3 Keys to Key Stakeholders for Your Project Management Success
The purpose of this blog post is to cover how important key stakeholders are to the support and success of your project.
Stakeholders are a piece of the MPM model under the People segment in the LEAD domain.
Stakeholders are a piece of the MPM model under the People segment in the LEAD domain
3 Keys for Key Stakeholders
Key stakeholders are those from your list of stakeholders who are usually leaders in their respective parts of the organization who have an interest in helping your project succeed.
Stakeholders encompass a broad category of interests including regulatory and external interests who are impacted by your project.
Stakeholders encompass a broad category of interests
Outside interests who have an official view over your project’s results or who can be negatively impacted by the project are good stakeholders to communicate with regarding project progress and outcomes, but not necessarily those you would consider as key stakeholders.
Three keys about key stakeholders:
- Identify them early on in your project
- Work closely with them
- Have them on your Steering Committee
Identify key stakeholders early on in your project
Early on before you start your project, or if you have just started, it is important to identify key stakeholders.
These are individuals who have the closest working relationship with you either because they are more impacted than most, or because of a preference for being involved in the outcome of what your project is producing.
Key stakeholders are those who are there to help your project succeed
Key stakeholders can also include business leaders who have offered to have their team be the first to experience the change brought on by your project. You could call them a pilot.
Being a pilot is a major commitment, so this kind of stakeholder is someone you want to engage with very frequently to ensure your first deployment is a successful one.
Key stakeholders are from your set of stakeholders, but they are ones who are there to help your project succeed. They are ones you go to first when experiencing challenges and need some advice.
Work closely with your key stakeholders
Key stakeholders are those who have your back and if things get challenging are always looking for a route to get you through it. They’re on your side.
Work closely with your key stakeholders.They’re on your side.
Keep frequent, open lines of communication with your key stakeholders, telling them both good and bad news. Communicate with them informally to let them know where things are at with the project, to keep them appraised, so they always know where the things stand, even between official status report communications.
Key stakeholders are on your steering committee
Ensure that you populate your steering committee with key stakeholders. This doesn’t mean you are looking for “Yes” people whose constant approval can blind-side you.
You want them to challenge you, but they have to be the kind of person that wants the project to succeed no matter what.
In your key stakeholders you are looking for objective viewpoints and insights that reflect ways in which your project is likely to succeed rather than ways in which it is likely to fail. There is a difference, and one viewpoint is constructive whereas the other one can be very discouraging.
You want your steering meeting to be a point of review and positive, constructive input, so choose your attendees carefully.
Work with your sponsor to ensure the right members are on your steering committee and the ones who are not constructive are left off.
Summary
Key stakeholders are usually leaders in their respective parts of the organization who have an interest in helping your project succeed.
Three keys about key stakeholders are to identify them early on in your project, work closely with them, and have them on your steering committee.
Action Steps / Apply This Knowledge
- Review your steering committee composition and ensure you have participation from positive constructive key stakeholders. Get help from your sponsor to have people removed if they are not constructive or maneuver yourself to change the participation.
- If you’re just launching your project, begin connecting with some of your stakeholders whom you would like work more closely with and ask if they would be someone whom you could get project advice from and who might be interested in being on your steering committee.
- Prompt engineering guidance for AI GPTs such as chatGPT: “I’m a business leader launching a project whose purpose is X, and delivering Y. What are some innovative ways to communicate and work with my key stakeholders to get them engaged and support my project?”
Learn More to Do More
Business evolves through change initiatives otherwise known as projects. The key to managing these change initiatives so you have more time, and less stress is to use simple strategies and tools.
Check out the Learning Hub’s other Articles with Actionable Steps, organized with a busy leader in mind, by topic or main idea, and with some AI GPT (e.g. ChatGPT) prompt engineering suggestions under the Action steps: https://simplepmstrategies.com/learning-hub-index
LEAD – Keys to Key Stakeholders
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