Making Stakeholders’ successful

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Identify Stakeholders’ definition of success
Project success means different things to different people and it is important to establish what the
stakeholder community perceives success to be for them in the context of project delivery.

Stakeholders can be disgruntled if success is not clearly identified in the mind-sets of those involved
in the process.

The success vision may be refined throughout the life of the project and serves as a central focus in
communication, ongoing engagement and facilitation with the stakeholder community.
Why is defining success important?

• Stakeholders have a variety of vested interests in the outcome of a project. These interests determine their
perspectives of success, which in turn influences how satisfied they will be with the project outcomes. It is
therefore important to distinguish stakeholders’ success criteria in order to prioritise and manage
expectations.

• Understanding definition of success will help work towards the vision which can be refined throughout the
life of the project and serves as a central focus in your communication, ongoing engagement and
facilitation with your stakeholder community.

• Having a good understanding of different success options and criteria (measures),

helping to mitigate potential risks before they turn into issues.

• Prioritisation of tasks and activities.

• Avoid wasting time and money on aspects of the project that are not in line with
the vision
Strategies to ensure stakeholder success

Consult, early and often - A project or new account,

particularly in the early stages, may be unclear to its
stakeholders for example, in terms of purpose, scope,
risks and approach. Regular consultation is essential to
ensure that requirements and delivery solution as
agreed is being fulfilled and is aligned with the
expectations and understanding of majority of
stakeholders.
Example – RDH explaining to the SDM/PM on the key
deliverables at a new customer site which were
discussed while the contract was being finalized. The
SDM/PM should regularly consult the RDH in this case
to ensure deliverables are being fulfilled as per
expectations.
Get them involved - Look for signals of stakeholder
disengagement and address the issue right then.
Use weekly status reports, regular checkpoint and
sprint retrospective meetings.

Example – in a team of 15 employees handling the

operations at a particular site, one employee could
be lagging behind in terms of productivity and
regular customer complaints. The PM/SDM in such
a case is required to bring that employee at par
with the performance level as expected either
through coaching or training.
Anticipating Problems - Using foresight to
anticipate hazards and taking simple and
timely actions with stakeholders can
significantly improve project delivery.

Example –Developing an internal project

vision with all your stakeholders is a useful
way of uncovering the differing views that
may exist and also different situations that
may occur so that solutions for the same
can also be discussed