Jumpstart Your Projects with Stakeholder Engagement

Leadership without followers is meaningless. Working with others is just as important to success as having great ideas. Without relationships, there will be no results! The success of a project or business depends on the stakeholders’ engagement and satisfaction, whether internal or external. Ensuring you hold honest conversations with stakeholders helps you build trust. This article at Rebels Guide to Project Management by Elizabeth Harrin speaks about the importance of stakeholder management and ways to achieve it.

What is Stakeholder Management?

Stakeholder management is a fundamental aspect of project management that carries significant risks and potential rewards. Your project operates smoothly when key players and team members know their responsibilities. However, if impacted stakeholders who can influence the project outcome are not kept in the loop, the project will quickly fall apart.

The performance of individuals, teams, projects and businesses can be significantly increased by developing and implementing a sound stakeholder management plan.

Encouraging Stakeholder Engagement

Many stakeholders are part of several projects simultaneously, so your project may not be a priority for them. Therefore, it is imperative to encourage them to actively participate in the project.

• Positive engagement creates, uses, and sustains stakeholder interest in project or change implementation.
• Disinterest can be minimized by engaging stakeholders. Engagement helps influence stakeholders’ perceptions of ongoing situations.

How to Engage Stakeholders

Engaging stakeholders means understanding their perspectives, building their trust, and influencing their opinion to achieve desired outcomes.

Five Ways You Can Engage Stakeholders

• Recognize and appreciate people for their work and efforts
• Set clear expectations and ensure these expectations do not conflict with others
• Include a link to your email signature for stakeholders to provide any feedback.
• Participate in working sessions to understand their challenges first-hand.
• Customize your communication and knowledge-sharing skills to suit the stakeholders.

To read the original article, click on https://rebelsguidetopm.com/why-you-need-to-engage-stakeholders/