Who is a stakeholder in the project?

In the simplest terms, a stakeholder is a person or group of people who have an impact on a project or are affected by a project.

How do you identify stakeholders in your project?

The simplest way to identify stakeholders is to ask the following questions:

• Who cares about this project?
• Who is affected by this project?
• Who can have an impact on this project?
• Who can approve or reject this project?
• Who poses the risk of project failure?

An additional tool that works well when defining stakeholders is the RACI matrix.

For example, if your project is to build a house then the stakeholders of this project will be the neighbors, the construction team, the bank, the officials or the architect. There could be many of these people – but you have to keep in mind that you won’t give everyone the same amount of attention, because they are not equally important. So how do you manage stakeholders in a project?

Managing stakeholders in the project

To begin with, we should identify all the people who influence the project (or who are affected by the project). This is what is known as a stakeholder map. A stakeholder map allows you to classify stakeholder groups according to two basic criteria – their influence on the project and their interest in the project. A map prepared in this way helps to understand the interests of different parties and to choose the appropriate way to communicate with them.

It is worth noting that stakeholders in a project have a significant impact on its success, so their analysis at the initial stage of the project is essential.

Stakeholder map

The stakeholder map divides project stakeholders into four groups – influential observers, key players, supporters and active players. Each of these groups requires a different level of involvement on our part and different ways of communication.

Influential observers – how to communicate with them?

– Consult with them on important issues in the project.

– Raise their level of interest in the project – get them involved.

– Make them satisfied with the progress of the project.

– By increasing their interest, try to turn them into “key players”.

Key players – how to communicate with this group?

– Give them a lot of attention, get to know their expectations from the project.

– Remember that they are your allies.

– Involve them in the decision-making processes of the project.

– Consult with them on important issues.

– Build a good relationship with this group.

Supporters – how to communicate with them?

– They are the least important.

– Communicate through official channels.

– Monitor their attitude toward the project.

Active players – how to communicate with this group?

– Make “active players” the ambassadors of your project.

– Consult with them only on those issues that need it.

– Keep them regularly informed about the progress of your project.

NOTE: Remember that throughout the life of the project, the role of stakeholders at each stage may change. The initial “key players” may become less important over time, and a completely new group of stakeholders (which we have not yet considered) may appear in their place. Such situations do happen, so it is worth revisiting the stakeholder analysis from time to time, and at any given time focus attention on those groups that have an impact on the success of the entire project.

Understanding stakeholder needs and expectations

You need to keep in mind that not all stakeholders will have a positive attitude towards the project. Their expectations and needs may be quite different from yours. Therefore, at the project planning stage, you should learn about the needs of stakeholder groups and, in the case of overlapping interests, be able to offer them alternative solutions that will keep both parties happy.