A Publication of RefineM TOP 5 STAKEHOLDER CONCERNS A GUIDE TO MUTUAL SUCCESS

A Publication of RefineM TOP 5 STAKEHOLDER CONCERNS A GUIDE TO MUTUAL SUCCESS

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Effectively Communicating Project Value 3. Working with Busy Stakeholders 4. Communicating the Value of Project Management 5. Dealing with Stakeholder Change Requests 6. Managing Unrealistic Requests 7. Conclusion 8. Appendix

CHAPTER ONE Introduction

[A stakeholder is] an individual, group, or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project. -Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide), Fifth Edition Stakeholder management is a critical part of project management for multiple reasons. With the support of key stakeholders, chances of project success can increase. Without that support, the project can be threatened by barriers or the lack of key allies. Beyond these stakeholder management basics, we have heard many common struggles between project managers and stakeholders. In this ebook, we discuss five common stakeholder concerns and present strategies for overcoming each concern. Knowing how you can effectively engage stakeholders will help your project succeed.

CHAPTER TWO Effectively Communicating Project Value

How can I properly communicate the value of this project through "stakeholder language"? As soon as stakeholders are established, you will need a project champion. A champion is a stakeholder with a high level of authority and positive level of interest in your project. A champion can help you articulate the project's value to other stakeholders, and can often convey this value on your behalf as well. You can look at the project champion as an interpreter, who can speak the "stakeholder language" on your behalf until you become fluent. One way to locate your champions is by using a stakeholder influence/interest grid (see Figure 1 on the next page). This grid categorizes stakeholders by whether their influence is low or high and their interest in the project is positive or negative (or they have no interest).

Stakeholders are categorized as follows: High influence and positive interest: Champions. Keep them interested and engaged. High influence and negative/no interest: Barriers. Do what you can to improve their interest level or use the influence of champions to negate any potential damage to the project. Low influence and positive interest: Advocates. Keep them informed about the project and look for opportunities to engage them further. Low influence and negative/no interest: Bystanders. Keep them informed about the project.

CHAPTER THREE Working with Busy Stakeholders

How can I manage relationships and the expectations of my stakeholders who have very busy schedules and are difficult to reach? As a project manager, you need to be able to manage stakeholder relationships even with stakeholders who are hard to reach. The following tips can help you reach stakeholders: 1. Start early. According to the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge stakeholders typically have the highest level of influence over the project in its early stages (PMBOK Guide, Fifth Edition, p. 406). What you need from each stakeholder is the following information: Best ways to reach them Best times to reach them Preferred medium of communication Expectations for the project outcomes 2. Use your stakeholder register to create a communication plan that stakeholders see and agree to. This plan provides expectations of availability for both the project manager and key stakeholders.

Image by Sebastiaan ter Burg at Flickr. Protected by Creative Commons License 2.0. 3. Proactively address present concerns and anticipate future problems. By addressing key concerns as they arise, stakeholders don't need to worry about them, and their trust level with you should go up. By anticipating future problems, you also predict the timing of stakeholder involvement. For example, QA testers are usually only needed in the testing phase of waterfall projects (for agile projects, their involvement is more steady). By knowing when stakeholders are needed, you can make sure you get on their schedule at the right time and use only as much of their time as you need. (See the Appendix for one more suggestion on how to work with busy stakeholders.)

CHAPTER FOUR Communicating the Value of Project Management

How can I get stakeholders to buy in to the project methodology whether it's PM or agile, and communicate its value to those who may see it as needless overhead? Getting stakeholders to buy in to the value of project methodology can be a challenge. To a stakeholder who is unfamiliar with project management, the processes can seem like a waste of time, unnecessary overhead when the company has always done things a certain way and had good results. Here are some strategies for addressing this issue: 1. Involve stakeholders in shaping the methodology so they can have buy-in. Invite the stakeholder to project planning meetings so he or she can see the process as it happens and see how each part of the process will add value. 2. Show them the results of projects managed successfully using the processes. The more projects that succeed with project management, the more positive momentum there is for maintaining and expanding project management capabilities.

Results speak for themselves. Project management should not be seen as a way to guarantee good results, because no project plan goes off exactly as planned and even a well-run project can fail due to external factors. Image by Pashminu at Pixabay. What project management can do is increase the chance of project success, amplify the results of project success, and decrease the chance of project failure.

CHAPTER FIVE Dealing with Stakeholder Change Requests

How can I deal with stakeholder change requests, new features requests, and other concerns that emerge in the middle or late phases of the project? We have heard many stories of stakeholders pushing late changes that result in delays and frustration. In Agile projects, change is welcomed, even late; in traditional projects, these changes can cause many headaches. We will share strategies both for dealing with these changes as they happen and decreasing the chances of these changes occurring. To deal with late changes as they happen: 1. Rely on project champions to provide resistance to late changes. 2. Use negotiation to guide stakeholders to a positive outcome. For example: Can some of the late changes be implemented in a second phase? 3. Develop the skill to influence without authority. Project managers usually don t have authority to resist changes by themselves, so they rely on showing the impact of proposed changes. For example: A late change requested by a stakeholder would delay a key deliverable by 2 weeks. By conveying this information through the schedule, the project manager gives the stakeholders clarity about what the change means.

To prevent the changes or reduce the impact: 1. Make sure ALL stakeholders are identified so you do not miss critical project requirements. For example, if the legal department was not consulted and mandates late changes for compliance with the law, the project will be delayed while these changes are made. Make sure that any unit that can affect or be affected by the project is represented early on and can provide input. 2. If the project is a good fit for agile methodology, consider using it. Agile, through its system of prioritizing backlogs and iterations, can accommodate changes even late in the project in a way that traditional, or waterfall, projects might struggle to accommodate.

CHAPTER SIX Managing Unrealistic Expectations

How can I manage stakeholder expectations when they seem unrealistic? The keys to dealing with unrealistic stakeholder expectations are project champions and influencing power. Project champions can often help convince other stakeholders to alter their expectations because they usually hold trusted positions of authority within a company and have deep knowledge of its overall strategy. In dealing with unrealistic stakeholder expectations, one critical interpersonal skill is knowing how and when to challenge. Matthew McWha of CEB (2015, 1 April) defines a "challenger" as someone who leverages knowledge of the company and its business strategy to steer a conversation toward his or her thinking. Challengers can also be assertive with both customers and bosses, even when advocating views that are potentially controversial ("The 5 Dominant Approaches to Selling").

Stakeholders don't like to hear the phrase "That's impossible!" but promising to deliver a project without careful consideration of the tradeoffs that realistically need to be made can lead to worse outcomes. Image by Unsplash at Pixabay. Keep an open mind to possibilities to deliver the project within whatever constraints are given, and you may be surprised at what solutions emerge.

CHAPTER SEVEN Conclusion

Stakeholder management can be difficult, but the rewards are well worth the time and energy spent. -RefineM When stakeholder expectations are managed properly, successful relationships can emerge that benefit both the project and the project manager on any future projects involving the same people. In addition, the chance of failure reduces due to barriers negatively influencing the project. The keys to effective stakeholder management include effective organizational techniques and interpersonal skills. Organizing stakeholders by a matrix and keeping their information somewhere private helps project managers quickly reach any stakeholder when needed. Interpersonal skills, including negotiation and influencing without authority, help project managers resolve conflicts and build trust. Using these strategies, you should be able to overcome these and other stakeholder concerns, enabling you to keep your project headed in the right direction.

APPENDIX Another useful tool to help work with busy stakeholders is the stakeholder engagement matrix (see Figure 2). This matrix maps stakeholders engagement levels using the measures of C (for current level of engagement) and D (for desired level of engagement). The engagement levels typically used by project managers are Unaware, Resistant, Neutral, Supportive, and Leading. Wherever C & D are not in the same cell, there is work for project manager to do to bring them in the same cell, thereby improving stakeholder engagement.

CONTACT US FOR 4 FREE HOURS OF CONSULTING TODAY: Dealing with stakeholder concerns can be difficult, but with the right tools and practices, these concerns can be managed well. If you are struggling to manage stakeholder concerns, or have concerns too large to handle, we can help.