All the people or teams who have any interest in the project as well as have some impact on the project are called stakeholders. A stakeholder ensures that everything related to the project is accurate, and all the activities are on track.
However, the intentions of stakeholders are good but still, they are considered a roadblock to the progress of the project. That is the point that leads to the process of stakeholder analysis template.
What is Stakeholder Analysis?
Stakeholder analysis is the process of identifying a stakeholder before the initiation of the project and prioritizing them according to their interests and participation in the project. In addition to this, it also includes finding ways to get stakeholder engagement throughout the project lifecycle.
How to Conduct a Stakeholder Analysis
The process of stakeholder analysis varies from company to company but there are some common to all the analysis processes. Some of them are discussed below
Determination of Stakeholder
It is a brainstorming task to find all the possible appropriate stakeholders for your project. You have to select a potential stakeholder that stays with you and cooperates with your company throughout the project lifecycle. Following is the list of stakeholders that you can select
Sales
Marketing
Executive staff
Development
Consultants
Prioritization of Stakeholders
Once you have selected potential stakeholders for your project, the next step is to rank them or prioritize them according to their level of interest and participation in the project. On the bases of this scale, they categorize into four categories.
High Power and High Interest
These are the most important stakeholders, and you should care for their happiness them the progress of your project.
High Power and Low Interest
Their satisfaction must be your priority but as they have no deep interest in the project so they can be turned off if you over-communicate with them.
Low Power and High Interest
These people should get informed and updated. Try to keep in touch with them to make sure they are not facing any problems.
Low Power and Low Interest
Keep them informed from time to time.
Way of Communication or Win Buy-in from the Stakeholder
After the determination and categorization of the potential stakeholders, you have to decide on the way of communication and the ways to get them involved with the project throughout the lifecycle. The following questions are of great consideration during this phase.
- How do motivate the stakeholder?
- What are their priorities and interest? How would you get your project aligned with those priorities and interests?
- What are the ways to get a positive impact on stakeholders on your project?
Download: Project Management Plan Template
Key Features of Stakeholder Analysis Template
- The overview of the project contains the name of the project and what it contains.
- Then there is a column that contains the list of stakeholders, you can put information like their phone numbers, emails, and power per row separately.
- Under the influence or power, there is a drop-down menu that contains the options of high, medium, or low
- In the next section, you will determine the key stakeholder, their power, and their relationship with the project.
- The next column of this template will tell you about the decision-maker and it has also a dropdown menu of yes or no.
- The last column will indicate the level of communication with the dropdown menu containing options of weekly, monthly, or annually.
- The final section is of the commitment level with the dropdown menu containing two categories. C (current level of commitment), R (required level of commitment).
- There are some extra columns so that you can customize them according to your need.
Stakeholder Management Plan Template
Stakeholder Analysis Matrix Template
A stakeholder analysis matrix template is used to find out or map out the influence, power, and interest of the stakeholder in your project. It helps you find out which stakeholder has a high or low influence on your project. Putting the stakeholders into four quadrants makes it easy for you to decide which stakeholders require most of your attention and which one needs less attention.
Here we have a stakeholder analysis matrix template on your page, it has the most advanced features. You can download it from our page. It contains the following content that will help you out in managing the process of the stakeholder analysis template in the best way possible.
- The first column entitles the name of the stakeholder.
- The next column contains the information of the stakeholder. It contains the phone number, email, website or address, etc.
- The third column entitles impact, it explains how much impact a stakeholder has on the project. Under this column, there is a dropdown menu containing options high, medium, or low.
- The next column is on the influence of stakeholders with the same dropdown menu of high, medium, or low.
- It also contains information about, what a stakeholder wants and what are his internets towards your project.
- The contribution of stakeholders toward your project. Does your project get something positive from their contribution?
- The template has a section that tells you the reasons why a stakeholder can block the project.
- The last column has all the ways and methods with the help which you can keep the stakeholder engagement throughout the project lifecycle.
Article: Project Life Cycle Template
Tips to create stakeholder analysis template:
Here’s a short summary of tips to create one:
Identify Stakeholders: List all individuals, groups, or organizations affected by or influencing the project.
Gather Information: Collect information on each stakeholder, including their interests, expectations, influence, and level of support.
Prioritize Stakeholders: Determine the significance of each stakeholder based on their power, influence, and interest in the project.
Define Engagement Strategies: Develop tailored strategies to engage with each stakeholder effectively based on their needs and preferences.
Assess Risks and Opportunities: Identify potential risks, conflicts, or opportunities associated with each stakeholder and plan mitigation strategies.
Create the Template: Design a simple template with columns for stakeholder names, interests, influence, support level, engagement strategies, and risks.
Customize for Each Project: Adapt the template to suit the specific needs and context of each project.
Regularly Update: Keep your template up to date throughout the project lifecycle as stakeholder dynamics may change.
Stakeholder Analysis vs Stakeholder Mapping
Stakeholder analysis begins with the brainstorming process with the groups of your project. This highlights all the people affected by the project during the project lifecycle. This helps you identify a large pool of stakeholders. After that, you rank them according to their level of interest and participation in the form of a grid chart.
While stakeholder mapping is the visual representation of the stakeholder analysis process. A criterion is set and the people organize according to that criteria. This is how you manage them during the project. The set criteria may include financial stake, internet, influence or emotional stake, etc. which represents on the grid chart or spreadsheet.
Read More: Free Stakeholder Analysis Templates Smartsheet
