Stakeholder analysis
Download the stakeholder analysis as a useful tool for your project management. The stakeholder analysis provides input to your communication plan, change management and knowledge of potential conflicts of interest. As a project manager you need to facilitate workshops and focus groups, in order to gain knowledge from the key stakeholders. You must create stakeholder acceptance concerning the project results. This requires that you know the stakeholders, their desires and concerns.
Full description
The purpose of the stakeholder analysis is to identify the stakeholders and prioritize the most important stakeholders. As project manager, you need to understand the stakeholders and their perception of the project so that you can initiate initiatives to manage the stakeholders. The tool consists of various templates that are easy to use in the project team. The templates are available both in Power Point and Word.
When do we use the stakeholder analysis in the project?
- The stakeholder analysis should be made as soon as possible. Project owner and project manager should prepare the first stakeholder analysis before the team is selected.
- Then, the project manager and the project team should prepare a risk analysis as soon as the team is set up to create a picture of the political landscape around the project.
- The stakeholder analysis is the basis for development of an attractive project objective, an appropriate and accepted approach in the project, accepted decision-making, organization with the right people involved, targeted communication strategy, identification of key stakeholders and prevention of potential conflicts of interest.
- The stakeholder analysis must be continuously reviewed and maintained through the project. Especially if surprises occur, such as stakeholders that react differently than expected, or unexpected or “forgotten” stakeholders appear.
How to do
The stakeholder analysis can be carried out with different purposes and different angles. Therefore, in the tool there are examples of different templates that can be used in different situations, but the principles and methods are common.
1) Gather the relevant participants and perform a brainstorm on the topic
Who are the stakeholders for this project? Stakeholders are people who is in contact with or are affected by the project results. Note the stakeholders on Post-it notes, so that a sorting can be made later (one stakeholder per Post-it lap).
2) Sort and prioritize stakeholders using matrix 1, 2, 3 or 4
The selected matrix can be plotted on a flip chart paper, after which the various Post-it notes are placed at the appropriate position. A combination of the different sorting matrices can be used.
- Matrix 1 is a general analysis in which stakeholders are placed based on their knowledge and influence
- Matrix 2 is used to assess how hard the various stakeholders are affected by a given change. This is an assessment of the impact of change for the individual stakeholders
- Matrix 3 is used to map the stakeholders’ perception and behavior.
- Matrix 4: used in projects with major organizational changes The matrix assesses the impact of the change on the individual stakeholder and the necessary involvement of the stakeholder concerned
3) Describe the key stakeholders using template 5 or 6
- Template 5: Description of the individual stakeholder is used in projects in general.
- Template 6: Description of key stakeholders in the change process is used to describe key stakeholders in organizational change projects.
See the detailed description of the procedure in the PowerPoint tool. The Word tool contains only the templates. The tool is so general that it can be used even if you work according to the principles of IPMA, Prince2, PMI or agile methods such as Scrum or Half Double.
