Stakeholder Map

When to use it

Use this tool to create an overview of all the stakeholders involved in your project, to prepare for different stakeholder expectations, and to identify the relationships between them.

What’s the purpose

The buy in and support of your stakeholders is critical to the success of your project. Creating a stakeholder map helps you to keep everyone involved in the project informed, engaged and happy. It also ensures that you have the right mix of voices in the room to steer the project in the right direction.

How to do it

In step one of the ‘Stakeholder Map’ template, identify all the stakeholders involved in your project by name, placing them in the relevant ring across the following categories: vital to engage, necessary to engage, good to have on board, and courtesy to inform.
- Start by brain-dumping all stakeholders name.
- Then, refine your groups.
Now use the project value / agreement chart in step two to identify which type of stakeholder each person is and where they sit on the axes.
Using the suggestions around how best to engage with these types of stakeholders as a starting point, complete the action plan in step three to outline specific actions that will help to build confidence in the stakeholder.

Helpful tips

When identifying stakeholders, make sure to include specific names and roles. If you’re working in a group, it can be useful to do this individually in silence at first and then discuss.
Cluster stakeholders in related groups and draw lines between groups to show relationships.

Using this method in your day-to-day work

Every working team is made up of a mix of personalities with different expectations and ways of working - you’re one of them! The stakeholder mapping approach can be used when planning a project, introducing a new way of working or even understanding the various people involved in your day-to-day work.

By mapping out who the stakeholders are, you’ll be able to think through how they may react or feel about the work you’re doing (or planning to do) with them, which will help you prepare and communicate with them more effectively.