Knowing stakeholders is the key thing in any transformational or continuous improvement initiatives, The presentation covers both high level and inter personal level of stake holders management techniques. Among key contents are 7 Prevention Steps of Stakeholders misalignment and tools for Stakeholders Planning, Stakeholders Mapping, and Stakeholders Support Level.

1. MANAGING STAKEHOLDERS AS A CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS IN ACHIEVING OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
A Presentation by :
Jamilah Haron
Continuous Improvement Coach
jamilah.haron@gmail.com
6th Asia Lean Six Sigma Summit
17th September 2014
Sunway Pyramid Convention Center

2. HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESENTATION
Who are Stakeholders
Managing Stakeholders Expectations
Seven Prevention Steps to prevent mis-alignment
Basic Tools in Stakeholder Management
“Inside-Out Approach” of Stakeholder Management
 Communication Approach

3. Who are Stakeholders

4. THE SOFT PART OF CHANGE INITIATIVES
R = Q x A
RESULTS
 Managing Stakeholders
 Leadership, coaching
 Change Management
 Data, methodology
 Sustenance strategy
 IT support
 __________
 __________
Results
Quality
Acceptance

5. WHO ARE STAKEHOLDERS ?
• Stakeholders can MAKE or BREAK the change efforts
• People who are ;
Affected by the change
Have influence or power over it
Have an interest in final outcome
Formal stakeholders are captured in Project Plan

6. REMINDERS ON STAKEHOLDERS
•Not every one is a Stakeholder.
Stakeholders are “WHO YOU ANSWER TO”
•Typically have multiple priorities, handling tasks, meetings.
So they RELY on change agents/project managers to keep things documented ,managed and delivered.
•They have many things going on – they could get things confused. May make statements that are out of date if they are not updated regularly

7. CUES … WE ARE NOT MEETING EXPECTATIONS
Means , somewhere there’s misalignment and needs to be addressed . Watch these language…
I thought
He / She said
“She said we are supposed to get IT to do it”
“I thought that this project was delivered last month”
This never works
_______ never delivers
“IT never delivers”

8. PREVENTION STEPS - AVOID MISALIGNMENT WITH STAKEHOLDERS

9. SEVEN PREVENTION STEPS
•Document Stakeholders in Charter or Project Plan
•Know your Stakeholders, their concerns, their assumptions, what they value the most. They are the owners, the fund the project, and they are decision makers.
• Inform your team – not only inform tasks but who they are working for, things that are important
Name
Role in the Project
Function/Department

10. •Set up the PROCESS / governance . How is the feedback process, how is decision made and communicated.
•Provide status regularly, up-to-date status, in appropriate format
•Senior management requires high level overview
•E.g Council, Change Management Exco, Reengineering Committee
•Team members need more details
SEVEN PREVENTION STEPS (CONTINUED)

11. •Touch base regularly , keep constant contact.
•Ask questions : “Are we meeting expectations?” to know their concerns and avoid surprises in management meeting
•“Elevator speech” / quick impromptu verbal update
•Constantly dispel assumptions, mis statements and myths .
•Townhall meetings
•“All-hands” meeting
SEVEN PREVENTION STEPS (CONTINUED)

12. Basic Tools in Stakeholder Management

13. Key Question to Identify Stakeholders
Names and/or Groups
INFLUENCE
SUPPORT
Note: Determine the level of influence for each name or group.
Note: Determine the level of support for each name or group.
High
Medium
Low
Strong Supporter
Indifferent :
On the Fence
Unconvinced
Who must give approval on any changes to the process?
Who participates in this process?
Who provides input into the process?
Who is the ultimate user of the process ?
Who else is impacted (e.g., implements the changes to the process)?
STAKEHOLDERS PLANNING TOOL
Identify stakeholders through series of questions below,.Then as a team, gauge their influence and support level.

14. STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS TOOL

15. TOOL TO ASSESS SUPPORT LEVEL
Names
Strongly
Against (-2)
Moderately Against (-1)
Neutral (0)
Moderately Supportive (+1)
Strongly
Supportive
(+2)
X
X
X
X
Mr B
Mr Y
Mdm K
Mrs W
Possible
Action Steps
X
Current
Desired
•Head to Head invitation (top-down)
• Include in Fortnightly update
• Initial Benefits presentation
• Invite him as Projects reviewer in Exco/Council
Get buy-in through the favor of his favorite manager. The Manager explained it to him
• Initial Benefits presentation
• Invite as Projects reviewer
Completed effort
X
To be done/ in progress

16. STAKEHOLDER MAPPING TOOL
• People we must fully engage
• Make the greatest efforts to satisfy them
• Put enough work in with these people to keep them satisfied
•Keep these people adequately informed
• Talk to them to ensure that no major issues are arising.
Do not bore them with excessive communication
Low
POWER
High
LEVEL OF INTEREST
Low
High
KEY PLAYERS
KEEP INFORMED
MINIMAL EFFORT
KEEP SATISFIED
INTEREST IN PROJECT VS. POWER
Identify stakeholders, map their interest and power, apply communication strategy according to where they are in the grid below :

17. HANDLING HIGH POWER, HIGH INFLUENCE
What if they are not likely to be positive,
what will win them around to
support our initiatives/proposal ?
•Align the initiative to the stakeholders “burning platform”
•We propose Cost savings efforts vs He wants Revenue Generation
•We propose Customer Satisfaction focus vs He wants Internal Efficiency
•We Phase-by-phase approach vs he wants Big-Impact Initiatives
•We propose with jargons like FMEA, SPC, DOE : He feels intimidated
•Re-align scope to towards bigger forecast benefits

18. “Inside-Out Approach” of Managing Stakeholders :
Know the Style

19. GET TO KNOW STAKEHOLDERS IN PERSON
• This approach is recommended considering stakeholders are individuals with various personality and preferences.
• This approach requires change agents to be mature
• Have a concern on developing long-term professional relationships on top of driving results.

20. UNDERSTANDING THINKING PREFERENCE
Thinking Preference : Analyze
How to communicate :
Facts, figures
Thinking Preference : Organize
How to communicate :
Systematic, methodical, details
Thinking Preference : Personalize
How to communicate :
People-related issues, feelings
Thinking Preference : Strategize
How to communicate :
Overview, vision, new ideas
•Use thinking preference to understand ourselves and others. Such understanding will help us tailor our communication approach.
•An example below is from Herrman Brain Dominance Instrument.

21. TENDENCY AND PREFERENCE
Source : Herrman Brain Dominance Instrument

22. THE BENEFITS OF KNOWING STYLE
• Enables better understanding of stakeholder’s personality or preferred style
• Better “chemistry” with stakeholders : able to adopt suitable communication style to gain better buy-in process.

23. “Inside-Out Approach” of Managing Stakeholders :
Building Rapport

24. FACE TO FACE COMMUNICATION IS THE BEST

25. ONE TO ONE : BUILD RAPPORT FIRST
• What is Rapport : Expressing from the heart, sending the message “we are alike”.
• To give the other person impression that you are just like him/her
• Using the fact that 70% of communication is non-verbal.

26. A RAPPORT BUILDING TECHNIQUE : MIRRORING
Mirroring is a rapport-building technique in which one person adopts the physical and verbal behaviours of another.
Tend to happen automatically between people who know each other well.

27. WHAT TO MIRROR
You can mirror a
Tone of voice
Rate of speech
Posture (e.g. leaning forward or sitting up straight)
Hand gestures
Word choice

28. Video :
Source www.bnetTV.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqhSWI4-hnA

29. Managing Stakeholders from working level :
Communication Approach

30. REACHING OUT TO THE MASS
• People must feel they are being heard, and they have an avenue to voice their views. (Even if we know they end up not asking any questions)
• “Town hall”. This could be a bi-monthly event with key people giving update of the change.
• Open Day : 6-monthly
• Open opportunity for people to ask questions boldly.
• This is where we discover influencers among the workers.

31. VARY THE APPROACH
• Consistent communication in various format.
• Strongly recommended to have a dedicated person- in-charge for communication .
Intranet
Weekly Communication
Visits
Electronic newsletter
Printed newletter
Notice boards at high-traffic places

32. CULTURAL FACTOR : CUSTOMIZE THE APPROACH
• Alternatively , meet people in small group so that the “shy type” can be discovered and heard.
“Teh tarik session”
“Sandwich session”
“Skip-level” meeting
Management walk-about

33. KEY TAKE AWAY
• Acceptance Strategy is important in getting results :
• Misalignment of expectations can be prevented – know our stakeholders well and have regular update strategy.
• People Buy You : Understanding stakeholder styles and building rapport will help in managing stakeholders well.
• Let it be “over communicate” : Vary the approach and customize the approach while getting buy-in from working level.

34. jamilah.haron@gmail.com
YouTube : Jamilah Haron The Trainer

35. REFERENCES
Kotter, John P, . Leading Change : Why Transformation Efforts Fail, Harvard Business Review, Jan 2007
http://hbr.org/2007/01/leading-change-why-transformation-efforts-fail/ar/1
Miles, Robert H, . Accelerating Corporate Transformations, Harvard Business Review
http://hbr.org/2010/01/accelerating-corporate-transformations-dont-lose-your-nerve/ar/1
Thompson, Rachel , Stakeholder Analysis
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_07.htm
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/building-rapport.htm
http://projectmanagementtraininghull.webs.com/
http://www.bnettv.com
http://herrmannsolutions.asia