It is important to understand how best to engage and communicate with your stakeholders and, using that knowledge, find out how they feel about your project.
Questions that can help you understand your stakeholders include:
- What interest do they have in the outcome of your work? Is it positive or negative?
- What motivates them most of all?
- What information do they want from you, and what is the best way of communicating with them?
- What is their current opinion of your work? Is it based on good information?
- Who influences their opinions generally, and who influences their opinion of you?
- If they aren’t likely to be positive, is there a handling plan for dealing with negative comments or groups who may cause delays or pose risk.
- Who else might be influenced by their opinions? Do these people become stakeholders in their own right?
- Who already holds relationships with these audiences/stakeholders? For instance, if this is current patients, then the staff they meet in clinic will be very important. Your engagement lead may also have strong relationships with local groups. You might also want to use a neutral intermediary, such as Healthwatch, to help communicate and engage. It’s important you know who is communicating with these stakeholders to avoid duplication and make sure they have one or two points of contact within your organisation.
You can ask your stakeholders these questions directly. Asking for their opinions is often the first step in building a relationship with them.
You can ask your stakeholders these questions directly. Asking for their opinions is often the first step in building a relationship with them.
This information will help you decide how to communicate or engage with them; what routes to use; who is likely to champion or to oppose. It will form the basis of any communications or engagement plan.
Now your stakeholder mapping is complete, this information will feed into your overall engagement plan.