Stakeholder Identification and Communication

Health Care Project Identifying Stakeholders Stakeholder engagement is an important component to managing a project. Human beings are complex and it can be difficult to effectively communicate with many individuals and groups. However, it is often the case that a project's success depends on effective communication with those involved. Project managers need to identify the stakeholders to in order to develop a communication plan. Stakeholders can be thought of as anyone that has a "stake" in the project.

This can include everyone from investors, to employees, subcontractors, the end users or the operations team, and many more. Furthermore, the specific set of stakeholders can vary from project to project; both internally and externally to the project. Therefore, it is necessary to officially identify the unique set of stakeholders that can influence the project.

The stakeholder analysis is defined as "systematically gathering and analyzing quantitative and qualitative information to determine whose interests should be taken into account throughout the project (Kloppenborg, 2013)." Stakeholders are people who: Work on the project Provide people or resources for the project Have their routines disrupted by the project A stakeholder identification chart is a useful way to prioritize stakeholders and put their roles in perspective. Figure 1 - Stakeholder Matrix (Kloppenborg, 2013) This chart can help to identify the specific roles that a stakeholder plays in the project.

Understanding the nuances of their role can greatly assist in the communication plan that needs to be designed to meet their needs in accordance with their expectations. Once the stakeholders are identified, a communication plan can be developed to manage communications with individual stakeholders or groups of stakeholders. For example, nearly all projects have some sort of investors. Investors need to be notified at milestones or specific intervals so that they can track the information relevant to their investment.

The investors can represent a critical success factor to the project and it is important to keep them informed with information that is relevant to their position. If the investors are also project champions, this can also have a motivating effect on the project team that can potentially improve their morale and facilitate many project activities. In many cases, this can be especially important if any additional funding is necessary. If the stakeholders have all the relevant information then they might be more open to providing additional funding if necessary.

To keep this group informed, most project managers will provide reports to these stakeholders at regular intervals -- for example, maybe once a month. These reports will provide relevant information about the projects progress. Another option would be to provide reporting after specific milestones are met. An example of this might be to provide a full report after the project planning phase is completed. Beyond the external stakeholders, the internal stakeholders are at least equally important. The project should be communicated it regard to its progress.