Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Engaging stakeholders on projectsHow to harness people powerElizabeth Harrin
Chapter 1Setting up for success
Chapter 2Preparing for change
Chapter 3People and behaviours
Chapter 4Planning and managing deployment
Engaging stakeholders on projects provides an in-depth examination of the topic covered in the APM Body of Knowledge 7 th edition. It gives project professionals detailed tips, tools and practical steps to help improve ways of working and shows how harnessing the power of people is key to improving project success.
This book seeks to address central questions such as:What does engagement look like?What tools have I got available?How do I best reach, engage and work with stakeholders?How do I minimise confl ict and resistance to change and move toward resolution?
Engaging stakeholders is written for project delivery professionals. Whether you work at project, programme or portfolio level, you’ll have stakeholders involved in your activities. This book addresses the challenges you face when dealing with project-driven change in organisations.
This easy to consume, simple to follow, valuable advisory read …guides you through the book on a journey to stakeholder engagement understanding but is also well designed to allow for ‘dipping in and out’ during your projects for in the moment inspiration and help.”
Peter Taylor, author of The Lazy Project Manager
APM Body of Knowledge 7th edition
Engaging stakeholders on p
rojects How
to harness people power
Elizabeth H
arrin
APM_BoK7_Spin-off_EngagingStakeholders_ARTWORK.indd All PagesAPM_BoK7_Spin-off_EngagingStakeholders_ARTWORK.indd All Pages 21/08/2020 09:5021/08/2020 09:50
Engaging stakeholders on
projectsHow to harness people power
byElizabeth Harrin FAPM
Association for Project Management
36898.indd 3 10/08/2020 10:283
3
Association for Project ManagementIbis House, Regent Park
Summerleys Road, Princes RisboroughBuckinghamshire
HP27 9LE
© Association for Project Management 2020
First published 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this public a tion may be repro duced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans mit ted, in any form or by any means, without the express permis sion in writing of the
Association for Project Management. Within the UK excep tions are allowed in respect of any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criti cism or review, as permit ted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, or in the case of repro graphic repro duc tion in
accord ance with the terms of the licenses issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concern ing repro duc tion outside these terms and in other coun tries should be sent to the Rights
Department, Association for Project Management at the address above.
The author, Elizabeth Harrin, has asser ted her moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 and subsequent amend ments to be iden ti fied as the author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is avail able.Paperback ISBN: 978-1-913305-10-9
eISBN: 978-1-913305-11-6
Cover design by Fountainhead Creative ConsultantsTypeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
in 11/14pt Foundry Sans
36898.indd 4 10/08/2020 10:284
4
v
Contents
List of figures xi
List of tables xi
Foreword xii
Acknowledgments xv
About the author xvi
Preface xvii
Introduction 1The shift from ‘manage ment’ to ‘engage ment’ 1Why engage? 2Are project team members stake hold ers? 4The life cycle of a stake holder 5
Stage 1: Identification 6Stage 2: Early engage ment 7Stage 3: Mature engage ment 7Stage 4: Dissolution 7
Key takeaways 8
1 Identifying stake hold ers 9Defining stake hold ers 9How to identify stake hold ers 9
1. Stakeholder lists 102. Stakeholder segments 103. Ask known stake hold ers 11
Categorisation of stake hold ers 11Primary stake hold ers 12Secondary stake hold ers 12Interested stake hold ers 12Hidden stake hold ers 13
Tools for gaining clarity on stake holder involve ment 13Talk to stake hold ers directly 14
36898.indd 5 10/08/2020 10:285
5
Contents
Talk to colleagues about other stake hold ers 15Stakeholder sali ency 15Influence/Interest grid 17Positive/Negative influence 19RACI matrix 19
The value of analysis 22Stakeholder analysis is trans it ory 23Stakeholder analysis works both ways 24
What will they find out about you? 24Who will they find out from? 24
Action steps 25Key takeaways 25
2 Working where you are: Navigating soci opol it ical complex ity 27What is a social system? 27
Social network diagrams 27What do positive project cultures look like? 29Emotional intel li gence 31The role of polit ics 33Uncovering the social system for your project 34
1. Review the team struc ture 342. Use your network 373. Talk to stake hold ers 374. Think stra tegic ally 38
The journey to project engage ment 381. They are resist ant and you need them to be indif fer ent 41
The Five Whys exer cise 412. They are indif fer ent and you need them to be support ive 423. They are support ive and you need them to be proact ive 42
Organisational influ ences on your project 43Planning in complex envir on ments 43Action steps 46Key takeaways 47
3 Engaging and how to do it 49Engagement basics 49
Understanding stake holder perspect ives 49Building trusted rela tion ships 51
36898.indd 6 10/08/2020 10:286
6
Contents
Types of Influence 52Influencing stake holder perspect ives 53
What are you enga ging them in? 54Project deliv er ables 55Project manage ment process 55
When to do engage ment 55Working in a network 59Engaging across multiple projects 60The chal lenge of time 61Techniques for engage ment 61
Expectation mapping 62Concerns mapping 62Personal contacts note book 63Using others to engage 64Celebrating success 65Active project market ing 66Actively seek input 67Informal oppor tun it ies 68
Communication 69Who are you commu nic at ing with? 70What are you commu nic at ing about? 71How are you commu nic at ing? 72
Engaging project sponsors 73Flex your style to suit their pref er ences 74Respect their time 74Show you can be trusted 75Demonstrate your compet ence 75Tell the truth 76
Engagement in a crisis 76The decision to not engage 78How to tell if engage ment is working 78
How to eval u ate engage ment 79Gamification 81
Action steps 83Key takeaways 83
36898.indd 7 10/08/2020 10:287
7
Contents
4 Facilitation and meet ings 85What is facil it a tion? 85
Using a neutral facil it ator 86Running a success ful meeting 87Before the meeting 87
Prepare in advance 88Keep the meeting small 90Establish cred ib il ity before the meeting 90What if you can’t plan? 90
During the meeting 91Managing stress 91Own the room 91Contracting at the start of a meeting 93Plan a response if conflict arises 95Managing inter rup tions and multi-taskers 95Coping with inform a tion over load 96Other consid er a tions during a meeting 96
After the meeting 97Virtual meet ings 98Action steps 99Key takeaways 99
5 Dealing with resist ance to engage ment 101How to identify resist ance to engage ment 101Why people resist change 102Engaging resisters 105
Don’t be diffi cult to work with 105Be real istic with your expect a tions 106Acknowledge you’ve noticed 106Listen 107Ask for their help 107Thank them 108Go via the gate keeper 108Don’t make things worse 108Persuade with data and stories 109Escalate 110Ignore them 110
Stakeholder risk 111
36898.indd 8 10/08/2020 10:288
8
Contents
Moving beyond resist ance 111Action steps 112Key takeaways 112
6 Conflict resol u tion 113What is conflict? 113What causes conflict on projects? 114Identifying conflict on projects 117
Conflict during project kick off 118Conflict during project planning 118Conflict during project delivery 119Conflict during project close 119
The Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode instrument 121The avoiding conflict mode 123The accommodating conflict mode 123The competing conflict mode 124The compromising conflict mode 126The collaborating conflict mode 126
Understand your role in conflict situ ations 127A basic process for managing conflict 128
1. Pick the loca tion and envir on ment 1292. Gather the facts 1293. Research and recog nise stake holder power and personal views 1304. Meet and agree on the issue 1305. Reflect and discuss 1326. Escalate if neces sary 132
What to do when you can’t plan your conflict-handling approach 133Phrases for defus ing conflict at work 133One issue, two conflicts 134Handling conflict in virtual teams 135Handling conflict in meet ings 136
Dealing with detours 136Dealing with rude ness and unpro fes sional beha viour 137
Action steps 138Key takeaways 138
7 Skills builder 139How much effort should you put into build ing skills? 140Contextual aware ness 141
36898.indd 9 10/08/2020 10:289
9
Contents
Cultural aware ness 141Influencing 142Negotiation 143Listening 144Business acumen 145Resilience 146Credibility 147Assertiveness 149Ethical aware ness 150Action steps 151
Final words 153
Appendix A: Stakeholder segments 155
Appendix B: Stop, Start, Continue exercise 157
Appendix C: Case studies 159Case study: Expansion of a univer sity research facil ity 159Case study: International research and devel op ment project 160Case study: Communication improve ments in a hostel
devel op ment project 163
Notes and refer ences 165
Bibliography 167General stake holder engage ment 167Project commu nic a tion 167Meetings 168Social networks 168Conflict manage ment 168
Useful websites 169
Index 171
More books from Elizabeth Harrin 175
36898.indd 10 10/08/2020 10:2810
10
xi
List of figures
0.1 Four steps of the stakeholder life cycle 61.1 Stakeholder sali ency 171.2 An influ ence/interest matrix 181.3 Example RACI matrix 201.4 The RACI triangle 212.1 The inter sec tions between indi vidu als working on projects and
busi ness as usual work in a matrix struc ture 352.2 The organ isa tional continuum of author ity and project struc ture 372.3 Example of stake holder engage ment model ling 403.1 Connections between people and teams 593.2 Engagement modes 726.1 Causes of conflict on projects 1166.2 A common model for consid er ing approaches to dealing with
conflict 1226.3 A basic process for address ing conflict 129
List of tables
0.1 Internal and external stake hold ers 52.1 Emotional intel li gence frame work for project manage ment 322.2 Different team struc tures 363.1 Appealing to emotional and rational aspects of engage ment 503.2 Example stake holder engage ment activ it ies based on project step 573.3 Examples of engage ment activ it ies based on stake holder life cycle 583.4 Ways to change engage ment approaches to test outcomes 80
36898.indd 11 10/08/2020 10:2811
11
xvi
About the author
Elizabeth Harrin, MA, FAPM, MBCS has been actively engaged in projects since 2000. She has worked in finan cial services and health care, in the UK and France, leading a range of projects from ERP imple ment a tions to compli ance initi at ives and IT-enabled busi ness change.
Elizabeth is a PRINCE2, MSP and P3O Practitioner and holds the ITIL Foundation certi fic ate. She is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management and a member of PMI. She holds degrees from the University of York and Roehampton University.
Elizabeth is director of Otobos Consultants Ltd, which does both copy writ ing for project manage ment firms and support for indi vidual project managers through train ing and ment or ing.
She is the author of 5 other books about project manage ment: Shortcuts to Success: Project Management in the Real World (which was a final ist in the Management Book of the Year Awards 2014 and now in its second edition), the PMI-best seller Collaboration Tools for Project Managers, Communicating Change, Project Manager and Customer-Centric Project Management.
Elizabeth is also the award-winning blogger behind A Girl’s Guide to Project Management, which aims to help teams get work done. She is widely published on project manage ment topics and has contrib uted to numer ous websites and magazines.
Connect with ElizabethYou can find Elizabeth online at GirlsGuidetoPM.com or on Twitter @girls guide topm.
Facebook users can continue the conver sa tion in the Project Management Café Facebook group: face book.com/groups/project man age ment cafe.
36898.indd 16 10/08/2020 10:2816
16
xvii
Preface
Engaging Stakeholders is a book for project deliv ery profes sion als. Whether you work at project, programme or port fo lio level, you’ll have stake hold ers involved in your activ it ies. This book will help address the chal lenges you face when dealing with project-driven change in organ isa tions.
If you’ve been in or around project manage ment a while, you will have heard about stake holder manage ment and noticed how the vocab u lary has shifted to talk about stake holder engage ment instead. This is a good thing. But what does ‘engage ment’ actu ally mean? What do I do to engage people? That’s what I wanted this book to help with. I wrote it for project managers, change managers and team leaders who know they ought to be working with other people to effect change and deliver projects in their busi nesses, but don’t know where to start.
The book steps through the process for think ing about who is going to be affected and how best to reach, engage and work with them. You’ll learn how to use people power to minim ise resist ance to change, leading to higher project success rates and better morale across teams.
I wanted this book to answer the ques tions:
n Why do I need to involve people in my projects?n What does engage ment look like?n What tools have I got avail able to do so?n How do I actu ally do it?
The simple guiding prin ciple for the book is that people deliver projects and we should focus on those people.
I have tried to write this book in an inclus ive way, to reflect the work done at all levels of project and change manage ment. However, ‘project, programme and port fo lio’ becomes tedious to write out each time and tedious to read. At various points in this book I use ‘project’ as a short hand for ‘project, programme or port fo lio’. Wherever it says ‘project’, please assume that I’m talking about ideas that can be extra pol ated to all levels of change deliv ery within an organ isa tion. Equally, ‘project manager’ can also be read to include ‘programme manager’ and ‘port fo lio manager’.
36898.indd 17 10/08/2020 10:2817
17
Preface
A book about stake hold ers is neces sar ily a book about rela tion ships at work and not all work places are the same. This book provides core concepts and tech niques for making those work place rela tion ships posit ive, profes sional and effect ive.
However, you know your work place better than I do. The guid ance I give is designed to be adapted, tailored or modi fied to differ ent situ ations. Consider the cultural nuances – whether they are to do with your corpor ate culture or the global nature of your team – and make whatever tweaks you feel neces sary to tailor how you approach enga ging your stake hold ers.
How this book is organ ised
This book is organ ised into seven chapters.Chapter 1 looks at stake holder iden ti fic a tion, sharing tech niques for finding
out who is a stake holder on your project, how they are going to be involved. Stakeholder analysis and categor isa tion tech niques are also covered.
Chapter 2 covers working success fully in the soci opol it ical envir on ment of your organ isa tion through under stand ing how your project fits within the social system of your busi ness and beyond. It looks at organ isa tional influ ences on your project and plan ning in complex envir on ments.
Chapter 3 is about enga ging others, how to do it and how to tell if it is working. It’s a prac tical chapter full of tips for how to engage people in your project work. There’s also advice on working with spon sors, as a disen gaged project sponsor can be a partic u lar type of chal lenge for a project.
One of the most common tech niques for enga ging people is simply talking. Chapter 4 looks into facil it a tion and meet ings, sharing advice you can use today to help boost the effi ciency of your conver sa tions in a meeting setting.
Chapter 5 is your guide to dealing with resist ance to engage ment. Some people aren’t going to want, or have time, to engage with your project. This chapter draws on change manage ment tech niques to consider options for dealing with resist ant stake hold ers.
Chapter 6 covers conflict manage ment and resol u tion. It looks at what causes conflict, common flash points, a process for managing conflict and tech niques for resolv ing it, both face-to-face and in virtual teams.
Finally, Chapter 7 is a deeper dive into the skills that are bene fi cial for effect ive stake holder engage ment. So many inter per sonal and tech nical skills come into play when enga ging others, but I’ve picked out ten core skills
36898.indd 18 10/08/2020 10:2818
18
Preface
and provided some ideas about how you can develop those to improve your prac tice.
At the end of most chapters you’ll find action steps and key takeaways. The action steps are tasks for you to make your learn ing real. Reading a book about stake holder engage ment can only go some of the way to helping you improve your skills. Most of the improve ment you’ll see will come from doing the tech niques, taking action and putting the inform a tion into prac tice at work.
Key takeaways are a list of summary points from the chapter. If you remem ber nothing else, remem ber those.
The book concludes with refer ences and further reading. Here, you’ll find a list of books that I have found useful over the years in my work on projects, programmes and port fo lios of change. You may like to seek them out for more inform a tion on the concepts and tech niques discussed in this book.
36898.indd 19 10/08/2020 10:2819
19
9
1
Identifying stake hold ers
One of the most crucial aspects of being able to engage people on your project is identi fy ing the right people to engage with.
This chapter looks at the defin i tion of stake hold ers, how to identify who is a stake holder in your work, stake holder categor isa tion and tools for analysis.
Defining stake hold ers
This book uses the APM Body of Knowledge defin i tion of stake holder:
Stakeholders are indi vidu als or groups who have an interest or role in the project, programme or port fo lio, or are impacted by it.
Additionally, you may be dealing with stake hold ers who feel they are involved or impacted . . . even if, by your assess ment, they are not.
Stakeholders are often indi vidu als, but can also be groups, such as a regu lat ory body or even a group of end users. In the case of a group, identify an indi vidual who can be the nomin ated contact and repres ent at ive for the project team. The project will benefit from having consist ent repres ent a tion from an indi vidual on behalf of the group.
How to identify stake hold ers
You can’t engage people if you don’t know who they are. The first step in any stake holder engage ment plan is identi fy ing the right people.
There are a number of ways you can identify stake hold ers who will have an interest in your project or be impacted by it. However, the bottom line is that you have to ask people. If you have been with your organ isa tion for some time, you may know some of the key people who should be involved as stake hold ers on the project. But in all other cases, you will need to rely on the know ledge of others in the organ isa tion to help you identify your stake holder groups.
36898.indd 9 10/08/2020 10:2829
29
Engaging stakeholders on projects
10
Even if you think you know who should make up your stake holder community, do not skip the iden ti fic a tion step. There may be new joiners to the organ isa tion, or subject matter experts you are not aware of who do need to be consul ted. Take the time to do a full iden ti fic a tion exer cise and do not make assump tions based only on your know ledge.
Below are some tech niques for identi fy ing stake hold ers. Use a couple of tech niques, at least, to give you a solid found a tion for your stake holder iden ti fic a tion exer cise.
1. Stakeholder lists
Hold a work shop or team meeting with the object ive of discuss ing and agree ing who needs to be included as stake hold ers for this project, programme or port fo lio activ ity.
Get the core project team together. At an early point in a project, this is likely to be you, the project sponsor, the programme manager (if the project is part of a programme) and perhaps a repres ent at ive from the PMO.
Make sure the group under stands the defin i tion of a stake holder and the scope of the project work.
Each person makes a list of the indi vidu als or groups that could be considered stake hold ers.
Compare the lists. You could do this in pairs, if you have enough people in the room. Talking to each other may prompt you to add more stake hold ers to the list as you bounce ideas around.
Compile a master list of stake hold ers, based on the indi vidual lists.
2. Stakeholder segments
Again, get the core project team together, or the people who have some know ledge of the project at this point.
Provide them with a list of typical stake holder segments or categor ies e.g. IT, compli ance, market ing, PMO etc. A sample list of stake holder segments is avail able in Appendix A. Remember to consider both stake hold ers internal to the organ isa tion and those external.
Use the list as a start ing point for brain storm ing who will need to be involved as a stake holder in the project. Ask the team to identify the indi vidu als who repres ent or fit into each segment. Ask them to identify missing segments or teams who should also be involved.
36898.indd 10 10/08/2020 10:2830
30
11
Identifying stake hold ers
3. Ask known stake hold ers
People who are already involved in the project will have a good idea of what the work entails. They will also know who is currently involved and who amongst their peers or contacts is not yet involved.
One of the most valu able ways to identify stake hold ers is to ask the current known stake hold ers who else should be involved in the project. Once the stake holder has reached the early engage ment stage of their life cycle, they will know enough about the project to be able to comment on who else should be brought into the team.
Another time to ask about who else should be involved is when prepar ing inform a tion for senior stake hold ers. Ask them if they want you to discuss whatever you are prepar ing with other colleagues before they see the final version. They may direct you to indi vidu als with useful opin ions or data to share.
As your project evolves, so too does the group of people who need to be involved. Stakeholder iden ti fic a tion is not a one-off exer cise. As the project or programme manager, you should be constantly consid er ing who else needs to know about your work. Every change, every new piece of func tion al ity or organ isa tional shift could result in new people needing to know about or contrib ute to the project. Ask your self, your team and your current stake hold ers: “Who else needs to know about this?”
Stay alert for points in the project when you will need to expand your stake holder community. Equally, some stake hold ers may drop out of your engage ment activ ity as their role in the project comes to an end.
Categorisation of stake hold ers
All stake hold ers are not created equal. It’s valu able to spend some time think ing about who your stake hold ers are, what you need from them and what they need from you.
You need to consider where to spend your time. Liaising with stake hold ers and working on engage ment activ it ies can take up a lot of time. While it is import ant work, you only have limited time during the working day and you want to make sure you are using that time wisely.
Categorising and analys ing stake hold ers helps ensure your efforts are spent on the rela tion ships that will have the most impact on project success.
A simple way to categor ise stake hold ers is to consider them in terms of primary, second ary and inter ested groups.
36898.indd 11 10/08/2020 10:2831
31
49
3
Engaging and how to do it
Engagement helps drive action on projects. As it is people who do the work, engage ment is there fore a contrib ut ing factor to getting tasks done on time, to the required scope and at a level of quality that results in stake holder satis fac tion.
This chapter looks at what engage ment means in a project envir on ment. It discusses the two elements of projects where engage ment is required and covers core tech niques for enga ging others.
Engagement basics
Let’s recap the defin i tion of stake holder engage ment:
The system atic iden ti fic a tion, analysis, plan ning and imple ment a tion of actions designed to influ ence stake hold ers.
Essentially, it’s all about working with people to build support to achieve the inten ded outcomes.
The core aspects of engage ment are:
n understanding stake holder perspect ives;n building trusted rela tion ships; andn taking action and influ en cing stake holder perspect ives to shape the work in
the direc tion of the inten ded outcomes.
If those aspects were to be put into a formula, it would look like this:
UNDERSTANDING + ACTION + INFLUENCE = ENGAGEMENT
Understanding stake holder perspect ives
Your stake holder iden ti fic a tion work will have given you a high-level under stand ing of how an indi vidual stake holder will inter act with and contrib ute to the project.
36898.indd 49 10/08/2020 10:2869
69
Engaging stakeholders on projects
50
Next, it’s time to move into the early engage ment stage of the stake holder life cycle.
What issues are they dealing with? How do these affect the project? What point of view do they have about various differ ent aspects of the project? Humans are nuanced. Don’t assume that they hold one view about the work. They might be support ive of some aspects but crit ical of what the change might mean in other areas.
Try to uncover the values that shape their commit ment to work. Hopefully you’ll find you have values in common; if you work in the same organ isa tion, it’s likely that the corpor ate values are the ones people subscribe to.
Put your self in their shoes. To be success ful at engage ment, two things must be under stood:
n How stake hold ers feel about the project and the effect it will have on them. This is emotional appeal (which you can think of – to use corpor ate buzzwords – as “winning hearts”).
n How confid ent stake hold ers feel that the work being done is the right work. This is rational appeal (which equates to “winning minds”).
Table 3.1 shows a summary of what that sounds like from the point of view of a stake holder. You may never hear these words, but you might hear some thing like them, or be able to tell from their actions and body language that that is how they are feeling.
Emotional appeal Rational appeal
Stak
ehol
der o
pini
on
You have listened to my views I under stand what the project is deliv er ing, even if I don’t agree with it
I believe you’ve under stood my views
I’m confid ent that the vision is achiev able and the sched ule is real istic
I under stand what the impact of the project will be on me, my team, my role and my place in the organ isa tion
I’m confid ent the project team have the skills required to deliver the work
I believe I’ve been told the truth I believe I’ve been told the truth
Table 3.1 Appealing to emotional and rational aspects of engage ment
36898.indd 50 10/08/2020 10:2870
70
51
Engaging and how to do it
Stakeholder satis fac tion was iden ti fied as the most crit ical success factor in complex projects through a liter at ure review of 27 public a tions by research ers Rezvani and Khosravi. Their work also iden ti fied that poor commu nic a tion and rela tion ships with stake hold ers is joint top (along with poor plan ning and chan ging project require ments) of the list of factors that contrib ute to the failure of complex projects.
The more stake holder posi tions can be under stood, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to deliver some thing they value and build a success ful working rela tion ship with them.
Building trusted rela tion ships
The first actions you need to take are to create rela tion ships with the stake hold ers iden ti fied.
You can’t influ ence without having a stake in the rela tion ship, so build ing cred ible, trusted rela tion ships with stake hold ers should be high on your agenda.
Ideally, you will have started build ing rela tion ships with core stake hold ers long before you need to engage them on a project. It is easier to onboard a new stake holder to your project if you already know some thing about them and they already know about you. That’s why it is valu able to have a strong personal network within your organ isa tion and your wider industry.
Demonstrating that you hold the same values as someone else is a way to build trust ing rela tion ships. You do this through your actions and what you say, so make sure the two are congru ent. One of the fastest ways to lose trust is to say one thing and do another. People won’t know which ‘you’ to believe, or who will show up on any given day.
It takes work to build rela tion ships. Even if you have an estab lished rela tion ship with a stake holder, it takes time and commit ment to keep that rela tion ship going. We’ll look at activ it ies you can do to engage later in this chapter.
Types of influence
There are two types of influ ence: soft and hard. You exert soft influ ence when you share know ledge, commu nic ate, engage, inspire and work with others. Hard influ ence happens in situ ations where there is no choice: where rules, the law or regu la tion influ ence decision making because that’s how it has to be. It’s easier to get a decision if you can call on hard influ ence, but there could be plenty of grumbling about it.
36898.indd 51 10/08/2020 10:2871
71
101
5
Dealing with resist ance to engage ment
Projects and programmes change things. And not every one embraces change.This chapter looks at how to identify resist ance to engage ment and why it
happens. It covers prac tical tech niques to engage with people who are resist ant to your project work.
There is no guar an tee the tech niques will work on your stake hold ers, but hope fully the advice in this chapter will give you a solid ground ing in simple approaches to try to turn around beha viour where you can.
How to identify resist ance to engage ment
Sometimes it is obvious to see which stake hold ers are unsup port ive of your work: your stake holder analysis will have iden ti fied them earlier. Sometimes they’ll come right out and tell you that they don’t support the project or they are resist ant to the change because of the impact it will have on them or their team.
However, some stake hold ers are better at disguising their lack of support than others. Here’s what to look for if you suspect someone of being covertly resist ant to your efforts to engage them on the project:
n Stakeholders who accept meeting invites but then don’t show up, or who turn up so late that they aren’t able to make a mean ing ful contri bu tion.
n Stakeholders who accept meeting invites but then send someone in their place who does not have the deleg ated author ity to be useful.
n Stakeholders who sit silently through meet ings and make no contri bu tion (although before writing this person off as unsup port ive, probe to see if they are uncom fort able contrib ut ing in a meeting envir on ment for some reason).
n Stakeholders who don’t reply to emails or return phone calls.n Stakeholders who don’t have time to come to briefi ng sessions or to learn
more about the project, but who do have the time to complain about the project to anyone who will listen.
36898.indd 101 10/08/2020 10:28121
121
Engaging stakeholders on projects
102
n Stakeholders who don’t complete their actions and have no good reason why.n Stakeholders who promise to share inform a tion with their team and then you
find out they never did, even though they had the oppor tun ity.n Stakeholders who do not deliver the things they commit ted to do.n Stakeholders who ques tion the project manage ment process or the way the
change is being delivered, for example, by asking for other subject matter experts to review the solu tion, query ing why certain tools are being used over others etc. They do not ques tion the project deliv er ables, but are picking holes where they can.
All of these can apply to core project team members as well as those indi vidu als you might more tradi tion ally think of as stake hold ers.
These, and you can prob ably think of more, are all signs of someone who is not fully commit ted to project success for some reason. When these things happen, project timelines and budgets are adversely affected. The team’s motiv a tion can also be affected, because it feels as if they are constantly pushing and not receiv ing support for their work. Longer term, project bene fits are affected because lack of support can mean that the full scope is not delivered in the expec ted way, or that the deliv er ables are not fully used to their full advant age.
Why people resist change
People resist change for lots of reasons includ ing:
n they are scared;n they are unwill ing – consciously or uncon sciously – to make the effort to
change;n they don’t under stand the bene fits or they don’t think there will be any;n they can’t see an advant age to them if the project is completed;n they can see a disad vant age to them if the project is completed;n they are unhappy about the personal implic a tions of the project e.g. they are
going to be made redund ant;n they don’t under stand about why the project or change is happen ing and
there fore do not give it the prior ity it requires;n they are part of your virtual team but located in the same build ing as their
manager or other colleagues, and those people get their atten tion first;
36898.indd 102 10/08/2020 10:28122
122
103
Dealing with resist ance to engage ment
n they have had previ ous poor exper i ence of how projects and change were managed;
n the organ isa tion (or another organ isa tion they have worked in) has a history of talking about deliv ery but nothing actu ally getting done so they don’t believe it’s worth invest ing the time in this work as it will come to nothing;
n they have come to the project late e.g. as the result of a scope change, and aren’t yet fully inves ted in the outcome;
n they don’t like you (or the project sponsor) enough to want to make any effort to engage.
Resistance to change can also come from a place of posit iv ity. A stake holder could genu inely have a reason for being nervous about fully commit ting to this project. Engaging with that person could uncover risks or chal lenges you were not previ ously aware of, and that will help shape the direc tion of the project.
One of the top reasons why people are resist ant to change is that they weren’t involved earlier. This causes prob lems for project teams because you’ve got dates you’ve commit ted to. Now you can’t achieve them because a stake holder isn’t support ive of the work you need to get done. Perhaps they are asking for addi tional briefi ngs before they commit their team to some work, or they are query ing the solu tion you’ve already had agreed by the project board.
If you’re in that situ ation, you’ll need to do the best you can to get through it quickly, dealing with their resist ance so that the project can get moving again.
Next time though, sched ule your project after you’ve done at least some enga ging.
Resistance to change is a normal and natural response. Jonah Berger, in his book The Catalyst, writes that people tend to do what they’ve always done. He adds:
Whether trying to change company culture or get the kids to eat their veget ables, the assump tion is that pushing harder will do the trick. That if we just provide more inform a tion, more facts, more reasons, more argu ments, or just add a little more force, people will change.
Implicitly, this approach assumes that people are like marbles. Push them in one direc tion and they will go that way.
Unfortunately, that approach often back fires. Unlike marbles, people don’t just roll with it when you try to push them. They push back. Rather than saying
36898.indd 103 10/08/2020 10:28123
123
139
7
Skills builder
This chapter provides a deeper dive into 10 of the inter per sonal skills and beha viours that are bene fi cial for success ful stake holder engage ment. There are also tips for improv ing your prac tice and devel op ing your skills in these areas.
This book has already talked extens ively about commu nic a tion and conflict resol u tion, so those skills – which would normally make my top 10 – have been set aside for now. There are so many inter per sonal and tech nical skills that are useful when enga ging others that it has been neces sary to stream line and prior it ise what can be covered in this section.
Whole books have been written about these topics. Selected further reading is listed in the Bibliography at the end of the book. The goal in the next few pages is to provide an over view and some quick action steps for boost ing your abil it ies (or confirm ing your exist ing level of abil it ies), thus making it easier to do the work of enga ging others.
The skills covered in this chapter are listed below.
1. Negotiation.2. Influencing.3. Listening.4. Business acumen.5. Resilience.6. Credibility.7. Assertiveness.8. Contextual aware ness.9. Cultural aware ness.10. Ethical aware ness.
In prac tice, excel lent project profes sion als do all of these things without think ing about them. The skills become a part of how work gets done. The port fo lio manager in your company doesn’t wake up and think, “Today I’m going to do some really good influ en cing.” More often than not, the influ en cing just happens as part of the inher ent, subtle, inter ac tions with others during the day. Perhaps they are done consciously, perhaps not. The more you master the skills, the more
36898.indd 139 10/08/2020 10:28159
159
Engaging stakeholders on projects
140
they become an integ ral part of how you do your job and not a specific tool you take out to wield at a given moment.
Leadership is also a core skill, but it happens as a result of all the skills listed here, and others.
Before looking at the skills, it’s worth taking a moment to consider how much time and energy you should put into profes sional devel op ment and build ing your compet ence across the domain.
How much effort should you put into build ing skills?
Project deliv ery profes sion als are lifelong learners. Over the course of a career, the best project profes sion als remain curious. They are constantly learn ing and devel op ing new skills, staying up to date with tools and tech niques that work to gener ate engage ment and create an envir on ment for success ful deliv ery.
However, some times there is little value in bolster ing an area you have iden ti fied as a personal weak ness. For example, let’s say nego ti ation is not, and has never been, your strong point. You could spend thou sands of pounds on nego ti ation courses and resources. You could prac tice your skills regu larly, putting in hours of prepar a tion prior to a nego ti ation. And you still might only ever be average.
Is it worth pursu ing this avenue, at the detri ment of other skills you could be devel op ing? Or could you fill your personal gap with someone on the team who is an excel lent nego ti ator? The time you spend on trying to improve your nego ti at ing could be better spent on some thing else.
Sometimes there’s a sens ible trade-off to be had. The more you can use expert ise on the team so that every one is playing to their strengths and oper at ing at their best level, the more success ful the team will be and the more time you will have to do your best work.
It’s obvi ously good in theory to build your skills in a range of differ ent areas. But be real istic about your personal capab il it ies and the level you can achieve with a reas on able amount of time and effort. A better ‘win’ for the team and the organ isa tion overall could be for you to work along side a colleague who has comple ment ary skills to your own.
With that in mind, let’s dive into the skills that are funda mental to being able to create success ful stake holder rela tion ships.
36898.indd 140 10/08/2020 10:28160
160
141
Skills builder
Contextual aware ness
Contextual aware ness is the ability to select the appro pri ate time, place and indi vidu als for a partic u lar inter ac tion.
For example, you wouldn’t talk to a colleague about their poor perform ance in front of the whole team, or in an open plan office. You wouldn’t tell the project sponsor that their idea won’t work in a project board meeting in front of their peers.
Contextual aware ness can be gained from taking a systems think ing approach or carry ing out busi ness process model ling to under stand the envir on ment in which you are oper at ing. It’s also the product of being able to read a situ ation and make the best possible choices at the time.
Tips for improv ing prac tice
n Ask your self before each stake holder engage ment: “How can I create the context for success?”
n Think about how you can research the organ isa tional context and find out more about the oper at ing envir on ment before plan ning to engage.
Cultural aware ness
Cultural aware ness relates to the back ground and values of both the organ isa tion and the people involved.
Organisational culture refers to how things get done in the organ isa tion. It is the set of (some times unwrit ten) rules that dictate and influ ence how indi vidu als and teams behave.
Large projects and programmes often create sub-cultures within the organ isa tional culture, espe cially when the team is made up of indi vidu als from a variety of entit ies. A common project culture can bring the team together under one common set of goals and values.
Your stake holder analysis work will reveal clues about the cultural iden ti fi ers typic ally asso ci ated with the culture or sub-culture an indi vidual is from. This kind of desk-based analysis and assump tion is no substi tute for getting to know stake hold ers as indi vidu als.
It’s impossible to harness people power if you don’t know the people as people.
36898.indd 141 10/08/2020 10:28161
161
