Understand your Stakeholders with a Stakeholder Map

Understanding your stakeholders is essential for any project’s success. Stakeholder maps offer a visual way to make it happen.

Who is a Stakeholder?

A stakeholder is someone who has a vested interest in the outcome of a project or a program.

Not all stakeholders are the same.

They come with a variety of needs and expectations.

As a tech leader, you must:

1. Identify them
2. Analyze and learn about them
3. Map them based on their interests
4. Prioritize and manage

One useful tool to do this is a stakeholder map.

What is a Stakeholder Map?

A stakeholder map is a visual matrix that identifies and categorizes stakeholders based on 2 dimensions – influence and interest.

Influence is the degree to which a particular stakeholder can impact the execution and outcome of a project. For example, a project sponsor is someone with a high influence, who can drive key decisions.

Interest, on the other hand, is about how much a stakeholder is impacted by the project outcome. For example, if you are building an HR application, the end-users in the HR team have high levels of interest.

Once you have established this, the stakeholders can be mapped on a matrix.

1. High influence, High interest – stakeholders that must be managed closely, as they can steer the direction and outcome of the project
2. High influence, Low interest – these are key leaders in the organization who may not be directly interested in the outcome of the project, but must be kept happy (no escalations, firefighting, etc.)
3. Low influence, High interest – these are folks usually part of the project team or the intended end-users. They have a high interest as the outcome with have a direct impact on them but often their influence is limited
4. Low influence, Low interest – these are enablers or other enterprise bodies, who are not directly involved in the execution or outcome. But they may expect to be “kept in the loop”

Here’s a sample stakeholder map for a project. Do note the categorization is highly opinionated, it can vary for every project or initiative.

How do you create a Stakeholder map?

There is no single way to create a stakeholder map and it highly depends on your organization’s culture and operations.

However, here is a 5-step blueprint that works in most cases.

1. Start with the purpose of your map
2. Brainstorm and build the stakeholder list
3. Determine each stakeholder’s level of involvement
4. Determine their interest and goals in the project
5. Create a stakeholder map and establish an engagement plan

In summary, a stakeholder map helps you understand the landscape, know the stakeholder interests, and create an engagement plan that works.