SC QUALITY GUILDStakeholder analysis
SCQUALITYGUILD.COM/TOOLS/STAKEHOLDER-ANALYSIS.HTML
Who can affect the project, how much, and how far their support has to move, plotted on an influence and interest grid.
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Who counts as a stakeholder
Anyone who can affect the project or is affected by it: the sponsor, the process owner, the people who do the work, other departments that feed or receive the process, customers, suppliers, finance, and anyone who can say no. The SIPOC is a good place to start the list.
The grid
Score each one for influence (how much they can help or block the project) and interest (how much the project affects them). The grid gives four approaches:
- Manage closely (high influence, high interest): involve them, consult them, keep them on board.
- Keep satisfied (high influence, low interest): enough contact to avoid surprises, without loading them with detail.
- Keep informed (low influence, high interest): regular updates; they often know the process best.
- Monitor (low on both): watch for changes.
Support now and support needed
The gap between where a stakeholder is and where the project needs them is what the plan has to close. Red dots on the map are two or more steps away. A high-influence stakeholder who is against the project and has no action against their name is the single most common reason improvement projects stall.
Resistance is information. People who do the work and oppose a change often know something the team does not; ask before trying to persuade.
On the Yellow Belt exam
Stakeholder analysis is topic II.A.3 of the 2022 CSSYB Body of Knowledge. Feed the result into the communication plan.