What Is a Stakeholder Plan?
Stakeholders have a vested interest in whether a business succeeds or fails. They stand to gain or lose financially based on the outcome of the business. Sometimes stakeholders find themselves at odds with each other because they have different ideas of how best to make a business successful. Stakeholder plans can be useful devices to bring stakeholders together by outlining a common way to make the business profitable through a specific project. A good stakeholder plan identifies the stakeholders, discusses goals, determines methods and identifies the risks involved in the project.
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Identify
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Identifying the stakeholders in a business is the most important part of a stakeholder plan. Stakeholders can include anyone who is affected, has influence over or who has a valid stake in the company. These individuals are financially affected by the economic status of the company. Once they are identified, their needs should be outlined in the plan. Different stakeholders will have different needs and sometimes these needs will be in conflict. One stakeholder may need cash right away and another stakeholder may need his money to continue vesting over a period of time. By outlining these needs in a plan, a strategy can be developed to account for all the needs of all stakeholders.
Goals
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Even though the needs of stakeholders may differ, their ultimate goals should be the same and that is for the project to be successful and profitable. To ensure that the stakeholders have the same goals, interviews can be conducted to discuss these issues. These interviews and comments should be recorded and incorporated into the stakeholder plan. Goals need to be clear and concise so that the plan can be organized to meet the desired end.
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Methods
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To achieve the goals established, the stakeholder plan must outline the methods that will be used in the project. For a project, this includes its cost and due date. It can also list the individuals who will work on the project and any supplies they need. The methods should include the location of the project and whether any testing must be completed. An alternate method should also be included in case the first method cannot work.
Risks
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Listing the risks involved is an important part of a stakeholder plan. This helps in trying to prevent these things from happening during the project. Potential risks include spending too much money or going over a specific time allotted for the project. Communication can also be a risk if stakeholders are not continuously informed of any problems or delays with the project. Once these risks are identified, solutions should be determined and everything should be written down in a log. This log should continuously be updated during the project.
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