People can just as easily grease a project's wheels as stop it in its tracks

Stakeholder Analysis is about identifying all persons, groups and institutions who may have an interest in a project and taking steps to manage their interests and expectations so that the project runs as smoothly as possible

Stakeholder Analysis is the technique used to identify the key people who have to be won over

The benefits of using a stakeholder-based approach are that:

• You can use the opinions of the most powerful stakeholders to shape your projects at an early stage – their support matters and their inputs can help

• Support from powerful stakeholders helps your project to be successful

• By communicating with stakeholders early and frequently, you can ensure that they fully understand what you are doing and understand the benefits of your project – this means they can support you actively when necessary

• You can anticipate what people's reaction to your project may be, and build into your plan the actions that will win people's support

In five downloadable videos I will walk you through the steps of identifying and understanding your stakeholders, identifying win-win outcomes and developing a stakeholder communication plan. (A template in Excel is included.) We wrap up by exploring the topic of Stakeholder Engagement, an area rarely covered but essential to understand if we are to use our resources both efficiently and effectively.

This is extracted from a longer course on Results-Based Management (details at our web site) and no assignments are required. A certificate will be issued once all units are marked complete.