Stakeholder assessment is ultimately about identifying and managing any stakeholders that are going to be impacted by or have an influence over your change project or program, and there are ultimately four steps that you should go through:
Step 1: Identify
Identifying who those key individuals or groups are that would be considered a stakeholder in your project. This includes both internal and external stakeholders, such as clients, regulatory bodies, leadership, management layers, and employees. List out all your stakeholders by individuals plus groups.
Step 2: Analyse
This involves looking at the impact or influence they have:
Impact refers to the degree of impact the change will have on them
Influence refers to the degree of influence they will have on the success of the programme
List your stakeholders in terms of individuals or groups and start to think about their role, location, key priorities, and issues. Assess their level of impact and influence as high, medium, or low.
Step 3: Stakeholder Mapping
Stakeholder mapping may not always be necessary, but for large-scale changes, it’s useful. Create a visual map with four quadrants based on high or low levels of influence and impact. This helps identify the engagement approach needed for each stakeholder.
Step 4: Stakeholder Engagement
Once stakeholders are mapped, respond accordingly. There are four quadrants:
actively engage
inform and satisfy
stay close
keep informed
Tailor your engagement approach based on where stakeholders fall in terms of impact and influence. So overall, stakeholder assessment is a core component in managing your change project or program, considering various stakeholders with vested interests or impacts. It involves understanding roles, locations, and priorities, and tailoring engagement strategies accordingly.
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