Discussion: Stakeholder Engagement

When engaging stakeholders, project managers use techniques mentioned in this module. Are some of these techniques better that others or do all work equally well? Choose one of these techniques and discuss its pros and cons if you would or would not use it.

Examine the Online Discussion Rubric to identify the qualities of an effective post. Comment on at least two posts by your colleagues by the end of this module week. Your instructor will not grade this assignment until you have made three posts.

 Schwalbe, K. (2013). Information technology project management. Boston: Cengage Learning.

 Please respond to 2 of these posts;

1) I see that it is important for project managers to engage their stakeholders to help their projects succeed. The stakeholder management plan helps identify key stakeholders and describe strategies for managing relationships with them. The key inputs to managing stakeholder engagement include the stakeholder management plan, communications management plan, change log, and the organizational process assets. The important techniques that project managers use include communication methods, interpersonal skills, and management skills. I think that the communication method is a smart technique. The pros of this technique is by creating a dual action plan which will divide content between external and internal stakeholders. This approach helps hone your message for the appropriate audience and avoid unnecessary clutter in the final document. External actions will focus on communication, relationship building, and future engagement, and internal actions will range from improving processes and revising strategy to building further internal engagement capacity. Your action plan should also be used as a progress report for goals and objectives, informing your engagement strategy. Incorporate successes into your action plan, and analyze your unmet goals to help set realistic goals in the future. The cons related to this communication technique is that having Inconsistency in communication. If you say you are going to keep your stakeholders updated, then you better do it. This can be prevented by agreeing with them upfront. This will help mitigate misunderstandings and build co-ownership for future engagements The other problem is pretending feedback. This happens when updates are treated as a check in the box rather than fielding real feedback or engaging stakeholders in ongoing conversations. This can be prevented by keeping the lines of communication open for feedback, and do not place the engagement activities so late in a timeline that stakeholders have no opportunity to contribute in a real way. Do not pretend to want feedback and then do nothing with it. And most importantly, let your stakeholders know how their feedback is used. Close that feedback loop, and include the resulting value in future engagement plans.

References: https://www.south-stream-transport.com/media/documents/pdf/en/2014/06/ssttbv_tu-esia_6_se_en_170_en_20140613.pdf (Links to an external site.)

https://www.bsr.org/reports/BSR_Five-Step_Guide_to_Stakeholder_Engagement.pdf (Links to an external site.)

Schwalbe, K. (2013). Revised an Introduction to Project Management (4th ed.).

2) Ensuring stakeholders are engaged in the project is absolutely vital to project success. When managing stakeholder engagement, "important tools and techniques include communication methods, interpersonal skills, and management skills" (Schwalbe, 2013, p. 271). In comparison, I believe that all of these tools/techniques work equally as well when properly executed; however, interpersonal and management skills depend largely on communication methods. I say this because no matter how well you can make decisions and relate to people, you have to be able to effectively communicate your message in order for your skills to prevail. Good communication skills help teams to be more productive, efficient, and cohesive (Johnson, 2016). I would use communication methods to my advantage if I were a project manager. The pros of effective communication methods when managing stakeholder engagement are that stakeholders will always know what is going on in the project, stakeholders will never feel left out of the project, and that stakeholders will not be confused and disturb or hinder operations due to their confusion. In addition to the pros of the communication technique, there are also a few cons. If you select the wrong medium when using this technique, you could compromise your entire message because stakeholders will not be able to understand or relate to it. Also, if the project manager is not skilled at all methods of communication including verbal and nonverbal, only certain methods will be chosen, putting the project manager at a huge disadvantage. Additionally, the project manager has to know when to be formal and when to be informal, as selecting the right method of delivery at the right time can improve or harm relationships between stakeholders and the project manager. I believe that each of the tools and techniques for managing stakeholder engagement are excellent choices for ensuring project success; however, all must be utilized to some degree with a strong focus on communication methods.

References - Johnson, R. (2016). What are the benefits of effective communication in the workplace? Chron. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-effective-communication-workplace-20198.html (Links to an external site.)

Schwalbe, K. (2013). Revised an introduction to project management (4th ed.). Schwalbe Publishing. Minneapolis, MN.