Every project has stakeholders. Whether you’re managing a cloud deployment or planning a spaghetti dinner, someone has a vested interest in the outcome of the project. They have something to gain or lose as a result of the project and can directly influence its results. An integral part of project management is getting to know your stakeholders and the roles they play.

Every stakeholder wants the project to succeed, and each one will have their own vision of success. As the project manager, your job is keeping those people in the loop and making sure their needs are met. If you do that job well, everyone will be happy.

Here are three tips for successfully managing stakeholders in any project:

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    Tip #1: Determine level of influence

    Not every stakeholder has the same level of interest in a project. Some will have conflicting commitments and priorities that might put a constraint on your schedule. Others will show up for kickoff and never be heard from again, or won’t manifest until a project goes south. Certain stakeholders may only be identified once the project has rolled out and requirements arise that weren’t previously discussed.

    It is imperative to determine stakeholders and level of influence at the beginning of the project, before you develop the project plan. Find out who has an interest in seeing the project completed and what constraints might arise that could impact your success. Once all your stakeholders are identified, it is helpful to identify a “Project Champion” that has a significant influence over decisions. This person can also help rally the troops or be used as a point of escalation.

    In the spaghetti dinner example that we started exploring in Part 1 of this series—Communication—key stakeholders would include people like the host, the party planner, the cook, and your guests. The last stakeholder is frequently the most important because they are the ones that can be the most vocal about problems in service. Their level of influence for consumer-facing and internal projects alike is immense and can mean the difference between success and failure.

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    Tip #2: Manage expectations

    Managing stakeholders is more than just supervising people and communicating project status. It’s about understanding the difference between requirements and expectations. Believe me, it’s not as straightforward as you might think.

    Managing expectations means establishing in advance what can be realistically achieved or delivered by the project. Because they’re deeper and broader than requirements, expectations are rarely put on paper and are often implied rather than directly stated. As a project manager, you manage expectations by shaping them. This requires two key steps:

      1. Before you begin, dig out the expectations that are not explicitly stated in the requirements and Statement of Work. Interview stakeholders to dive deep into the root of the project and uncover the driving factors that motivate them, as well as hidden constraints that could derail the project. For a spaghetti dinner, you might ask your stakeholders a few questions: Why are we having a dinner in the first place? Why is spaghetti on the menu? Is there a particular sauce (or sauces) that people will expect? For a great video about expectations, I encourage you to watch Malcolm Gladwell’s TED talk appropriately titled, “Choice, happiness and spaghetti sauce.”
      2. Continuously mold expectations as the project progresses. Expectations can be molded by informing the project team and stakeholders of decisions that were made before they jump to their own conclusions. If you are going to be late in delivering your product, you had better communicate that effectively. Make sure the consumer doesn’t assume that Fall 2015 means September, when it could be more like November. If you tell your stakeholder that the spaghetti sauce will WOW, it would be smart to include some details. WOW to me, might not be WOW to you.

    Molding expectations means eliminating guesswork. Provide specific metrics and details so that stakeholders aren’t forced to draw their own conclusions.

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    Tip #3: Communicate!

    Communicating with stakeholders is the lifeblood of any project. Using the tools and techniques discussed in Part 1 of this series, make sure you are keeping an open channel to your stakeholders. Identify the preferred communication method for each stakeholder to streamline decision making and status reporting. Some stakeholders want to have a call every day, some once a week. Others only want to be notified if you discover a road block.

    For a spaghetti dinner, upper-level stakeholders, such as building owners, volunteer group leaders, or store managers may only require a bi-weekly or monthly phone call to keep them in the loop. It’s up to you to find out what works best for them, and to stick to a regular communication cadence.

    At the Zumasys Project Management Office, we understand the importance of managing stakeholders all the way from the “wild idea” stage to project sign-off. We work with our customers to make sure everyone’s voice is heard, from the executive level to the user level and everywhere in between. This helps to ensure that requirements and expectations are discovered early and everyone is satisfied.

At the Zumasys Project Management Office, we understand the importance of managing stakeholders all the way from the “wild idea” stage to project sign-off. We work with our customers to make sure everyone’s voice is heard, from the executive level to the user level and everywhere in between. This helps to ensure that requirements and expectations are discovered early and everyone is satisfied.

Be sure to check back here soon for the next installment in our Zumasys PMO’s 5 Keys to a Successful Project: Scope Management.

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