Stakeholder Identification: The Essential First Step to Project Success

Who are Stakeholders?

Identifying stakeholders is a critical component of project initiation as it sets the stage for successful stakeholder engagement throughout the project lifecycle. Stakeholders are individuals or groups who have an interest in the project’s outcome or can influence its success. Some common examples of stakeholders include:

1. Project team members
2. Customers
3. End users
4. Suppliers
5. Regulators
6. Financial backers
7. The Community

Why is Stakeholder Identification Important?

Stakeholder identification is important for project success for a number of reasons.

• Identify potential risks and issues early on.
• Build consensus and support for the project.
• Ensure that the project meets the needs of all stakeholders.
• Manage expectations.
• It helps to resolve conflicts.
• Improve communication and collaboration.

The Process of Stakeholder Identification

The process of stakeholder identification can be broken down into the following steps:

1. Identify potential stakeholders. This can be done by brainstorming, interviewing key stakeholders, and reviewing documentation.

• Brainstorming: This is a creative thinking technique that can be used to generate a list of potential stakeholders. You can brainstorm with your team, your manager, or other stakeholders.
• Interviewing key stakeholders: This is a good way to get insights into the project from people who are directly involved. When interviewing key stakeholders, be sure to ask them about their role in the project, their level of interest, and their concerns.
• Reviewing documentation: This can include project charters, business requirements documents, and other project-related documents. These documents can help you to identify stakeholders who are not directly involved in the project but who may still have an interest in it.

2. Assess the level of influence and interest of each stakeholder. This will help you to prioritize your stakeholder engagement efforts.

• Influence: This refers to the ability of a stakeholder to affect the project. Stakeholders with high influence can have a significant impact on the project, while stakeholders with low influence have less impact.
• Interest: This refers to the level of concern that a stakeholder has about the project. Stakeholders with high interest are more likely to be involved in the project and to have a say in its outcome.

3. Develop a stakeholder register. This is a document that lists all of the identified stakeholders, their level of influence and interest, and their contact information.

• The stakeholder register can also be used to identify potential risks and issues. By understanding the needs and concerns of each stakeholder, you can identify any potential areas of conflict or disagreement. This information can be used to develop mitigation strategies to avoid or reduce the impact of these risks and issues.
• The stakeholder register can be used to make decisions about stakeholder engagement. By understanding the level of interest and influence of each stakeholder, you can determine how much and how often you need to communicate with them. This information can also be used to decide which stakeholders should be involved in decision-making.

4. Communicate with stakeholders. This is an ongoing process that should begin as soon as possible and continue throughout the project. The goal of stakeholder communication is to keep stakeholders informed about the project and to build relationships with them. Stakeholder communication should be tailored to the specific needs of each stakeholder. The level of influence interest will inform how you communicate with stakeholders.

Types of Models to Classify Stakeholders

By using a variety of models, you can identify stakeholders and classify them into one of the categories below. This will also help you to prioritize your stakeholder engagement efforts and ensure that you are communicating with the right people in the right way.

• Influence-interest matrix: This is a grid that classifies stakeholders according to their level of influence and interest. Stakeholders can be classified as high-influence, high-interest; high-influence, low-interest; low-influence, high-interest; or low-influence, low-interest.
• Power/interest grid: This is a grid that classifies stakeholders according to their power and interest. Stakeholders can be classified as dominant, influential, dependent, or irrelevant.
• Stakeholder salience model: This is a model that classifies stakeholders according to their power, urgency, and legitimacy. Stakeholders can be classified as critical, important, or marginal.

Selecting a model depends on the specific project and the needs of the project manager. The influence-interest matrix is the simplest model and is a good choice for projects with a small number of stakeholders. The power/interest grid is a more comprehensive model and is a good choice for projects with a larger number of stakeholders. The stakeholder salience model is the most comprehensive model and is a good choice for projects with complex stakeholder relationships.

~The Takeaway~

Stakeholder identification is an essential part of project management. By taking the time to identify all of the stakeholders and understand their needs and interests, you can increase your chances of project success. If you are a project manager, I encourage you to learn more about stakeholder identification. There are many resources available online and in libraries. You can also find templates and examples of stakeholder registers that you can use as a starting point. Below is a free template. To not miss out on other key tips and templates, signup for our Newsletter.

Other Reading on PMI.org: We Asked the Project Management Community: What Steps Do You Take To Identify and Prioritize All Stakeholders at the Start of a Project