Many organizations ask me to identify who their key stakeholders are. (A stakeholder is someone that can influence an organisation as well as be affected by it) Here I will briefly explain a simple, tried & tested technique called stakeholder mapping which can help you identify your organization’s stakeholders.

What is stakeholder mapping?
Don’t be scared of ‘management speak’. Stakeholder mapping is just a useful tool. It’s way of identifying and then categorizing (mapping) the organizations and individuals that have most influence over your organization.

Why use it?
Stakeholder mapping will help you identify those individuals you need to direct messages at & develop relationships with. The objective being, to target time & resources towards those individuals that matter.

How is stakeholder mapping done?

Step 1
Make a random list of all those individuals & organizations that have a connection with your organisation, no matter how large or small. Don’t worry about their power, influence or level of interest at this stage. Even where the identified stakeholder is an organisation, it is better to name exactly the key person(s).

Step 2
Make a power vs interest grid, sketch an X axis (Interest) & Y axis (Power). Divide your page into 4 quadrants based on a, b, c & d below.

a) High power, high interest: these are the people you must fully engage with

b) High power, low interested: keep them satisfied, but don’t bore them

c) Low power, high interest: keep these individuals adequately informed, and engage with them on any major issues arising. These people can be very helpful.

d) Low power, low interest: again, monitor these people, but do not bore them.
Each stakeholder is mapped to a different quadrant based on their level of interest v their influence (power) over your organisation or project.

Tags: Stakeholder, stakeholder mapping, managment tools, organization