The third step on the path to success is to effectively
engage stakeholders. A stakeholder is anyone who will experience change because
of your project or who has the ability to influence the outcome of your
project. The key words here are impact
and influence
The Impact Assessment, described in Step 2, is a tool to
identify the type and degree of change and the areas and individuals affected.
You can identify the high influence stakeholders by asking who has the power –
whether formal or informal – to prevent your project from achieving success.
Your Stakeholder Engagement Plan established the timeline, defines key
objectives and describes the approach to involving the high impact/high
influence stakeholders throughout the project.
Communication alone is not sufficient to achieve the level
of support and preparation high impact/high influence stakeholders require for
your project to be successful. Engaging the right stakeholders at the right
time in the right way, creates an opportunity for them to take ownership of the
outcome. They become part of what is
happening instead of an observer or a victim of what will be different. We are
less likely to resist what we have a voice in creating.
Recommendations:
1.
Categorize you stakeholders by level of impact
and location or function. This facilitates more efficient planning and
scheduling. You may want to engage all high impact/high
influence stakeholders across functions in one session or tailor your
engagement to a specific location or job role. Either way can work. You have to
decide what will work best in your culture.
2.
Establish the engagement timeline to support key
milestones throughout the project implementation timeline. If your project is
12 months or longer, you may want monthly engagements the first few months and
then more frequent engagement as you get closer to execution.
3.
Define the engagement objective for each group
and each engagement. Your objectives will
likely move up the involvement scale beginning with achieving understanding, then
building agreements, next obtaining alignment and ultimately cascading
ownership from the project team to key influencers to sustain change after the
project ends.
4.
Design the session to achieve your objective.
Some sessions may be an hour. Some may be a full day.
With each engagement
session you are increasing support and surfacing issues that you can address to
reduce resistance. Engaging your stakeholders effectively, will keep you on the
path to success.
Copyright © 2019* Rita Burgett-Martell; Organizational Change Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Personal Coach — Strategic Transformations Consulting Inc; — Author of Change Ready! and Defining Moments — Available at Amazon — 415 806 9484
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