Stakeholder & Sponsor Engagement Michelle Elkins

November 2012

Stakeholder & Sponsor EngagementMichelle Elkins

Topics

• Stakeholders

• Strategy

• Sponsors

• Appendix

Stakeholder Management

• Supports an organization in achieving its

strategic objectives by interpreting and

influencing both the external and internal

environments

• Creating positive relationships with stakeholders

through the appropriate management of their

expectations and agreed objectives

Official Definition

Stakeholders

• Project stakeholders are those entities within or

outside an organization which:- Sponsor a project- Have an interest upon a successful completion of a

project- Positive or negative influence in the project completion.

• Examples:- Project leader- Project team members- Upper management- Customers- Project testers- Sponsors

Anyone or any organization that can affect or be affected in any way

- External customers- Suppliers- Resource Managers- Functional Managers

Identify Stakeholders

Input

• Project Charter• Procurement Documents• Enterprise Environmental Factors• Organization Process Assets

Tools

• Stakeholder Analysis• Expert Judgment

Output

• Stakeholder Management Strategy• Stakeholder Register

Tie this to your communication plan!

Identifying stakeholders

• Who gains and who loses from this change?

• Who controls change management of processes?

• Who designs new systems?

• Who will make the decisions?

• Who procures and decides what to buy?

• Who controls the resources?

• Who has influence?

• Who pays for this?

• Who can pose a risk?

Continually review the “Who’s”

Mind Map – Stakeholder Analysis

Analyzing Stakeholders

• What motivates them?

• Are they positive/negative?

• Financial or emotional interest

• How do they want to receive information?

• How do you manage negative impacts?

• What information do they have and do you have?

• What are their current opinions?

• How are they influenced?

How can they contribute to success

Keep Satisfied Manage Closely

Monitor Keep Informed

Po

wer o

f Influ

ence

Interest

Stakeholder Quadrant

Low

Sample Stakeholder Analyses

Significant Some Little None

Very

Some

Little

None

InfluenceIm

po

rtan

ce

Sample Stakeholder Matrix

Stakeholder Category

Stakeholder Names)

Phase with Maximum Impact

Degree of Influence(H, M, L)

Concerns or Issues Targeted Level of Awareness*

[Project Name]Steering Committee

List names here

Define High When will it happen?How much will it cost?What benefits will we see?

Advocate

SBU Leadership List names here

Define High What benefits will we see?When will it happen?How much will it cost?

Aware

IT Leadership List names here

DesignBuild

Medium Coordination of Change MgmtPerformance ImpactCoordination of data standardsLong-term integration strategy development

Understanding

Co-Source Supplier

List names here

DesignBuild

Medium

Software Quality Assurance (SQA)

List names here

DefineBuild & Test Train & Accept

Medium Are the business requirements testable?What is the project schedule?

Build Strategy

• Analyze

• Meet with stakeholders

• Validate

• Build communication strategy plans

• Finalize communication strategy and plans

• Find a mentor

• Build a “core” team

• Build the plan; validate regularly

Build the team foundation

Strategy

• Who are you engaging?

• What are you communicating?

• Where are you communicating?

• When and how often are you engaging?

• Why engage?

- Transparency

- Information

- Risk management

- Accountability

WIIFM and WIIFT

Sponsors

• Executive

• Fiscal authority

• Political clout

• Personal commitment

• Project has value to them

Poor Sponsorship = significantly diminished chance of success

What can they do for you?

• Represent the project with senior management

• Escalation point

• Project advisor

• Provide funding

• Chair the steering committee

• Keep the team focused

• Helps define success

• Share accountability

And anything else within reason!

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Be visible, available and participate actively

• Help navigate the political environment

• Removes roadblocks

• Ensure appropriate stakeholder involvement

• Liaison with senior leadership

• Facilitate organization acceptance and transition

• Share accountability

Sponsors can be your #1 ally

Communication Planning

• Specific and appropriate

- Who, what , when and why

• Sample Unified Collaboration:

- Project teams – meet daily for 15 minutes and weekly

- Core team – bi-weekly

- Steering committee – bi-monthly

- IT Functional phase gates – as required

- End customers – as deployed

- Customer Reviews - monthly

- Executive – monthly

Change your plan dynamically and as required

Drive communications that are understood

Top Ten Attributes of a Great Project Sponsor

• Be the advocate, coach, influencer, and battering ram• Clearly understand the problem to be solved• Ensure that the solution fixes the problem• Know where “good enough” is• Build the right team to solve the problem• Hold the team accountable for results•  Know the big issues and what is needed to resolve

them• Make the thoughtful, tough decisions• Ensure that the project finishes strong• Know when to pull the plug

A Strong Sponsor can make or break a project

Basics

• Avoid jargon

• Educate

• Be credible

• Be genuine

• Show project control

• Use common sense

• Active listening

• Clear and concise messages

• Understand the power dynamics

• Create common platform and goals

There is no silver bullet

Sponsor Communication

• Build relationship

• Be prepared

• Start out at the high level

• Story board

• Managing escalation without a bus accident

• Proactive solutions

• Use spell check! And then re-check!

Do your homework!

Sponsor Management Workshop Tools

• Roles & Responsibilities• Organizational Readiness Assessment• Sponsor Readiness Assessment• Stakeholder Analysis Matrix• Questionnaire for Sustaining Effective Sponsorship• Sponsor Feedback Questionnaire

Samples in the Appendix

Questions

Appendix

References

• PMBOK 4th & 5th Editions

• THE TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM by Yosuhiro Monden

• Aerospace VPD™ How we improve Product Development

link

• The Toyota Product Development System by James M.

Morgan, Jeffrey K. Liker

• Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable About Solving the

Most Painful Problem in Business by Patrick Lencioni

• Darryl Connor, ODR, 1993

• Adapted from Project Sponsorship by Randall L. Englund

and Alfonso Bucero, Jossey-Bass, 2006.

Tools & Templates

Microsoft Office Word 97 - 2003 Document