The central role of stakeholders in the successful delivery of projects is becoming increasingly recognised. However, whilst critical to success, these roles are neither passive nor predetermined. The organisation has significant opportunities to influence stakeholder’s perceptions and expectations for the benefit of both the stakeholders and the project; but only when there are effective relationships in place with each key stakeholder.

Identifying, mapping and prioritising a project’s stakeholder community is only the beginning.  Projects and other initiatives can only be considered successful when their key stakeholders acknowledge they are a success.  This requires the delivery team to effectively engage with each of its key stakeholders to understand and manage their expectations and then deliver the outcome to meet or exceed these ‘managed expectations’. Expectations are never ‘fixed’; effective communication can help change perceptions and expectations to make them realistic and achievable. Conversely, ineffective communications can create the perception of failure in the mind of a stakeholder even when the deliverable is ‘on time, on budget and delivering the specified scope’.

Engaging effectively and ethically with key stakeholders to help create a successful project outcome requires significant levels of skill and maturity. SRMM defines five levels of  maturity and suggests a route most organisations can follow to progress from ‘Level 1’ to ‘Level 5’.  The 5 levels of SRMM are:

Preview Dr. Lynda Bourne's new book

Stakeholder Relationship Management: A Maturity Model for Organisational Implementation. This book is designed to provide project managers and organisations with a framework to deliver successful stakeholder management through a long-term commitment to a structured process for the identification of stakeholders and their expectations and then managing these expectations.

Preview the books contents and its 'Introduction' at http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Books.html#Book_Bourne  

40,000+ Copies of Stakeholder Management Thesis downloaded

Dr. Lynda Bourne's Thesis 'Project Relationship Management and the Stakeholder Circle' has been downloaded over twenty thousand times in the last year. Whilst our approach to stakeholder management has moved forward since the Thesis was published in 2005, this academic work is still the foundation of our development work and thoroughly canvases the underlying stakeholder theories and literature the Stakeholder Circle is based on.

View our free Stakeholder Management papers