Stakeholder Analysis

What is Stakeholder Analysis?

Stakeholder analysis is the systematic identification, evaluation, and prioritization of everyone who can influence, or has an interest in, a project, program or business. It assists with the development of an effective stakeholder communication and engagement strategy and is a fundamental element of an organization’s stakeholder management plan.

A simple but effective stakeholder analysis technique is stakeholder mapping. Interested parties (stakeholders) are plotted against two variables, most commonly Interest and Influence. The resulting stakeholder matrix clearly identifies key players who can have the greatest impact on the success of an initiative. This map assists with prioritization of resources and provides a foundation for a communications and engagement plan.

Stakeholder analysis can be done once at the beginning of a project or regularly throughout implementation to track changes in engagement.

Key takeaways

• Stakeholder analysis identifies everyone who can influence — or has an interest in — a project, then plots them on a stakeholder map.
• The power/interest grid (also called the Mendelow matrix) sorts stakeholders into manage closely, keep satisfied, keep informed, and monitor.
• Engage each quadrant differently: involve the high-influence, high-interest players closely and simply monitor the rest.
• Build it as a cross-functional group so no key stakeholder is missed — see the worked stakeholder analysis example below.

Why perform Stakeholder Analysis?

Understanding who your stakeholders are and the impact they may have on your business or project is crucial to success. Not engaging key players in the right way at an early stage can have disastrous results for a project.. The development of a stakeholder map:

• Creates a shared understanding of the key people who can impact on your success.
• Provides a foundation for your communications and engagement strategy.
• Identifies potential risks from negative stakeholders or those who feel they are not being heard.
• Prioritizes stakeholders so the appropriate amount of resources can be assigned and the right engagement strategy is applied.

Related templates

• Business Model Canvas
• PEST analysis
• PESTLE analysis
• STEEP analysis
• Risk assessment

Tips for effective Stakeholder Analysis

• Carefully select participants to provide expert knowledge but also a fresh perspective.
• Use technology to involve critical people in different locations rather than miss their contribution.
• Be specific rather than broad when defining stakeholders.
• Provide adequate time in the session to position and rate stakeholders.
• Communicate outcomes and regularly update throughout the project.

Stakeholder Analysis template

A stakeholder analysis template, (aka stakeholder map) provides a visual representation of the importance of your stakeholders. Common dimensions used for a stakeholder map are:

• Level of Interest – How much a stakeholder cares about the outcomes. Are they beneficiaries or will there be negative effects?
• Level of Influence – The degree in which a stakeholder can make or break the project. For example through funding, legislation, protests, etc.

Other dimensions may be more relevant for some organizations. For example, level of investment, level of positive/negative commitment, level of support (advocate or adversary), need for outcomes etc.

Plotting influence against interest this way is also known as a power/interest grid or Mendelow matrix.

The resulting stakeholder matrix gives an indication of what kind of engagement strategy is useful for each group of stakeholders.

Satisfy

High Influence, Low Interest

These stakeholders are highly influential but they don’t have a lot of interest, nor are they actively engaged in your project.

Consider their objectives and keep them satisfied to ensure they remain strong advocates. Getting them off side poses a risk.

Examples:

• Regulators (eg. EPA, FDA, Tax)
• Administrators (ie. with discretion over budgets)

Monitor

Low Influence, Low Interest

These stakeholders sit on the periphery of the project. They are neither interested or have much influence.

Monitor their activity from time to time to stay on top of their involvement. Their relevance may change over time. Communicate to keep them informed and encourage their interest.

Examples:

• Support/Complementary Services

Manage

High Influence, High Interest

These are your key stakeholders.

They have a lot of influence and a strong interest in the outcomes. Manage these stakeholders well to build strong relationships and ensure you retain their support. Involve them in decisions and engage regularly.

Examples:

• Trade Unions
• Politicians and senior officials
• Investors
• Senior Management
• Project Sponsors

Inform

Low Influence, High Interest

These stakeholders have a strong interest in your project but very little power to influence it.

Anticipate their needs and keep these stakeholders informed to ensure their continued support. Consult on their area of interest and use their input to improve your chances of success.

Examples:

• End users of a program or product
• Members of the community
• Community Action groups
• Media outlets

Stakeholder analysis example

Imagine a project team rolling out a new HR system. They brainstorm everyone affected, then place each group on the power/interest grid:

• Manage closely (high influence, high interest) — the HR director and project sponsor, who need to be part of every key decision.
• Keep satisfied (high influence, low interest) — the finance and IT security leads, kept on side with periodic sign-offs.
• Keep informed (low influence, high interest) — the employees who will use the system daily, consulted and updated throughout.
• Monitor (low influence, low interest) — external suppliers whose involvement is minor at this stage.

Mapping stakeholders this way shows where to spend engagement effort. Rating each group from adversary to advocate then reveals who needs winning over before the rollout begins.

How to create a stakeholder map

Assemble a cross-functional group of people with a range of perspectives on the business, product, service, or project to create the stakeholder map. The quality of the outcomes is dependent on the insight of the participants, and a diverse group helps to identify key stakeholders from across the entire spectrum of the business.

There are six general steps for a stakeholder mapping workshop. The time required will vary on the organization, the size of the group, and the focus of the session. However, there is no reason why the map can’t be completed within an hour. A comprehensive communications plan in response to the map will require further effort.

Give context and define the scope of the stakeholder analysis. Ensure all participants understand the purpose of the session and how the results will be used. Goals will depend on the industry, organization, stage of the project, and your current communication and engagement objectives. For example, will the session focus on current stakeholders or those potentially affected by a new initiative.

Present data and information that provides context for the development of the stakeholder map. Examples of information might include:

• Results from a Business Impact Assessment, Business Model Canvas, SWOT Analysis, PESTLE Analysis
• Industry trends and news
• Relevant rules and regulations

Define criteria for the axis in the Stakeholder Map template. These definitions may be quite different from one stakeholder analysis to another.

The first step in building a stakeholder map is to create a categorized list of the people or groups who are interested or affected by your work and its outcomes, or who have influence or power over what you do.

Stakeholders usually fall into two main categories. Those that contribute to the initiative and those that are affected by it. Some stakeholder may fit into both categories.

Examples of stakeholder groups include:

• Owners and investors
• Direct and indirect customers
• Employees and beneficiaries
• Suppliers, competitors, and industry associations.
• The community including residents and special interest group
• Government authorities and regulatory bodies

Questions to consider:

• Will the stakeholder be affected by this project?
• Can they influence the project?
• Do they control or have influence over any necessary resources?
• Do they have special skills or capabilities that you need?
• At what stage does this stakeholder have the most impact?

Gather ideas using a whiteboard, sticky notes, poster paper or an online collaboration tool such as GroupMap. Using an online tool greatly reduces the time and effort to collate and organize the information in subsequent steps.

Once you have a complete list of stakeholders, position them on the stakeholder map template to give a visual representation of their relevance in relation to one another.

The matrix shows how critical each one is to the project and identifies where to focus your efforts for an effective communications and engagement strategy

This process can be done individually or in small groups then combined, or as a facilitated group discussion. A tool like GroupMap provides an enormous saving in time and effort at this stage, especially if you choose the first option as the software automatically provides a group average.

This step will add a third dimension to your stakeholder map and provide even more information to focus your limited time and resource on.

Rate each stakeholder based on their level of support – from adversary to advocate. Advocates will be your cheerleaders and will help you achieve success. Adversaries will make things difficult, and you will need to work hard to bring them onboard and manage their objections.

Discuss and add comments to each stakeholder to inform further actions. It’s neither practical nor necessary to communicate with all stakeholders at all stages of the process. The more information you have, the easier it will be to prioritize and target your efforts.

Once the group is happy they have identified the key stakeholders, they should determine the necessary follow-up activities, along with the people, expertise, and budget required to make them happen.

For example, you may need to conduct interviews or forums with some of the key players to work out exactly what motivates them, what information they want from you, and how they would like to receive it before you develop your communications plan.

Compile a report on the results of the Stakeholder Mapping process. The report should contain the stakeholder rankings, any planned actions along with those responsible, and timeframes for implementation.

A stakeholder map is not static. It will evolve as a project progresses and when stakeholders make decisions or change their opinions.

Use the report to:

• Communicate outcomes with participants and relevant stakeholders to encourage buy-in and ownership of stakeholder management efforts.
• Monitor the status of actions, and resource allocations on a regular basis as they are likely to change over time.
• Provide a foundation for future stakeholder mapping sessions
• Contribute to other business development and planning processes

GroupMap automatically generates visually appealing reports in several formats for distribution, saving time and effort after the workshop.

Who can use Stakeholder Analysis?

Stakeholder management is critical to the success of every organization, program, and project. Stakeholder analysis is useful for:

• All industries
• All levels of an organization
• All departments
• Existing businesses
• New businesses
• Projects
• Business processes

Use stakeholder mapping:

• In regular organizational reviews
• When assessing changing business conditions
• When developing new initiatives
• As part of a broad environmental scan for initial planning

The process is especially important in the early stages of development and for projects that:

• Impact on the community
• Span across multiple teams or organizations
• Cross cultural boundaries
• Have external investors

Save effort, time and money with GroupMap

GroupMap offers more than just an online digital whiteboard—it’s innovative platform is designed to enhance the quality of your team’s decisions. With features that prevent bias and make facilitation seamless, GroupMap ensures no single voice dominates and ensures productive, inclusive conversations. 

Its intuitive interface is easy for anyone to use, and its scalable design supports small teams and large groups whether they are face to face or around the globe. Customizable templates and workflows keep discussions focused on objectives, helping you drive actionable outcomes each and every time.