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Stakeholder Management Communications Management

Project Management in the Information Age MASY1-GC 1250

Session 4

v 21.5

What is a “Stakeholder”?

• Stakeholder: any individual or entity that has a ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ stake in the project…

• They may affect the project and/or be affected by it…

Those who only think they have a stake in a project are stakeholders, even if they really don’t have a stake!

Managing stakeholders is about managing change!

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Project Stakeholder Examples

• Participants

• Vested Interests

• Community Interests

• Opportunists

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Project Stakeholder Management

• Identify stakeholders • Analyze their interests and needs • Develop a stakeholder management plan • Engage the stakeholders • Monitor stakeholder engagement and adapt!

This is an iterative, cyclical process throughout a project!

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Related PMBOK Knowledge Areas

• Scope Management • Communications Management • Resource Management • Procurement Management

You need to carefully integrate planning in all these areas with stakeholder management!

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Stakeholder Identification and Analysis

This starts during the project initiating phase and continues throughout the project! • What do they want? • What do they need? • Are they friend or foe? • Group by interests • Identify areas of potential conflict and

cooperation

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The Stakeholder Register

A data repository to be created and maintained throughout the project. Some useful fields: • Name • Organization • Position • Location • Project role • Other assessment information

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Key Stakeholder: The Project Sponsor

• Authorizes project execution & charter • Approves scope and funding • May select project manager • Best role during project:

o Help when needed! o Avoid overreliance on sponsor

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Project Sponsor Issues

• Hostility • Abdication • Micromanagement • Overdependence

How best to “manage up”?

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Analyzing Stakeholders

• Who is likely to be affected by the project? • Who may influence the project? • How might stakeholders be affected? • How might stakeholders affect the project? • Assess level of commitment and resistance • Define concerns and issues • Identify stakeholder success criteria • Prioritize stakeholders

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Stakeholder Mapping

• Position – support or oppose • Interest • The power/interest grid • Multi-dimensional analysis • Other models

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Stakeholder Characteristics

• The power to influence • Informal vs. formal power • The urgency of stakeholder needs and wants • The desirability of the relationship

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Engagement Planning

• What motivates them? • Are they positive? • Are they negative? • Do they have a financial interest? • Do they have an emotional interest? • How do they want to receive information? • How do you want to receive information?

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Strategies, Tools and Techniques

• Research and planning • Get the right people involved! • The stakeholder register • The stakeholder issues log • Assess effectiveness of strategies & techniques • Manage change proactively

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The Power / Interest Grid

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Power (vertical axis)

Interest (horizontal axis)

Keep Informed

Manage CloselyKeep Satisfied

Monitor

The Power / Interest Grid - Example

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• Project Management in the Information Age MASY1-GC1250 Section 200

Power

Interest

Project Sponsor

Major Customers“Our” Functional Managers

End Users

Project Team MembersVendors

Non-User Employees

“Other” Functional Managers

Other Customers

Evaluate Engagement

• Stakeholder roles • Degree of involvement • The design • Outcomes • Goals realized • Overall satisfaction

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Manage Stakeholder Engagement

• Communicate and collaborate • Manage and resolve conflict • Listen! • Adjust approach based on monitoring • Leverage the communication management plan

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Monitor Stakeholder Engagement

• Assess effectiveness of engagement strategies • Reassess/ Replan / readjust as needed • Leverage:

o Change request procedures o Change control boards o Project governance processes o Steering committees

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Communication Strategy and Planning

• Methods to inform different stakeholders o Timing o Frequency

• Use the project communications plan o Ongoing dialogue with all stakeholders o Consistency in style and approach

• Feedback o Active Involvement o Bi-directional

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Communication

• Transmitting information • Receiving information • Processing information • Acting on information

Kerzner estimates project managers spend 90% of their time communicating!

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Project Communications

One of the greatest threats to the success of any project is a failure to communicate! • Project communications management

o Plan communications management o Manage communications o Monitor communications

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Audience and Purpose

• Who is your audience? • What is your purpose? • What action(s) do you want them to take?

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Project Audiences

• Who are your audiences? o The Project Sponsor/Owner o An organization’s leadership o The Project Team o A Business Unit(s) o Internal stakeholders o External stakeholders o Those with a need/an interest to know…

Project Communications Management

• Determine the stakeholders • Determine the information that they need • Define a communications approach • Gather and disseminate information • Manage expectations • Monitor effectiveness • Adapt as needed!

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Communication Management Plan

• A plan to communicate project information effectively o Stakeholder requirements o Information to be communicated o Recipients o Format, content, and level of detail o Channels for dissemination o Description of the frequency of communication o Procedures for updates and revisions o Who will produce it? o A glossary of common terminology

Project Communications Activity

• Internal and External • Formal and Informal • Vertical and Horizontal • Official and Unofficial • Written and Oral • Verbal and Non-Verbal

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Common Challenges to Team Communications

• Inattention to results • Avoidance of accountability • Lack of commitment • Fear of conflict • Absence of trust • Virtual teams • Different attitudes about communication

Technodexterity

• “Techno” – technology • “Dexterity” – skill in performing tasks, especially

with the hands

Definition: “How to use technology in a more socially adapted way to impart vision and inspire others.” – Karen Sobel Lojeski

Focus on Results

• Publically declare the results that are desired • Prioritize team outcomes over individual

outcomes • Accomplish the declared outcomes • Keep the desired results visible • Inspire members to care about the ‘scorecard’

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Actions Operate on Information

• Collection • Transformation • Evaluation • Dissemination and review • Storage

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Formal Records

• The Business Case • The Project Charter • The Project Plan • Requirements documentation • Specifications: functional, technical, & design • Verification, validation, and test plans • Release plans • Policies, procedures, and regulations

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Project Team Information

• The Staffing Management Plan • Roles and Responsibilities Matrix • Performance evaluations • Action items • Decisions • Status updates • Rules of Engagement (Team Contract)

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Informal Records

• Survey notes • Interview notes • Photographs • Recordings • Personal notes • eMail, text messages, threads, and tweets • Sketches

The Project Communications Matrix

• Stakeholder requirements • Information to be communicated • Target audience • Time frame and frequency • Methods to convey the information • Communication owner(s)

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Communications Skills

• Active listening • Questioning to ensure understanding • Fact-finding • Persuading and negotiating • Presenting • Facilitating • Training • Managing expectations

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Written Communications

• Reports • Memos • Spreadsheets • Schedules • Presentations • Structured and unstructured • eMail, text messages, and tweets • Social media tools (Slack, Basecamp)

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Project Progress Reports

• Progress since last report • Current status of project

o Schedule o Cost o Scope

• Cumulative trends • Problems and issues since last report

o Actions and resolution of earlier problems o New variances and problems identified

• Corrective action planned

Other Project Documents

• Meeting minutes • Test plans • Design plans • Quality control reports • User acceptance documents • Lessons learned documents • Close-out documents

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Verbal Communications

• In- person meetings • Presentations

o Words… o Tone… o Pitch and pace

• Video conferencing (Zoom, WebEx, etc.) • Formal communications • Informal communications

The Levels of Team Communications

• Minimal…expressions and clichés • ‘Reporter talk’…describe what happened • Sharing ideas…vulnerable • Sharing emotions…more vulnerable • Trust and openness

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Setting Up a Meeting

• Determine the purpose • Identify who should attend • Develop the agenda • Schedule the meeting • Prepare and distribute materials

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Making Meetings Effective

• Determine if a meeting can be avoided… • Define the purpose and intended outcome • Determine who should attend • Provide an agenda to participants in advance • Prepare handouts, visual aids, and make logistical

arrangements ahead of time • Run the meeting professionally • Build relationships

Agile Approaches

• Co-located project teams • The daily standup • Information radiators:

o Kanban boards o Burndown charts o Dashboards

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