“STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT”

Influencing Stakeholders

• It can come from any need;

• Process improvement or changes in working practices
• Organisation culture change
• Engaging customers to buy more from you
• Encouraging teams to learn more skills
6 Principles of influence

1. Reciprocity: Invest ahead, give a little something to get a little something in return
2. Commitment: People want their beliefs and actions to be consistent with their values
3. Social Proof: There’s nothing like feeling validated based on what others are doing
4. Authority: You will obey me!
5. Liking: The more you like someone, the more you’ll be persuaded by them
6. Scarcity: When you believe something is in short supply…You want it more!

Authenticity
 Stakeholder engagement & 101 dalmatians:
What do they have in common

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgoW_7qvFMg
&feature=youtu.be
What does it take?

Engage Identify

Plan Analyse
 Engage Identify

Case Study: Stakeholder engagement

for Neha’s career growth
Plan Analyse

A fictional person Neha, a Sales Manager, who wants to fast track her career
path and therefore undertakes the stakeholder engagement exercise

She lists all the people who:

Step
► Have an interest in the success or failure of her role as a sales

1 manager
► People who could impact or be impacted by her role

Step

2
Categorizes them as High or low influence and high or low interest
Stakeholder Identification Engage Identify

Influence Y axis versus Interest X axis Plan Analyse

High

Influencers Key Player

Influence/Power of Stakeholders
• Meet their Needs

Limited role Invested

• Show consideration

Low High
Interest of Stakeholders
Stakeholder Identification for my
Engage Identify

career Plan Analyse

High

Influencers Key Player

• Director Finance • Vice President Sale

Influence/Power of Stakeholders
• Service Sales manager • Immediate supervisor
• Director HR • Colleagues
• Contracts • My team

Limited role Invested

• IT support • Sales support

• Consulting • Partner sales
Administrator • Consulting
• Event coordinator

Low High
Interest of Stakeholders
 Engage Identify

Add influence to your matrix Plan Analyse

High

Influencers Key Player

• Director Finance • Vice President Sale

Influence/Power of Stakeholders
• Service Sales manager • Immediate supervisor
• Director HR • Colleagues
• Contracts • My team

Limited role Invested

• IT support • Sales support

• Consulting • Partner sales
Administrator • Consulting

Low High
Interest of Stakeholders
 Career stakeholder analysis and Engage Identify

review Plan Analyse

• Key players: No surprises here but Aditi realizes she needs to spend more time with
VP sales
• Influencers : Aditi realizes she has to increase her interaction with service sales
manager to help close deals, therefore decides to go for more face to face versus
mail interaction
• Key players at important decision points: Aditi could spend more time with
contracts manager for he could be useful at closure of sales
• Limited role: Aditi has frequent calls with consulting admin, which can be reduced
to monthly
• Invested: Partner sales keeps in touch with Aditi frequently, therefore she sees no
need to change this
 Exercise: Lets do a stakeholder analysis & strategy for
your growth

1. Identify stakeholders
2. Map their level of interest and influence
3. Review and Understand your stakeholders
4. Plan your communication and engage
5. Review on how its going
 Stakeholder Mapping

• Power: describes a stakeholder’s level of

influence in the system—how much he High
can direct or influence a project and other
stakeholders. Influencers Key Player

Influence/Power of Stakeholders
• Interest: describes the degree to which a
stakeholder will be affected by the
project/the work you do.
• By setting up a matrix with these two axes, Limited role Invested
you are ready to begin.

Low
Interest of Stakeholders High
Create a list of stakeholders

Step 1: Create a List of Stakeholder Groups

Influencer, Key player, Limited role, Invested
Make a list of the stakeholders, by using
Post-Ups, create your set of stakeholders by
answering some of these questions:
• Who will be impacted by what I do ?
• Who will be responsible or
accountable with me for my work ?
• Who will have decision authority on
my work ?
• Who can support me in my work ?
• Who can obstruct what I want to
do ?
• Who has been involved in this type
of work in the past?
A typical list of stakeholders

A typical list of stakeholders may include

these groups:
• The customer, user, or beneficiary of a
project
• The team or organizations doing the
work
• The project’s managers
• The project’s sponsors, who finance
the project,leadership team
• Influential stakeholders both internal
or in external organizations
Stakeholder Mapping

Step 2: Map the List on the Grid

• After generating the list of
stakeholders, lets map them
into the matrix based on their
relative Influence/power and
interest. Place the sticky notes
into the matrix directly.
• Add influence to the matrix.
Informal relationships exist
leverage them.
Engagement Strategy
Step 3: Develop a Strategy and Share It Broadly
After each stakeholder has been placed into the
matrix, you may want to discuss specific strategies
for engaging with your stakeholders.
You may ask:
• Who needs to be informed of what, and when?
• Who needs to be consulted about what, and
when?
• Who is responsible for engaging each
stakeholder, and when and how will they/you do
it?
• Creating this draft is a good first step. If the
number of stakeholders is large, it is advisable to
share the analysis transparently with your career
manager. This validates the analysis by filling any
gaps, and in the process, it clarifies where people
fit in.
 Top 5 possible ways to engage with your stakeholders

Focus groups
Stakeholder scheduled
one on one
Questionnaires

Emails & Mail shots

Websites & Podcasts
5 ways to engage with stakeholders
Exercise: Reflect on your Growth Goals and create a Engage Identify

plan, share with a partner. Plan Analyse

Identify Engage Now Engage in future Next Steps

Engage
Key Player Review /project update Connect before starting Ask for the opportunity to
meetings a project on their present at the Leadership/cross
Functional Head expectations from the functional meeting
role and you. Touch base
on a one on one to
share progress monthly

Influencers Limited face to face Connect before starting Set up time for a one on one
interaction a project on their for advise on what you could
Leadership Team expectations from the do more of for growth and in
role and you. Touch base the project
once a quarter/six
months on a one on one
to share progress/ get
insights

Invested Mostly engage through Engage to get Ask for feedback on self. What
Cross functional teams mails commitment for support would help them to be
Recruitment Team and understand possible successful and support you.
R&D team etc. show stoppers. Get insights basis their
experience.

Limited role Mostly through mails Engage upfront to get Share your expectations and
Finance/IT for support understand their processes
Stakeholder Engagement for my career; engage Engage Identify

so that influencers are interested and invested in Plan Analyse

YOU.
High
Influencers Key Player
• Meet their Needs • Manage closely/Engage

Influence/Power of Stakeholders
• Engage & consult on & consult regularly
interest areas • Involve in decision
• Try to increase level of making
interest/Keep Satisfied

Limited role Invested

• Keep informed through • Show consideration
push & pull • Potential supporter
communication • Keep informed &
consult on interest
areas

Low High
Interest of Stakeholders