholders and why you need a strategy to keep them engaged.<\/p>\n The 5-step approach outlined below is a great way to start on solid ground.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s break it down.<\/p>\n Get started<\/a><\/p>\n This is kind of an obvious, yet crucial step.<\/p>\n Before you even start with your communications strategy, you must analyze who your stakeholders are and make a list of all of them.<\/p>\n Our stakeholder register template<\/a> can be helpful at this stage.<\/p>\n As the name suggests, this template helps you register all your stakeholders and organize your list based on interest and power (more on this later), as well as the 5 levels of engagement we discussed previously.<\/p>\n This will make it easier for you to keep a close eye on stakeholders and monitor the performance of your strategy.<\/p>\n Even though you should consider all your stakeholders in the process, some of them will be more relevant for your decision-making.<\/p>\n These stakeholders are called \u201ckey stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n In short, you should channel most of your focus and energy onto this key category. To do it, you must develop a solid prioritization system.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s where the Interest\/Power grid comes in.<\/p>\n This grid helps you categorize stakeholders based on their influence and interest and gives you communication criteria for each category.<\/p>\n Like this:<\/p>\n (Image Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n As shown in the previous step, our stakeholders engagement template will help you implement this grid and categorize your list based on power and interest.<\/p>\n You can also use our RACI matrix template<\/a> to define responsibilities and consider how a stakeholder\u2019s involvement may change along the way.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve a prioritized list of stakeholders, you need to design a communications plan to keep them engaged.<\/p>\n And make no mistake, 6 out of 10<\/a> teams say that poor communication is their biggest obstacle to success, so this step is crucial.<\/p>\n To avoid this trap, the first thing you should pay attention to is \u201cconcreteness.\u201d<\/p>\n More specifically, you must clearly define:<\/p>\n Then, you must get rid of multiple sources of truth and consolidate all your communication into a single platform. This will help you avoid potential misunderstandings and reduce friction.<\/p>\n For instance, with monday.com, you can create a dashboard to monitor progress and invite relevant stakeholders to communicate and collaborate under one roof.<\/p>\n This will ensure everyone\u2019s on the same page while increasing productivity, as you remove the need to keep them informed individually.<\/p>\n Now that you\u2019ve defined key stakeholders and set solid communication channels, it\u2019s time to actually implement feedback.<\/p>\n First, you must decide the implementation approach you\u2019ll take:<\/p>\n The most common include:<\/p>\n This process includes setting both short-term and long-term initiatives and channeling all your efforts towards a few specific and targeted priority goals.<\/p>\n A typical priority matrix<\/a> can be helpful to structure and organize these initiatives.<\/p>\n You can also try out our Eisenhower Matrix template<\/a>.<\/p>\n This template helps you prioritize engagement activities based on importance and urgency, which can be helpful to spot where you need to focus on.<\/p>\n Get started<\/a><\/p>\n Over the last few years, project status report has become the main activity<\/a> for most PMOs (Project Management Offices).<\/p>\n And within reason.<\/p>\n To keep stakeholders engaged, you must inform them \u2014 show them you actually implement their input. That\u2019s why monitoring progress and reporting back to stakeholders is crucial for any project team.<\/p>\n For example, with monday.com, you get access to multiple data visualizations and automations that make the process much easier.<\/p>\n\n
Why do you need a strategy?<\/h3>\n
\n
5 steps to develop a solid stakeholders engagement plan<\/h2>\n
1. Identify stakeholders<\/h3>\n
![\"monday.com's](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/monday.coms-stakeholder-register-template.png\" "\\"monday.com's")
<\/p>\n2. Prioritize stakeholders<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"Influence\/Interest](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Influence-Interest-matrix.jpg\" "\\"Influence")
<\/p>\n![\"monday.com's](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/monday.coms-RACI-matrix-template.png\" "\\"monday.com's")
<\/p>\n3. Build a communications plan<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"monday.com's](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/monday.coms-communication-functionalities.png\" "\\"monday.com's")
<\/p>\n4. Incorporate feedback into your strategic plan<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"monday.com's](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/monday.coms-Eisenhower-matrix-template.png\" "\\"monday.com's")
<\/p>\n5. Monitor and report<\/h3>\n
![\"monday.com's](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/monday.coms-data-dashboards.png\" "\\"monday.com's")
<\/p>\n![\"monday.com's](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/monday.coms-homepage-5.png\" "\\"monday.com's")
<\/p>\n