Identifying where key support is needed (stakeholder analysis)

One way to help assess your stakeholders in relation to the change process is to use a grid which has two dimensions – reaction to change (‘blocker/on the fence/champion’) and the power/influence the stakeholder has (high/medium/low).

Now, having watched the video, let’s return to the case we looked at in the last step.

Who do you think are the key stakeholders in this case?

Think about:

Who will be affected by this change? Who will be responsible for making it happen? Who will be accountable for it? Who will benefit from the change? Who can influence the change?

Discussion

Once you have identified all the stakeholders, think about how they will affect the project.

How much influence do they have to make the change happen, or to prevent it?

How supportive are they of the change? Do their actions match their words?

How much change will they experience themselves? How easy or difficult will it be for them?

Share your views with other learners.

From your list of stakeholders, work out who is a blocker, on-the-fence or champion and what level of power and influence they have.

For example: name of stakeholder (OTF/H) would mean on the fence, high influence or power.

Share your work with each other and compare results.

You may find the stakeholder analysis grid, available below, useful for your own change projects. (Please note: the zip version contains an editable Word file, if you have difficulty opening zip files we have also provided a read-only pdf file).

Reflection point

How did you find this exercise? Would you feel confident doing a similar exercise for your own change project? Do you have enough information about your stakeholders? If not, how could you get it?