"To keep everyone invested in your vision, you have to back up a little bit and really analyse who the different stakeholders are and what they individually respond to." - Alan Stern
Before we enthusiastically start making plans, it is prudent to remember who will be affected by our plans…positively and negatively. Purpose organisations don’t like to think they have anything but supporters of various degrees of ardour but just remember we can upset the plans of others, monopolise the interest of donors or sponsors or just make work for regulators.
Stakeholder mapping has many benefits the most important of which is getting us to have a true understanding of our operating environment. We can identify who can really help us, who can recommend us and who needs a better understanding of what we are doing. We can use this knowledge to shape both messages and channels of communication.
Getting started
Let’s take a rational approach. Typically, stakeholders come from three tiers. Those in Tier One are directly involved- your board and employees; association members; key suppliers; beneficiaries or recipients of your service.
Organisations in Tier Two are indirectly involved. Donors and sponsors, government regulators, organisations providing similar services, lobby or special groups, possibly trade associations or even trade unions.
Finally, Tier Three can influence your operating environment with the media being central but not forgetting community groups and even influencers. Social media has become a powerful force in our world.
Start with a simple list of all the organisations that fall into these three tiers. Then ask yourself these key questions:
What is their role in your world?
How much influence do they have?
Do we have responsibilities to this stakeholder?
Are they for us, neutral or against us?
Do we need to have a relationship with them?
If so, how will we manage this relationship?
There are various academic tools that can be used to summarise your stakeholders. Stakehlder Triage, Stakeholder Circle, Sociogram, Forcefield Diagram and the wonderfully named Fried Egg diagram are but a few. All are useful in certain circumstances although some are quite complex and what we are looking for is simplicity.
Simplicity will help us to benefit from our analysis with tactics that will help our overall mission.
Interest and influence
The two key attributes we must determine are what level of influence the stakeholder can have and how interested they are in our projects. From this we can determine a communication strategy that aligns with our endeavours.
The simple Influence/Interest Matrix works well as a starting point. From here we can decide to adopt specific tactics for each segment.
High Influence & Low Interest (Top-Left): These stakeholders are influential but know little about us. An information initiative can work well here. Often organisations assign an executive to manage these relations and try and move the stakeholder, or at least some of their key team members into the High Interest box.
High Influence & High Interest (Top-Right): These are our VIPs, stakeholders that are key to our success and should be managed accordingly. We need to take them on the journey with us so regular communication is essential.
Low Interest & Low Stake (Bottom-Left): Low priority stakeholders where little activity is required. They shouldn’t be ignored but can be kept informed by generic communication.
Low influence & High Stake (Bottom-Right): It’s their stake in our endeavours that dictates the need to keep them in the loop. This is where we’ll find our referrers and ambassadors.
Now our own situation may not fit perfectly into a grid like this. Seldom does real life drop neatly into a matrix!
In closing let me stress three important considerations.
Look at the world from their point of view. Consider their responsibilities and deliverables. How do we fit into their agendas.
Don’t be scared of detail. It helps to illuminate the challenges they might be facing.
Remember things can change so check your assumptions are as current as possible.
Putting all the relevant information into a map or diagram is your final challenge. Don’t make it a step too far as the power of the picture, worth a thousand words if you believe the old adage, will actually assist your overall endeavour. It will be easy to remember, easy to update as new information comes to light and easy to refer to as your work progresses.