It’s a common cause of project failure directly attributable to us human beings if it is not carried out effectively. It’s considered to be one of the arts of project management – not a science. It features prominently in job specifications and advertisements when organisations are looking for project managers. It basically covers the relationship and communication aspects of projects. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of references to it across the web and in project management books. Getting to grips with complex stakeholder management and being a politically savvy project manager is in demand, but what does it all mean?
In this article we look at what organisations are actually looking for when they ask for “stakeholder management skills” and then discuss what it is that you should be displaying to prospective employers to demonstrate your competence – in your CV, the interview and also on the job.
With stakeholder management being all about identifying and then understanding the motivations and behaviours of anyone who can affect what you’re trying to achieve on a project; then developing relevant strategies to influence outcomes – it’s no surprise that stakeholder management is one of the top “soft” skills a project manager can have.
For a reference point I started with a quick search of a handful of current job specifications where stakeholder management is referred to and not unexpectedly it shows up in many different shapes and sizes as can be seen in the list below (the number in brackets is where it ranked in the overall importance of the project manager’s roles and responsibilities)…
If you want to learn more about stakeholder management, check out the original article from the July 2011 edition of Project Management Tipoffs, the project management & recruitment newsletter from Arras People. Subscribe to Tipoffs to receive the August edition free – it’ll arrive to your inbox next Thursday!
Be sure to check out the Project Management Tipoffs Podcast for July as well, either at the Arras People Pod Centre, or on iTunes! Subscribe to it here.
