When planning a new program, you must first perform a stakeholder analysis. Stakeholders refer to groups, community leaders, individuals, and other entities that will get affected by the program in question or who might have an influence on the outcome. You can record all the information you gather using a stakeholder analysis template.
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Stakeholder Analysis Templates
How do you do a stakeholder analysis?
A stakeholder analysis involves 3 steps and as you do it, you use a stakeholder analysis template. After completing your analysis and your stakeholder list template, you can move forward with stakeholder management to determine how to communicate with each of the stakeholders. Before making your stakeholder matrix template, here are the steps:
- Identify the stakeholders
Start by finding out who are your stakeholders. As part of the process, you have to consider all of those who will get affected by your work, those who have power or influence over it, or those who have some level of interest in the results of your work.
Although stakeholders can either be people or organizations, you ultimately need to communicate with people. As such, you have to know the right stakeholders within a stakeholder organization. - Prioritize the stakeholders
Some of your stakeholders might have the capacity to either advance your project or block it. Some might show interest in what you’re planning while others might not even care. Therefore, it is your job to determine who you should prioritize.
What you can at this step is to sort your stakeholders by classifying them based on the power they have over your work and how interested they are in it. The position you should allocate to each of the stockholders on the grid will determine the actions you will take with them. Consider these classifications:
Highly-interested stakeholders who have high power
You should manage these people closely. It’s important to engage them fully and make the most effort to keep them satisfied.
Less-interested stakeholders who have high power
You should keep these people satisfied. Put enough effort with these people to make sure that they feel satisfied, but too so much that they get bored with you.
Highly-interested stakeholders who have low power
You should keep these people informed. Give them enough information and keep communicating with them to make sure that there aren’t any major issues arising. These people are often very helpful, especially when it comes to the finer details of your project.
Less-interested stakeholders who have low power
Just keep monitoring these people but try not to bore them by trying to communicate with them excessively. - Understand the key stakeholders
Finally, you have to find out how your key stakeholders feel about your work. You must also find the best ways to communicate with them and engage them. In most cases, people are usually quite candid about their views. Therefore, asking their opinions is usually the initial step to establish a lasting relationship with them.
A very simple but effective way of summarizing the level of support you have with your stakeholders is to come up with a color-coding system. For instance, use the color green for your supporters and advocates, The color red for your critics and blockers, and the color orange for those who aren’t very interested.
Stakeholder Mapping Templates
What are the four types of stakeholders?
Another thing to think about when creating your stakeholder analysis template is the type of stakeholders you have. There are 4 types of stakeholders that can serve as a basis for you to brainstorm the information to put into your stakeholder register template. These are:
- Users as Stakeholders
These people will use the products of your program or project. They are also the beneficiaries of the outcomes. Users are customers and as such, are essential stakeholders. - Governance as Stakeholders
These people have an interest in how you will manage things in your program or project. Falling into this category are the steering groups or management boards because they are usually tasked to monitor the project’s quality and give guidance and advice throughout its development. - Influencers are Stakeholders
These people have the capacity to influence decisions and change the course of your program or project. Examples of these stakeholders are labor groups, lobby groups or trade unions. They have the power to affect your project to either improve or protect the outcome. - Providers as Stakeholders
As you might expect, people who fall under this category are vendors and suppliers. Their main job is to provide supplies. But there is more to this because providers can also cover a large number of profiles that include catering staff, temporary contractors, business partners, and anybody else who can give resources to your program or project.
Stakeholder Register Templates
How do you create a stakeholder map?
In order to create the stakeholder’s map, you need to assemble a cross-functional team that possesses different perspectives on your product, service, project or business. How good your outcomes will be, depends on the participants’ insights.
Having a diverse team can help you identify the key stakeholders from across the whole spectrum of your business. Creating stakeholder mapping templates involves some general steps. The length of time required to accomplish this mapping depends on your organization, the focus of the session, and the size of the group.
Don’t expect that your mapping of a stakeholder analysis template can get completed in a short time because this process involves a comprehensive plan for communications in response to the map. The steps for this include:
- Scope: Identify the scope of your stakeholder analysis and give context to it.
- Brainstorm: Gather a detailed list of your stakeholders.
- Position: Position the stakeholders based on their interests and influence.
- Rate: Rate each of the stakeholders according to their support level – from advocate to adversary
- Action Plan: Identify the actions needed, come up with a timeframe, and assign responsibilities.
- Share: Keep monitoring then report on the outcomes as part of your communications strategy.
When making your map or template, make sure to provide context then define the scope of your stakeholder analysis. Moreover, you have to make sure that all of the participants understand the session’s purpose, and how to use the outcomes. Your goals depend on the organization, industry, project stage, and your current engagement objectives and communication.
