The Stakeholder Strategy

Written By Connie Wyatt

Stakeholder engagement is a pillar for every project and is important for a project to yield the desired results. 

There are some Do’s and Don’ts for successful project management that we have found to be beneficial to our client relationships.

Action project managers should take:

  • Identify all stakeholders and their interests and expectations

  • Create a stakeholder register to document all stakeholders and any important information

  • Prioritize stakeholders by importance so that information always finds the right people at the right time

  • Communication is an investment and not an afterthought, and should be a two-way channel

  • Be flexible as relationships, risks, and organizational dynamics evolve

Action project managers should avoid:

  • Treating stakeholders as launchpads instead of partners. Stakeholder alignment should be consistent throughout the project lifecycle

  • Assuming that all stakeholders have equal interest, influence, and power

  • Being dismissive of “minor” stakeholders and contributors because they still play a role in the project’s execution

  • Making commitments with no follow-through as credibility is often ruined that way

  • Operating based on memory without documentation because memory can be unreliable

It is important to remember that company culture does affect the role that stakeholders play in the project’s overall success. We help leaders turn these do’s and don’ts into actionable stakeholder engagement habits so everyone is aligned around shared outcomes.

Connie Wyatt