What Conclusions Can You Draw From The Stakeholder Map?

In the business world, projects aren't completed in a vacuum. In club to get new initiatives or projects off the ground, you need buy-in and support from a variety of people like managers, executives, and clients. These people are your stakeholders.

Stakeholders can brand or break your project before information technology fifty-fifty starts, and then it'south crucial to understand who your stakeholders are, what level of input they have, and the communication they will demand throughout the projection so you can keep them on board from solar day 1 to washed.

But how do you know who your stakeholders are? And how practise you keep them engaged? When working on big or complex projects, it can be hard to continue track of all the relevant stakeholders involved.

That'due south where stakeholder analysis and stakeholder mapping come in. Use our quick and muddied guide to chart your course from outset to finish.

What is stakeholder mapping?

Maps tell us the lay of the land and can reveal our options for getting from Point A to Point B. When it comes to project management, stakeholder mapping uncovers and visualizes your project's environment and the stakeholder ecosystem y'all're working in—including potential hazards or roadblocks you'll demand to navigate. Once you know those, you can chart your projection with greater conviction, working more effectively with stakeholders at every level.

Offset with a stakeholder analysis

Before you jump into stakeholder mapping, yous commencement need to conduct an assay.

The purpose of stakeholder analysis and mapping is to:

Enlist key players early
Align stakeholders on project goals and plans
Uncover and accost conflicts or concerns

A stakeholder assay helps you lot identify your stakeholders and prioritize them based on involvement, influence, and financial investment (among other relevant factors). Once y'all empathise who your stakeholders are, what they demand, and how they impact your project, you tin can brand better decisions, communicate finer, and secure the buy-in you demand.

With that info in hand, yous can then visualize your findings in an organized stakeholder map.

Nautical chart your course

A stakeholder map is a visualization (or roadmap) of your completed stakeholder analysis. A stakeholder mapping tool helps y'all organize your analysis into a clear, digestible visual format and outline a plan of action for communication and engagement with your stakeholders. Stakeholder maps tin be outlined in a simple grid, spreadsheet, or digital whiteboard like Lucidspark.

So when should y'all utilise a stakeholder map?

Stakeholder maps are helpful for whatsoever projection, but especially when you take a large project that impacts lots of key players across roles, departments, and even organizations. Particularly at this calibration, projects require clear and polished communication to ensure successful management, streamlined processes, and enthusiastic purchase-in.

In other words, apply a map when yous have a big journey alee of y'all. It's easy to get lost when you have too many stakeholders to juggle. And you don't want to find yourself upwards a creek mid-project without a paddle.

Why is stakeholder mapping important?

If you're still not sure why stakeholder maps are crucial, think of it this way: Stakeholder maps help you lot successfully identify and manage your stakeholders. Certain, yous could fly it, simply success is more likely when you have a clear plan of action.

Stakeholder mapping and analysis help you:

Engage key stakeholders early on to assemble critical input and support to get your project off the ground.
Secure needed resources, giving you the momentum y'all need to move the projection forrad.
Improve communication throughout the project and then you lot can build understanding amongst stakeholders, align them with your goals and plans, and maintain support throughout.
Conceptualize stakeholder questions, concerns, and needs so y'all can craft more constructive messaging and make decisions that are more likely to proceed your stakeholders happy.

The better you empathize your stakeholders, the better yous can communicate with them and secure their support. Employ stakeholder maps to guide you.

How to perform a stakeholder analysis

There are three primary steps of a stakeholder analysis:

1. Place potential stakeholders

The first step is brainstorming who your stakeholders are. Keep in mind that stakeholders can exist internal (e.g., your company's top leadership, team members and section supervisors, etc.) or external, such as your client and their extended squad as well equally potential finish-users.

Equally you evaluate possible stakeholders, consider:

Who has the well-nigh influence on this project?
Who will exist almost impacted by this project?
Who controls the resource I need?
Who has financial stake or interest?
Who might be an important person but non a cardinal stakeholder (such as a separate department leader)?

By the end of this do, you should accept a solid listing of players to evaluate.

two. Prioritize stakeholders

Once you lot have your list of stakeholders, it's time to prioritize them based on their relative importance and influence on your projection. In other words, some stakeholders volition have more say in how the projection evolves and what resources are fabricated available than others. Information technology'due south important to uncover who these fundamental players are so you can finer communicate with them and create buy-in throughout the project.

This is a good time to utilize a stakeholder matrix to organize your players. By organizing each stakeholder co-ordinate to their influence and interest, you tin determine what action(s) you need to have, including:

Keep satisfied (high power, low interest)
Manage closely (loftier power, high involvement)
Inform regularly (low power, loftier involvement)
Monitor and conceptualize needs (depression power, depression involvement)

For instance, a stakeholder with high influence merely little interest won't need every bit much information or engagement as a stakeholder with high influence and high interest.

The more power and interest a stakeholder has, the more attention they will need to stay informed and engaged. If y'all neglect to go on these stakeholders satisfied, you could endanger your project if they choose not to corroborate fundamental funding or other resources.

3. Create a programme for engaging with stakeholders

Armed with this data, you can now create a programme for engaging with stakeholders throughout the life of your project.

Yous'll desire to consider factors like:

Who has an emotional interest?
What are the top motivations or priorities for each stakeholder?
Who are the biggest supporters or sympathizers?
Who are the blockers or naysayers?

These answers to these questions will bear on how and when y'all should appoint with each stakeholder and help you lot identify your biggest allies and anticipate potential roadblocks.

Utilise your stakeholder map to nautical chart where different players align on your ability grid and make notation of their individual motivations, priorities, and level of support. Exist sure to annotation which people have existing connections so yous can uncover and map out who might exist able to persuade less-enthusiastic stakeholders.

Lucidspark makes it easy with prepare-made templates to get y'all started.

Organize your stakeholder info past calculation virtual sticky notes and comments directly to the whiteboard, use color-coding and so you lot can quickly understand the large motion picture, and loop in squad members with easy sharing and @mentions for collaboration. Accept advantage of Lucidspark's infinite sail to add custom flowcharts and conclusion timelines and so you tin easily manage your stakeholders and keep everyone aligned from start to finish.