One of the concepts underpinning the research for my doctoral thesis and the Stakeholder Circle® methodology is the concept that project success is determined by the attitudes of the key stakeholders around the project. Delivering a project on time, on budget and to specification is not sufficient; if the project is not liked and the outputs are not used it is still a failure. Contrast the difference between the very low-level of patronage for the Melbourne Star and the success of the London Eye, both giant wheels designed to overlook a city. Show
Certainly some projects are easier to attract support to than others, but even intrinsically unpopular projects—to implement a business change, upgrade systems and reduce head count—need the support of the people involved in the change if the project’s intended benefits are to be fully realised. And while change management and project management are distinctly different functions, in many respects project stakeholder management and change management are similar and both facets of an organisational change need to be working constructively together to achieve success. Even where no internal change is needed each project needs the support of key elements of its stakeholder community to achieve a successful outcome in the most efficient way. And given the only ethical way to influence stakeholder attitudes is through effective communication, this means every project needs to communicate effectively to achieve optimum success. However, reporting is not enough! There are three general classes of communication that are needed in an effective stakeholder management; reporting, public relations (marketing) and purposeful communication. 1. ReportingReporting fulfils two useful purposes: firstly it demonstrates you are running your project properly; as project managers are expected to produce reports and have schedules, etc., issuing reports shows that you are conforming to expectations. Secondly, copying a report to a person keeps you in touch with them for when more significant communications are needed. Reporting may not be communication but it is useful. Jon Whitty has described reports and bar charts as essential ‘clothing’ for a project manager (and as Mark Twain said “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society”). You cannot avoid reports; they are required by your company and often by law. You simply create them as needed. Some examples include:
The information in reports is typically pushed (sent directly to) to recipients and while this creates a consistent set of data in a time series, of themselves, reports are not communication, although information in a report can be used as part of purposeful communication. 2. PR and marketingPublic relations (PR) and marketing are underrated and underused communication processes. PR includes all of the broadcast communications needed to provide information about your project to the wider stakeholder community to market the value of the project and to prevent information ‘black holes’ developing that breed misinformation and rumour. The power of social media to feed on rumours and amplify bad news is massive and it is nearly impossible to kill the rumours once they have started even if the information being circulated is completely false. Once a perception of a disaster is created in a person’s mind, the tendency to reject any other information is innate—“they would say that, wouldn’t they…?”. Effective PR using a range of available media including web portals and social media can mitigate (but cannot eliminate) this type of negative influence in your stakeholder community, both within the organisation and externally. The challenge is to be first, to be understood and to be credible. Some of the options include:
Developing an effective PR campaign is a skilled communications process designed to build buy-in and enthusiasm for the project and the deliverables. It is well worth the effort on almost every project! It is far easier to create a good first impression than to try to change an already formed bad impression among your stakeholders, and is particularly important if your project is going to change how people do their jobs – your project will experience far lower levels of opposition and the change manager will thank you. 3. Purposeful communicationPurposeful communication is hard work and needs to be focused on the important stakeholders (both positive and negative) with whom you need to cause a specific effect. This includes providing direction to your team members and suppliers and influencing the attitude or expectations of other key stakeholders. Purposeful communication needs to be planned, which means you need to know precisely what effect you are seeking and then work out how to achieve the effect. This usually means you want the stakeholder to start to do something, do something differently or stop doing something. Some of the tactics that can be used to make your communication effective include:
Purposeful communication is hard work and needs to be carefully focused on the stakeholders that matter at any point in time. As with risk management, a regular review of the stakeholder community is essential to reassess the relative priorities of all new and existing stakeholders, to understand if your communication efforts are being successful (change tactics if not) and to best focus your communication effort going forward. Effective communication needs to be designed to be effective within the stakeholder’s culture. This means learning how the person operates and what is normal for them; you need to communicate within their paradigm. Building this type of communication environment designed to support project success requires a strategic approach. The payback? Less time spent firefighting and dealing with ad hoc enquiries. What involves determining the information and communications needs of the stakeholders?Communications planning involves determining the information and communications needs of the stakeholders. Who needs what information, when do they need it, and how do they want to receive it.
Which of the following methods can be used for communication to stakeholders?Schedule a meeting
Stakeholder meetings are the most common communication method in place for corporations, especially since they can save time in conveying the message to a large number of people.
What is the stakeholder communication?Stakeholder communication is the correspondence among all of the people invested in a project or business. Stakeholders include project managers, team members, clients, department heads and company executives. Some common stakeholder communication mediums include: Regular meetings via video or in person. Emails.
What is stakeholder and communication management?Stakeholder management is the process of maintaining good relationships with the people who have most impact on your work. Communicating with each one in the right way can play a vital part in keeping them "on board." This article is about how to communicate effectively with stakeholders.
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