How to make sure all of your stakeholders are happy?

In a nutshell, Stakeholder Management is about ensuring all the parties you work with in order to get your job complete are very happy with it.

How to manage your stakeholders?

To help myself being in charge and remaining proactive I’ve put together 3 tips that worked well for me while working with my stakeholders:

Step 1: Identify and Categorise Your Stakeholders

Everyone you’re working with on the project or interacting with is your stakeholder. However, you should also be able to categorise them based on their influence and interest on your project.

I’ve come up with a simple differentiator for my stakeholders based on their role in the project:

1. Inform: Teams that need to be informed of the project to be able to do their job well

2. Input: Whose inputs are required for you to be able to deliver the project

3. Align: Key stakeholders who needs to be aligned with your goals, as they can influence approval (E.g: legal, tax or other departments)

4. Confirm: Direct managers, Leaders or Project sponsors whose approval are necessary for the project to take off

For each group, you can develop personalised communication strategy with its timing, frequency, content that are relevant to the audience.

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Step 2: Communicate Early, Freely And Consistently

One of the most common mistakes we can make with stakeholders is that we show them our solution after it is already built.

But what if you miss some critical knowledge that prevents your project from going live just because you didn't speak to other teams on time?

Or what if something one of your stakeholders knew could have improved your project 10x times?

To prevent those cases from happening, talk to your stakeholders before you start working on the project, while it is work in progress, before it is ready.

Keep a short feedback loop

Keep a short feedback loop: It is better to understand if you’re not on the right direction in 2 weeks from the start rather than 6-7 months later.

Spend one-on-one time with the key stakeholders. Sit down with them and listen. Explain that the better you understand their constraints, the better your solutions will be. Ask lots of questions. Be open and transparent. This way, you won’t be able to miss information.

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Step 3: Share The Good And Bad, As Soon As Possible.

Stakeholders get anxious when they don't know what's happening. They crave certainty, when this is missing, they will micromanage and be skeptical of your abilities.

To address this, you need to proactively communicate with stakeholders on a regular basis both the good and bad news.

If you’re failing- Admit it right away! Sooner you share it, the better it is. And it makes you a trusted partner.

It is easy to harp on things that go wrong, but when things go right, it is important to share it with people as well. It can boost morale.

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Best of luck on your stakeholder management!