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Thu, Jun 25, 2009 5:52 EDT

Stakeholder Management - there's a lot at stake

Topic: IT Organization Management

Current Rating: 5 Comments: 3

An organization might have an outstanding management team and an effective management system, but if it does not manage the sometimes myriad of key stakeholders effectively, transformation programmes can suffer serious negative impact or be completely destroyed.

It is not uncommon to hear that misunderstandings, poor leadership, lack of support and inadequate communication have been the cause of programme failures. So it is vital that stakeholders understand the programme, its objectives, challenges, benefits and implications. This is not a one-time exercise, as buy-in, trust and support can only be earned and maintained if stakeholders are kept informed and comfortable, and it is important to understand that different stakeholders have different expectations and different definitions of success.

It is also worth noting that a company's reputation is a function of its reputation among its various stakeholders and a positive reputation among stakeholders is likely to result in a positive reputation for the organisation, not only for a particular programme, but for the company overall.

With humans being what they are, there will usually be those who are allies to the transformation programme, those who are opponents and those who stand on neutral ground. Only through a careful stakeholder analysis can the tendency, importance, nature and other traits of each stakeholder be established in order that a suitable stakeholder management plan can be defined so that each stakeholder can be managed appropriately.

Aside from the three main steps in stakeholder management (identification, analysis and management) I believe that there are two underlying success criteria which can make or break any attempt to manage stakeholders. They are 'Trust' and 'Communication', and when blended correctly, can form the basis of a successful stakeholder management effort.

In his book, "The Speed of Trust", Stephen Covey delves deep into the importance of trust with stakeholders and the words on the front of his book; "(trust) the one thing that changes everything" are especially relevant to anyone setting out to foster strong relationships with stakeholders.

With trust comes confidence and that is something we want to earn and maintain with as many stakeholders as possible. The more we increase the trust and confidence, the less we are likely to encounter resistance and the more we are likely to gain the support we need from key stakeholders in overcoming challenges that we alone are unable to address directly.

The meaning of communication is the response that you get, and I believe we should take responsibility and learn how to communicate our way and their way. What and how we communicate to our stakeholders will influence them, and how they react will influence us, and if we are to see true two-way communication we need to know how stakeholders are reacting so that we can react accordingly.

Stakeholder management is a critical element of IT transformation and indeed any business transformation and is easier said than done, but it can often mean the difference between the success and failure of transformation programmes. And as the old saying goes; "the bigger they are, the harder they fall".

You can read a more in-depth version of this article here
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Thu, Jun 25, 2009 14:10 EDT
Anonymous user
Posted by: Jane Cavanaugh
Rating:

Your post is spot-on, particularly in the context of IT work. I've been doing business coaching and meeting facilitation work for almost 15 years now. Any leader or team who needs to accomplish something that impacts others or relies on resources outside of their control needs to do a good job of stakeholder management to be successful. This couldn't be more true or more challenging to accomplish than on IT-related projects. If you don't do a good job of assessing your stakeholders' needs, what you create is destined to drag on miserably or fail completely, with missed deadlines, escalating costs and user frustration.

Here's some basics I've found really make a difference in creating good trust and communication with key stakeholders:

Ask two questions before making a decision:
*"What would be a win for you [in how we create this/do this]?"
*"What would really concern you/not work for you?"
LOOP BACK after decision is made:
* Explain final decision and how their input was taken into consideration, especially if the end result is different than requested.
* If you're building an application or process, show your work in stages to make sure it's really matching what the stakeholder expected. It's common and entirely human to misunderstand each other--baking check points into the process is key to final success.

 
Fri, Jun 26, 2009 8:55 EDT
Posted by: John M. Worthington
Rating:

Great article and I totally agree on the need for stakeholder management, which often gets put on a back burner at the very worst time...

check out the PMI eReads & Reference site for a book called Dialog Mapping: Building a Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems, by Jeff Conklin

regards,

John Worthington, Principal
MyServiceMonitor, LLC

 
Fri, Jun 26, 2009 11:33 EDT
Posted by: Serge Thorn
Rating: 90

There are technics to do stakeholder management. I highly recommend you have a look at the TOGAF 9 Enterprise Architecture Framework.

Information is available at http://www.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf9-doc/arch/

On the left column you will find under PART III ADM Guidelines and Techniques, many information on how to proceed!

Best regards

Serge Thorn
blog http://sergethorn.blogspot.com

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