Stakeholder identification

Photos: Ahmed Akacha and (insert) Cottonbro on Pexels

Identifying stakeholders in your project is a key task. Whether it sits with you or you’re there as a “critical friend” to the Services manager who is running with everything, you’ll want to ensure that stakeholder identification gets done.

David Strauss, author of How to Make Collaboration Work, identifies four types of stakeholders:

Those formally making the decision;
Those with power to block it;
Those affected by it; and
Those with relevant information or expertise.

(The last group reflects his view that a project with broad consultation will be a more effective, more creative project. You’ll note it might also be a slower project to get planned, unless you’re careful.)

In identifying stakeholders, think about:

Who will be affected by the project?
Who will you consult before you start the bid?
Who can influence the bid/the project, but is not directly involved with it?
What external groups or organizations are affected by the project we’ll introduce?
Who is interested in the project’s success?
Who will support this change?
Who might oppose it?

Normally it will involve:

Senior Management – sign-off. To quote Dan Strauss again: whether the formal decision makers ‘are treating the process seriously… [committing] time and resources [and seeing] the collaboration process [as] an essential part of their planning’ is ‘a litmus test for whether or not a collaboration process is “for real” ’
Middle management – may have an opinion. Senior Management may delegate their decision making, but you can’t normally rely on that without checking
Services team manager
Finance – will want to know the project reflects financial policies. They may budget the work. They’ll normally need to sign it off
Other organisations in the field of work, if it’s a Lottery bid
Service users, especially if you’re approaching certain funders (e.g., the Lottery, Children in Need, Comic Relief)
Other Departments if there’s cross working / significant referrals involved
As my editor Robyn pointed out one or more trustees can also be stakeholders, especially in smaller charities or in massive/strategically important projects.

However, it’s worth thinking more deeply for a minute or two.

You’ll want to work with different internal stakeholders differently:

David Strauss makes an interesting point about one group with real ability to block, he identifies people he refers to as “alligators” – powerful but difficult to work with. Our sector perhaps doesn’t have so many of these, because the charity sector has a prevailing culture of “niceness”. However, we can probably all think of one or two we’ve come across. In his view, the key is not to try and ignore them, but to to deal with them separately and individually and really to listen hard to them and take their points very seriously. “Alligators” are engaged, will say things you need to hear and have a lot of energy and commitment to issues that they can bring to bear in your favour. Getting them onside can be a useful challenge.

For the important stakeholders, you might then ask:

Why should they support/help you?
Is there anything in it for them?
How will they help?
What support you can usefully provide in return, if there’s a quid pro quo?
How you can appeal to their good nature/willingness to “give back”?

Finally:

What and how do you need to communicate with them?
How can you bring onside people who are not fully onboard?
How do you keep your supporters engaged?

Strauss identifies four possible levels of involvement to consider, which I’ve adapted a bit below:

Clearly, the more involved a stakeholder needs to be, the further towards the inner layers they would be.

He also highlights the range of techniques to consider as regards the time and place people will collaborate with you: