Stakeholders and Communication

Before you begin a new phase or activity, develop a preliminary strategy for involving and communicating with your stakeholders. You will be refining this strategy throughout the different project phases -

We define stakeholders as any individual, group, or organization that influences your project or is affected by it. They can be external to your organization, e.g., partners, boards, grant-making organizations, consultants, target audiences or users, professional associations, and the media. They can also be internal to your organization, e.g., management, project team members, and other staff.

Think about their interests and whether they are likely to be strong advocates, lukewarm supporters, or non-supporters of the project. Then consider how you will involve them in the project and obtain and maintain their support.

Consider what kind of roles your stakeholders will play in all the phases, such as:

resource provider decision maker adviser or provider of feedback performer of specific project tasks, e.g., needs analysis, design and development, administration, or evaluation provider of standards or rules and regulations to follow promoter of the project user or beneficiary of the project's results

The number of stakeholders you identify and the roles they play will depend on the size and complexity of your project.

An effective way of involving your stakeholders is to include individuals or representatives of key groups on your project team. The key to successful completion of a project is to have a core team of stakeholders who will participate in all phases of your project. Consider including the following types of people:

project director, who is the main person responsible for the performance of the project and the main point of contact with the funding organization, e.g. IMLS; coordinates all project tasks and promotes good relationships and communications among all team members; on larger projects, could be assisted by project coordinators or managers task performers, who report to the project director and who are responsible for performing the project work project sponsor, who mobilizes and maintains support for the project from the internal organization(s) that are responsible for planning and doing the project; usually a representative of senior management representatives of key stakeholder groups, e.g., partners, staff and users, who contribute their perspectives on project issues subject matter experts, who provide specialized expertise at various phases or steps of the project

If appropriate to the size and complexity of your project, plan to form a Steering or Advisory Committee of key decision makers to provide guidance and approval for your project's products and services.

You may also need to add new members to the core team, or form sub-teams, to perform tasks during different project phases or activities, e.g. evaluation and implementation.

Plan to clarify and document roles and responsibilities of the team members. Establish regular meeting times for your team(s) and be prepared to call ad hoc meetings as necessary.

Once the project goals have been formulated in the phase Define the Project, think of ways to reinforce them throughout all the phases. For example, before you begin the Do the Project phase, consider conducting an opening or "kickoff" event to communicate about the project goals to all of your key stakeholder groups.

Develop a communication strategy to keep your stakeholders engaged throughout all your project's phases. It can be used to publicize your project's efforts and successes and to secure and leverage additional funding and resources.

In developing your communication strategy in all phases, consider the following:

what: the customized message that each stakeholder should receive about your project's progress who: the most appropriate individual, group or organization to deliver your message how: the most appropriate channel to use (e.g. face-to-face, telephone, voicemail, e-mail, letter, video, Web page, conference call) to deliver your message when: the most appropriate timing for delivering your message and how often to deliver it feedback: the most appropriate mechanism to receive feedback on your message

Make sure that you have a method in place to update and refine your communication strategy as the project progresses.