Overview
Stakeholder analysis enables you to identify the key people you need to get support from in order to ensure your project, service design, or change activity goes smoothly and to enhance your chances of achieving a successful outcome.
The tool
A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in an organisation or activity, or who might be affected by it. Interest, in this sense, has an extremely broad meaning, encompassing users of a service or product, as well as political, media, financial, or academic interests.
By managing your stakeholder relationships, you can increase acceptance of your project or change activity, increase ‘buy-in’, and therefore overcome opposition.
Stakeholder analysis comprises two key areas of activity.
- Identification of your stakeholders.
- Working out the power, influence and level of interest exhibited by your stakeholders so you know who you should focus your energies on. (See Power-Interest Grid.)
On the basis of the stakeholders you have identified and the levels of interest and influence they exert on your project or change activity, you will be able to develop a Stakeholder Communication Plan.
Identifying your stakeholders
To help you identify all your stakeholders, here is a checklist to get you started. You might wish to use this list as part of a brainstorming exercise to check you have identified all the different stakeholders and stakeholder groups you need to consider.
- Your line manager.
- Senior managers.
- Co-workers, colleagues and other members of your team.
- Prospective employees.
- Members of the public.
- Customers.
- Suppliers.
- Lenders.
- Trades Unions.
- Media.
- Interest groups.
- Community.
- Elected members.
- Politicians.
To make your stakeholder relationships as effective as possible, you try to identify named individuals, even if they represent organisations.