OD Academy – Stakeholder Identification and Engagement
Identify context
Stakeholder map & action plan
Aim:
To identify those individuals
and groups who should be involved
in the planned activity and map
their importance /influence
To assess current and desired level
of engagement ( Awareness, Buy in
and Ownership) and plan how to
bridge any gaps
Time: 30 – 40 minutes for each part
Group size: five to twelve people or
one to one plus consultation
Resources needed: flip chart,
Post it notes and markers
About this tool
This tool will help you identify the stakeholders to
your activity, understand how they are involved,
their influence, their issues and concerns and
when they need to be engaged.
You can choose to do part 1 then part 2 or vice
versa dependent upon your preference and the
size and nature of the project
It is an ideal activity to undertake within a
workshop environment or alternatively undertaken
by a manager and shared with colleagues seeking
their views before agreement is reached.
You can use the opinions of the most powerful
stakeholders to shape the project/activity at an
early stage. This will increase the likelihood that
they are more likely to support you and will
probably increase the quality of the project and
subsequent outcome.
Gaining support of most powerful stakeholders
may be helpful in acquiring additional resources if
needed
You will be able to anticipate what people’s
reactions are likely to be and build in actions to
win their support.
Stakeholder analysis tool combined version December 2013
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OD Academy – Stakeholder Identification and Engagement
How to use this tool
Part 1 – Mapping - who is affected and level of influence
Brainstorm who your stakeholders are – all those who are either affected by the project
/activity and outcome, those who have influence or power over it and those who have an
interest in its successful conclusion.
Prioritise your stakeholders into four groups – keep satisfied, manage closely, monitor and
keep informed. See an example below of a four box grid you can use for this purpose.
Understand your key stakeholders by considering the following questions:
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What financial or emotional interest (positive or negative) do they have in the outcome
of the project/activity?
What motivates them most of all?
What information do they want from you?
What’s the best way for them to receive information about the project/activity?
What is their current opinion of your work?
Who influences their opinion and should these influencers be identified as key
stakeholders?
If they are not likely to be positive about the project/activity (or you), what will help to
win them around?
If you don’t think you’ll be able to win them around, what can you do to manage their
opposition?
Who else might be influenced by their opinion and should they be identified as key
stakeholders?
Outputs
This will help you understand who your key stakeholders are what power /influence they have
over the activity and acts as an aid to identifying courses of action towards them.
There is a template below to log the outcome and note actions for stakeholders
Having analysed who the stakeholders are and depending on the size of the project you may
wish to identify the current and desired level of awareness, buy in and ownership of
your stakeholders. It will then assist you in identifying and monitoring actions required for
stakeholder engagement.
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OD Academy – Stakeholder Identification and Engagement
Part 2 – who are the key stakeholders and required level of awareness buy in and
ownership?
 Agree which stakeholders from the quadrant you will include within your assessment and
action plan.
 Add the stakeholder to the first column of the table .
 For each stakeholder consider what is the required level of awareness (A) , buy in (B)
and ownership (O)? Add either H (high), M (medium) or L (low) to the column in the table.
This discussion and decision will be informed by your discussions in part 1. To help you,
guidance on visual and verbal indicators of high, medium and low levels of awareness, buy
in and ownership are included in the tool.
 Once completed, repeat the exercise, this time assessing the current levels of
awareness, buy in and ownership. Add either H (high), M (medium) or L (low) to the column
in the table.
 Areas to consider:
o Where are the biggest gaps between current and desired levels of awareness,
buy in and ownership?
o What is already in place to move stakeholders closer to the desired levels?
o What else needs to be done?
o Who will you prioritise and may positively influence others (informed by your
discussions in part1)
 Add resulting actions to the column in the table and agree owners and time scales.
Outputs:
 Review progress on actions and the table at subsequent, nominated project team
meetings/discussions.
A simple action plan is attached to assist in documenting activity to be put in place to manage
the key stakeholders.
The outcome (grid of required actions) can then be used at nominated project meetings to
review and check progress.
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OD Academy – Stakeholder Identification and Engagement
Stakeholder map
High
Keep
Satisfied
Manage
Closely
Keep Satisfied - Put enough work in to keep these people
satisfied but not too much that they become bored with your
message.
Manage Closely - People you must fully engage and make
greatest efforts to satisfy.
Power
Monitor
(minimum effort)
Keep
Informed
Monitor - Keep an eye on but don’t bore them with excessive
communication
Low
Keep Informed - Keep them adequately informed & talk to
them to ensure no major issues for them. [They often can be
helpful with the detail of the project.]
Low
Interest
High
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OD Academy – Stakeholder Identification and Engagement
Stakeholder Map – Priority Action Plan
Use this template to set out further detail concerning those categorised stakeholders, particularly those that need to be
‘managed closely’ to enable your change activity to be successful:
Stakeholder
Stake in the
project /
programme
Potential
impact
What does the
project /
programme expect
the Stakeholder to
provide?
Perceived
attitudes and/or
risks
Stakeholder
management
strategy / plan
Owner of
activity
Stakeholder monitoring table and plan
Stakeholder
Current (H. M, L)
A
B
O
Desired (H, M, L)
A
B
O
Stakeholder analysis tool combined version December 2013
Actions to get to
desired state
Messages
Needed
Actions and
Communication
5
– Stakeholder Identification and Engagement
Examples of behaviours, attitudes or verbal clues
ABO
Low
Awareness Demonstrates lack
of understanding of
project goals/
objectives
Buy-in
High
Demonstrates some
understanding of
project goals/
objectives
Demonstrates clear
understanding and
awareness of project
goals/ objectives
No awareness of
project goals/
objectives
Some awareness of
project goals/
objectives
Actively opposes
project and does
not understand
benefits of project
Provides some
support for the
project
Does not believe
that the project will
deliver benefits
Does not provide
time or resources
for the project
Ownership
Medium
Offers up some
resources but only
when free
Relatively neutral
about the benefits of
the programme
Understands benefits of
the programme
Actively communicates
these to other people
Gives resources for the
project (time/ offers
volunteers from their
own team/ engages in
discussions about the
project)
May provide time
and resources but
does not take
accountability
Demonstrates typical
skills, attitudes and
behaviours required
of the change
Demonstrates all skills,
attitudes and
behaviours required of
the change
Does not try to
remove obstacles
to the change
Actively champions,
or sells, the change
in their areas
Actively champions, or
sells, the change in all
areas of the
organisation
Communicates
messages in support
of the change in own
area
Communicates
messages in support of
the change in all areas
of the organisation
Demonstrates
accountability for
actions
Sees success of change
as personal success