Stakeholder (apologies for dreadful visual pun!)
When it comes to organising a PRINCE2 project, keeping your stakeholders interested can be a real problem. Whether they’re simply losing interest with the project or are becoming disenchanted with the changes you’re making, it is really important to ensure that these problems don’t mean you lose their support.
If you find this useful, you might also like our recent post on what to do when projects go wrong.
The best way to keep your stakeholders involved is by keeping up good communications with them – if you tell them what you’re doing and why, they’ll feel a part of the process and you will gain more of that valuable support.
Here are five great tips to help you communicate with your stakeholders.
5 Tips for Communicating with Project Stakeholders
1: Plan your Journey
Imagine the act of communication with your stakeholders as taking them on a journey. You will need to work out where the stakeholders currently are, as well as where you want them to be once you have explained your project to them. Once you have done this, you can plan the journey in between the two points, deciding on the amount of information you need to give them as well as when to give it.
2: The Four Steps
The journey mentioned before can be planned easily with the use of four steps. These four steps will help you decide what information needs to be given and what needs to be asked for at which times:
- Increase Knowledge. It is very important that the stakeholders know what is happening with your project, since this will make them feel involved.
- Increase Positivity. Make your stakeholders feel more positive about the project, thus increasing their interest and willingness to give support.
- Increase Support. This comes as part of increasing positivity, but may require some nudging on your part. You want your stakeholders to publicise your project, after all!
- Increase Involvement. Encourage your stakeholders to be involved with the project. This should have the added benefit of increasing the outcomes of the first three steps.
Using the four steps as a rough guide to your communications with your stakeholders will help you to focus on what is most important in your relationship, while moving the stakeholders further along the path to involvement.
With a Project Initiation Document (PID) you define the project’s scope and direction and use it as the basis for its authorisation, management and assessing its success. The document details all the foreseeable areas of the project, such as goals, scope, risks, controls and budget.
Having the time to have your questions answered is vital on a PRINCE2 course. This will not only help you to pass your PRINCE2 Practitioner Exam – but will be a great help in relating what you are learning to your own work, helping you to start implementing it faster when you get back to the office.