Presentation given by People Deliver Projects to the SWWE branch on 27 November 2019 in Bristol

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Engaging Project Stakeholders
Levels of Stakeholder Engagement
An all too common feature of stakeholder work is that we focus too heavily on the technical
task of the project, at the expenses of the full needs of the stakeholder, and we miss what else
is in play in the stakeholder engagement and relationship.
Anything other than talking about the task, for practical deliverer types, might be seen as a
luxury there is no time for, unnecessary glad-handing, or possibly something the stakeholder
does not want. In its worst form, our mindset can be: ‘These are busy people’, ‘They are very
senior, it’s not our place’.
However, whilst factually it may be true that they are senior and busy, it is a naive and
disempowering position to choose. Managing the stakeholder engagement over and above the
task at hand, in both the practicalities of how you will work together on the assignment and the
quality of the human relationship, has great value for long term success, both for us, and
equally for the stakeholder.
An effective project leader will therefore pay equal attention (though not necessarily equal
time) to the engagement on three levels:
• Executing the task
• Managing the engagement
• Building the relationship
Managing the engagement – The work to do
There are engagement tasks to do in every assignment
with stakeholders, and at all stages of the life-cycle. The
biggest impact of these interventions is most often at
early stage, in relation to what the project is to be.
Getting relations established from the outset, may feel
difficult, but it is a great deal easy than fixing ones that
have gone wrong. The distinction between task and
engagement topics is blurred. One might think project
scope, timelines and resources etc are the working
ground, but in a project world these are project tasks. Here we mean other matters which are
part of being a professional service provider.
Examples of stakeholder engagement activities are:

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Early Stage
• Understanding the true needs of the stakeholder
• Understanding how the need delivers the business vision or result
• Finding out who the real client/sponsor is, and establishing their role
• Building stakeholder understanding, resolve, and cohesion
• Agreeing how the assignment will be delivered
• Securing what the stakeholder needs to commit to for delivery
• Setting expectations for how work will be done
• Agreeing how we and the stakeholder will work together
• Formal contracting for our working arrangements
Execution Stage
• Tracking and reviewing progress, keeping the stakeholder engaged
• Looking out for and agreeing how things have changed
• Identifying and course correcting if expectations are not being met
• Deciding on continuing, stopping, or changing direction
Benefits Stage (beyond delivery/go-live)
• Making sure the stakeholders own the final outcome
• Confirming the level of value is meeting stakeholder expectations
• Confirming fulfilment of our contracted terms (both ways)
The Engagement Conversation [SORE]
Once we have understood who are stakeholders are,
we must now engage them in conversation. The
following framework for an engagement conversation
can guide us through engagement meetings:
• Understand (their) situation (or problem)
• Confirm (their) desired outcome
• Propose our response for going forward
together
• Agree mutual expectations for our
engagement
The SORE model is not intended to be a rigid
structure and it need not be explicit. When well
executed, it feels a natural flowing dialogue, where
the stakeholder feels respected and understood,
whilst also welcoming our curiosity, and proactive
approach. The sub-text is critical – By the way we
behave we step into a partnership of two equal
professional where, regardless of seniority, both respect the other has an important job to do.

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SORE – AIDE MEMOIRE
Situation
• Listening to the stakeholder situation (or problem)
• Interrogating reality to understand the true need
• What’s the current situation?
• What are you struggling with?
• What is the consequence for you?
• What’s the evidence?
• Can you give me examples?
• What are the underlying problems?
• What is the biggest problem of these?
First and most important is listening to the stakeholder
fully (seek first to understand). They will feel your
curiosity, and potentially feel challenged by your gentle
but probing interrogation of reality. When effective the
stakeholder may also become clearer in what is to be
tackled and why. S and O stages can iterate and
overlap, but both must be done before proceeding.
Outcome
• Asking the stakeholder where they are trying to get to
• Reframing the problem in terms of a positive outcome
• What are you trying to accomplish?
• How will the business be more successful?
• Can you describe how success will look?
• When do you need to achieve this by?
• How will you know you have made it?
This should directly flow from the Situation stage.
Sometimes the outcome is missing, and this stage
creates it. Other times it does not fit the problem,
which could be challenged. This stage can be
motivating for the stakeholder, and can help build trust
as you paraphrase, showing empathy with their
purpose.
Response
• Proposing ideas for a way to go about the work together
• Suggesting the size and shape of your interventions
• The way I propose to tackle this…
• Do you have an approach to this in mind?
• It occurs to me that if you....
• I see my role as… Is that how you see it?
• What I’ve seen work before here is...
• Broadly this would take... and cost...
• I’d very much like to do this assignment
• I see your role as…is that how you see it?
The stakeholder sees a way forward, with you, yet at
the same time does not feel controlled, or sold to. They
do not get a solution at this stage, but a way forward
which includes a top-level view of the assignment, and
how you would go about delivering it, relevant to that
individual. Let them ask for specifics, and give answers.
These should be qualified answers, depending on the
level of uncertainty at this stage, or with what you can
say.
Expectations
• Expressing what the stakeholder can expect from you
• Expressing the things that you need from the stakeholder
• How do you want to work with me?
• When I work I prefer to…
• I believe I can do this…, but not that….
• What do you expect from me?
• Can I tell you what I expect from you?
• How would I do a good job for you?
• To move forward, I need you to...
This is a frank exchange of needs and wants, and the
better the S.O.R. stages, the more frank it can be. Up to
this point, the politics of status and power were more
conventional. Now is the big opportunity to define the
relationship as robust, two-way and equal. Set the
right by what you say and the tone that you carry.