What Is Stakeholder Management?

Stakeholders are individuals or groups vested in your project or venture. Stakeholder management is the process of building positive relationships with stakeholders and managing their needs to advance your project effectively.

Given the significant levels of knowledge, resources, or investment they offer, the success of your project will heavily rely on the relationships you develop with your stakeholders. Therefore, it’s essential to have a well-defined process to identify stakeholders, understand their requirements, and effectively manage their expectations.

5 steps of stakeholder management

From assessing potential stakeholders to devising and implementing an engagement plan, stakeholder management requires a careful strategy. Follow these five steps of the stakeholder management process to look after your stakeholders' interests and maintain crucial relationships:

1. Identify stakeholders: Conduct a stakeholder analysis to identify project stakeholders, whether internal (owners, investors, and team members) or external (creditors, suppliers, or governing bodies).

2. Prioritise stakeholders: Order stakeholders based on their impact on the project—some will have a greater impact than others. Maintain relationships with the ones that have the most significant impact, considering the project’s priorities could shift once you complete it.

3. Understand stakeholder needs and motives: Get to know your stakeholders’ needs and motives to better engage with them, communicate with them, and consequently maintain a positive relationship. Meet and interview each stakeholder, using surveys and focus groups to understand their requirements and gather feedback.

4. Create an engagement plan: Develop an engagement plan for your stakeholders that details your communication expectations, timelines, and feedback methods. Document this plan and present it to your stakeholders.

5. Implement and monitor progress: Employ your engagement plan and monitor its progress to manage expectations and make adjustments as needed.

Related terms

• Task management

• Project plan

• Pert chart

• Resource management

Get started 

Developing positive relationships with project stakeholders and effectively managing their needs is essential. A project’s success depends on strong relationships with stakeholders, who lend their knowledge, resources, or investment to the mix. Once you’re ready to learn more about stakeholder management, consider completing the Google Project Management: Professional Certificate, which provides an overview of how to manage a project, including how to undertake stakeholder management.