Stakeholders & Communications

POSTER 26

Extension · Stakeholders & Communications

Stakeholder Engagement & Communications

A stakeholder is anyone who can affect or be affected by the work. Engagement means identify → analyse → plan → engage → monitor, and communication is the vehicle — a PM spends roughly 90% of their time communicating. Match the channel to the message and the effort to the stakeholder.

Visual Map — The Engagement Process

Identify
who's affected▸ Analyse
power, interest, attitude▸ Plan
engagement & comms▸ Engage
manage expectations▸ Monitor
adjust as it shifts↺

Stakeholder management is really risk management for people: surface them early, understand their power & interest, and close the gap between their current and desired engagement.

Power / Interest Grid

Other Analysis Models

Salience model: Power · Legitimacy · Urgency — all three = a definitive stakeholder.
Engagement Assessment Matrix (SEAM): Unaware → Resistant → Neutral → Supportive → Leading; mark Current vs Desired, act on the gap.
Power/Influence & Influence/Impact grids — alternative axes.
Directions of influence: upward · downward · outward · sideward.

Communication Methods

Channels = n(n − 1) ÷ 2 (n = 10 → 45)

Interactive: two-way, richest — meetings, calls. Best for complex / sensitive / conflict.
Push: one-way out — email, reports, memos. No proof of understanding.
Pull: recipient retrieves — portals, wikis, repositories. For large audiences / big info.

Comms Model, 5 Cs & Dimensions

Model: sender → encode → medium → decode → receiver → feedback; watch noise / barriers.
5 Cs (written): Correct · Concise · Clear · Coherent · Controlled.
Dimensions: internal/external · formal/informal · vertical/horizontal · written/verbal.
~55/38/7 — body language / tone / words (a cue to meet in person when it matters).

Exam Concepts

PM spends ~90% of time communicating.
Channels = n(n−1)/2 — adding people explodes complexity.
Interactive vs push vs pull — know examples of each.
Use interactive for conflict / complex / sensitive topics.
SEAM drives action via current-vs-desired gaps.

Executive View

Engagement is people risk management — align expectations early.
The right channel for the message saves rework & conflict.
Engagement gaps are actionable, not just descriptive.

Industry Example

Defence

Many stakeholders (Navy, govt, primes, unions, community): salience & SEAM to prioritise; interactive forums for high-power/high-interest; push reports to keep-informed; a pull portal for documents.

Relationships

Realises PMBOK 7 Stakeholders domain & the Stakeholder principle (Posters 2–3).
Salience & grids are models from Poster 6.
Programs scale this up — many, diverse, long-term stakeholders (Poster 17).

Memory Hooks

Grid: Manage Closely · Keep Satisfied · Keep Informed · Monitor.
"Interactive = talk · Push = send · Pull = fetch."
Salience = P-L-U; SEAM = U-R-N-S-L.

60-sec Review The 4 grid quadrants + actions Salience 3 attributes Interactive vs push vs pull Channels for n = 8 SEAM: current vs desired

PMI Visual Wall · Poster 26 · Stakeholder Engagement & Communications · original instructional design · A3 landscape