Stakeholder Management

Stakeholder management is the process of managing the expectation of anyone that has an interest in a project or will be effected by its deliverables or outputs.

Helpful Suggestions For Managing Difficult Clients

Every consultant has had to deal with a difficult client. The nice thing about being a consultant - you just need to get through the project and you will be able to move on - you don't necessarily have to work with that client ever again. But really, that's not what you want, is it? Ideally you develop a strong working relationship with a client so that when another project comes up, the client thinks of you first. You become a partner with the client, not just a one-time deal.

Stake Your Project Claim

After recent conversations with a friend about waffling company policies on projects, my head was whirling. I wondered how you manage a project without the stakeholders' approval or buy-in. In my friend's company, the sales representatives sometimes create quotes based in large part on what the customers want, and not always on what their products can do. The next step in the process is a layer of approval from several colleagues, and in many cases, the sales representative in question has to go back to the customer and renegotiate. You can imagine how the customer feels.

Stakeholder Commitment: Why Is It Important?

If that carrot-at-the-end-of-the-stick tactic seems useless to get commitment from your stakeholders, try these how-to's shared by experts. Commitment is important in any relationship. It is the value that galvanises diverse entities so that all can work together unilaterally and seamlessly. Without it, there is no bond and no common purpose. Romantic, family or even business-wise, commitment is the force that drives the relationship forward, toward a mutually desirable goal that usually points to growth and/or profitability.

How to Sell Function, Feature and Benefit to Stakeholders

Top executives and stakeholders are often "sold" certain projects from within the organisation. This normally happens, where a sales team first handles a project and then later assigns it to a project manager who "inherits" it. The concept here is that the selling to the stakeholders actually continues once the project manager takes over. Because of this reality, the project manager must to some extent use sales skills and continue to build (and even sometimes repair!) the relationships with the stakeholders.

Building Relationships in Project Management

Building relationships is just as important within the project team as it is outside. Good relationships can be the difference between outstanding success and dismal failure because it's all about getting people to like and trust you so that they will deliver what you need them to deliver at the right time in the right way. We have talked previously about managing stakeholders, finding out about and managing their needs and expectations, however this is much easier if you have developed good relationships with stakeholders in the first place.

Project Management: Stakeholder Risk Management

Is it really true that on time, on budget, and fulfilling all requirements means project success? Whose requirements are we really trying to meet anyway? And who decides if the original due date can be changed when the scope grows? In this article we'll address the people swirling around your project, stakeholders. You'll find some useful tips and other resources for optimising stakeholder involvement in your project.

Avoiding the "Dark Twisty Turn-filled Tunnel Syndrome"

Many a well conceived project ends up in the scrap heap because of inadequate expectation setting, or sponsors and key stakeholders that become disinterested or impatient with projects that don't produce deliverables quickly enough. These projects, after creating an initial buzz, appear to enter "a dark twisty tunnel" where the light from the tunnel entrance is no longer seen, the tunnel exit is nowhere in sight, and inadequate milestones exist to indicate forward progress. Avoiding this trap is no trivial matter, as it is more than just defining milestones for your project.

Persuasion and Perception

Every year, between forty and seventy percent of all corporations and public sector bodies attempt to make strategic change. Overwhelmingly, formal projects are the preferred structure used to organise such effort, regardless of whether the underlying goals are defined in terms of business process re-engineering (BPR), technology upgrades, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence or similar concepts.

Do You Want to Discover the Truth About Your Projects?

The different types of project review each have their own characteristics and benefits. For any review however it is important to decide what the overall purpose is, and who should gain what from the output. This step is missed out in many cases and the design of the review is not given sufficient attention. A review should consider both the project management standards and the subject matter of the project. Mistakes in either or both of these can lead to disaster, and it can take considerable skill and knowledge to uncover the truth.

What is Stakeholder Management?

Running a successful project requires a high degree of stakeholder management. So who are stakeholders? A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in your project or will be affected by its deliverables or output. It is important to understand the values and issues that stakeholders have in order to address them and keep everyone on board for the duration of the project.