The project team creates a list of stakeholders from the project docu- ments and identifies additional stakeholders through brainstorming and discussions with other project stakeholders. The team copies these stakeholders to sticky notes, with one stakeholder per sticky note, and places the sticky notes on the Power Interest Grid in the appropriate
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quadrant. The sticky notes make it easy to move a stakeholder from one quadrant to another as discussions cause the team to rethink which quadrant is most appropriate for a stakeholder.
Stakeholders fall into one of the grid sections as follows:
Priority 1 = High Priority based on high power and high interest Priority 2 = Medium High Priority based on high power and low
interest Power low Power high Interest low Interest high 1—High
priority 2—Mediumhigh priority 3—Medium low priority 4—Low priority
Figure 10.1 Power interest grid.
Table 10.1 Stakeholder Matrix for Deck Project
STAKEHOLDER
NAME INTEREST (I)POWER (P) PRIORITY
WHAT STAKEHOLDER WANTS/NEEDS FROM
THE PROJECT
WHAT THE PROJECT NEEDS FROM THE
STAKEHOLDER Project
manager High P High I 1 Complete project on scope, schedule, budget
Direction and communication Property owner High P High I 1 Deck completed per
scope, quality, and budget
Funding,
requirements, and timely approvals Renters Low P High I 3 Deck completed on
schedule; deck is safe
Support, positively influence abutters Abutters Low P High I 3 No noise, intrusions
during construction; no noisy parties once complete
Support; no objections to permitting Town permit
org High P Low I 2 Proper paper work submitted Inspection and permit Vendors of
bldg supplies
Low P Low I 4 Profitable business Quality and inexpensive building supplies
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Priority 3 = Medium Low Priority based on low power and high interest
Priority 4 = Low Priority based on Low Power and Low Interest The project manager uses the priority to determine which stakeholders are likely most influential and require more attention from the team. The project manager may consider all stakeholders with a priority of 1 or 2 significant. Or he might take the top 40% of the stakehold- ers, regardless of their priority score. The project manager completes columns 4 (what the stakeholder wants/needs from the project) and 5 (what the project needs from the stakeholder) for these most signifi- cant stakeholders.
Some stakeholders may view the priority rankings as political, with a lower priority perceived as negative. They may feel that they are not as important as stakeholders with a higher priority and become alien- ated from the project. To mitigate this, the project manager involves stakeholders in the prioritization process and discusses the final pri- oritization with all affected stakeholders. He explains that a low rank- ing is not negative; it is simply an indication of this project relative to other projects and other stakeholders. The discussion focuses on the stakeholder’s power with respect to the project and the stakeholder’s interest in the project; the priority is derived from these variables, it is not assigned directly. The project manager assigns these priorities with sensitivity and political awareness.
For the deck project, both the project manager and the property owner (sponsor) are high power and high interest. The property owner controls the funding and is concerned about the impact of the deck on his property and rental value. The renters and abutters are very interested in the impact of the deck on their ability to enjoy their outdoor activities; both stakeholder groups have limited power as they do not contribute money or resources. The renters have some power, in that they may support the project manager in the deck construc- tion. Abutters may have relationships with people in the town build- ing department and may try to influence the building department to deny the permit if they are concerned about noise, proximity of the deck, or other intrusions. The town permitting organization has high power, in that they can deny the permit; they have little interest in this particular permit request. Vendors are interested in obtaining the
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ProjeC t stakehoLders
business, but it is not likely high dollar value so their interest is lim- ited. They have no power over this project.
The project team posts project information on the project website (or other publicly available site like Facebook), and stakeholders with low priority access project information themselves. Stakeholders with high interest are likely to seek out project information and proactively advise the project manager if there are issues or opportunities. Although the project manager assigns a relatively high priority to stakeholders with high power and high interest, he is confident that these stakeholders will let him know if there are concerns. Stakeholders with high power and low interest are a challenge. High power enables them to significantly impact the project. Low interest suggests that they may not pay atten- tion to the project. The risk is that they will not react until the project is too far off course for the project manager to correct problems and bring the project back on track. To mitigate this risk, the project manager prioritizes these stakeholders and puts a communication plan in place where he proactively reaches out to these stakeholders. He meets regu- larly with these stakeholders so he can discover early if things are not going according to their expectations. Table 10.1 contains these power interest scores for the deck project stakeholders, and Table M.1 contains this information for the Community Gardens project stakeholders.
10.3.1 Checkpoint
Work with your team to assign stakeholders to one of the 4 quad- rants in the power interest grid and to assign a priority based on the quadrant. Add the power interest scores and stakeholder priority to the stakeholder matrix. If your project has many stakeholders, rank order the stakeholders based on either their priority (for example all priority 1’s or all priority 1’s and 2’s) or the top X% of the stakeholders. Complete column 4 (What stakeholder wants/needs from the project) and column 5 (What the project needs from the stakeholder) for the top-ranked stakeholders.