Stakeholder Management Plan Template
This stakeholder management plan template will enable you to identify and categorize your stakeholders in terms of their ‘interest’.
The level of interest for each stakeholder is defined by assessing three key facets as they relate to that individual and the project:
- 1) Level of influence
- 2) Level of interest
- 3) Level of involvement
Thus allowing you to develop a comprehensive management strategy that ensures you set expectations appropriately and retain their support throughout the project life cycle according to their ability to affect the project and its outcome.
Stakeholders can be internal to the organization or external. In many projects the public at large will become a stakeholder to be considered during the project. The challenge for the project manager when the public is a stakeholder will be to act while considering public needs. Often there is no direct representative of the public to be consulted during project planning and execution.
Stakeholder involvement should be supported by an emphasis on quality relationships in which the parties are aware of their responsibilities, and where communication between them is clear and comprehensive. Stakeholder-based contributions to project success include executive support and effective use of the organization's infrastructure to support the project.
The importance of planning and preparing a sound strategy to manage your stakeholders as early as possible in the project management process cannot be over emphasized. Good management of stakeholder's interests from the outset will help you to avoid unnecessary diversions that arise from a lack of understanding of their needs and interests.
