Effective Communication Skills: Stakeholder Analysis

Master the gold standard tool for project management, change management and software implementation

Communication 502: Understanding Stakeholder Analysis

Why do projects fail?  According to the Project Management Institute (PMI) 90% of the time it's due to poor communication.  In this course, you'll learn the effective business communication skills needed for project success.

Stakeholder management is one of the essential skills for career advancement. If you can’t convince the buyers - both economic buyers and influencers - that you and your team can navigate through their organization, then you can’t sell...either internally or externally. For any project to succeed, you MUST have a stakeholder engagement strategy. You can not be an effective project manager if you can't manage stakeholders.

(And yes, you can self-report one PDU for your PMP® continuing education.)

All change management efforts - both internal and at client sites - require you to sell your ideas. The sales staff should be able to communicate the vision of how things could be, but you – the specialist or subject matter expert – will show the "buyer" how to get there. Expect questions like “How will this change impact my people?” You’ll hear, “How much of my people’s time will this implementation take?” Or some form of, “How will we convince [insert group here] that this is a good idea?"  You must answer clearly and concisely, and a good stakeholders analysis will help you do so, both in the sales meeting and during your work with your customer. If your stakeholder engagement skills are weak, you will fail even if you're lucky enough to get the sale.

This course is designed for technical people and subject matter experts who are frequently in front of customers. Participants will learn 1) the logic and process for a robust stakeholders analysis 2) some tips to build stakeholder engagement, and 3) a stakeholder matrix and a template designed for presentations to senior management.