We know that stakeholders are crucial to the success of our initiatives, strategy, and eventually the value delivery. Whether they are learning leaders or reside in other areas of the organization. But not all stakeholders in the organization require the same levels of information and engagement.
Neglect the wrong ones and they might actively work against the program portfolio. Manage the right ones, and they will likely actively promote Program Portfolio and the product. But who are the "right" and "wrong" ones? How can we make sure everyone is satisfied in the manner with which we are "managing" them without having to create a separate plan for each person?
Start by using an easy tool called a Power/Interest Grid to categorize the program portfolio’s stakeholders. From there, it is easy to create a stakeholder management plan.
Who Are the Stakeholders?
First, let’s define stakeholder. Stakeholders are persons or groups who have an interest in an initiative and program portfolio. With basic audience analysis, we can break this down further into two groups:
- Those who have interest but not influence, meaning the change is being thrust upon them. These people are often referred to as targets.
- Those who have an interest but can often influence the change are stakeholders. This is likely a smaller group and, within organizations, it is often the leadership team, among others.
A first step is to identify the stakeholders. Depending on the initiative, and its size and importance, this listing can be job titles or it can be names. The higher up in the organization, the more likely these will be names versus titles, but when talking about large groups of employees, it will likely be titles. Let’s say we are looking at categorizing the senior leadership team within an organization so we know how best to engage them.
Now that we’ve identified the stakeholders, it’s time to pull out the Power/Interest Grid, a very easy yet efficient and effective way to prioritize communication and collaboration with a large group of individuals with disparate wants and interests. Based on discussions and agreement within the core team, we’re ready to start assigning individuals/groups to a square. Using this tool in PowerPoint makes it easy to move people from one category to another, as well as moving individuals within a particular box.
On the vertical axis, Power refers to how much power the person or group wields over the potential success of the program portfolio, as well as within the organization. On the horizontal axis, Interest refers to how invested the individual might be in this particular program portfolio. Let's examine the tool in more detail.
A person's position on the grid is a guide for engaging with them.
Now that stakeholder names or groups have been identified, it's time to assign them to a square. Recognize that this is a subjective ranking, so never share this list outside your core program portfolio team. However, among your core team, this ranking activity for categorizing stakeholders can generate a lot of discussion and ensure your team is aligned.
