Stakeholder Engagement Mapping

Stakeholder engagement is a collaborative process of research, debate, and discussion from multiple perspectives to determine a key list of stakeholders across the entire stakeholder spectrum. It is a prerequisite for effective stakeholder consultation and should be an integral part of any project or initiative. Stakeholder engagement mapping helps identify the purpose and scope of engagement, who should be included, and how they will be engaged by mapping out the various strategies that can be used for engaging with stakeholders.

Stakeholder engagement mapping identifies relevant groups, organizations, and people to help in stakeholder engagement. It is a collaborative process that seeks to understand the needs and views of all stakeholders from each perspective. It helps determine the purpose and scope of engagement with these stakeholders while also providing a framework for how they will be engaged. That being said, it is important to note that this process should not be undertaken until adequate research is done on who these stakeholders are and their needs.

One of the most important steps for stakeholder engagement mapping is to identify what you want your stakeholders to do. This will help you identify which are most relevant to your project and which are less important. It also enables you to identify any issues that might exist within the context of your business. For example, if one stakeholder has a lot of power and influence in the decision-making process while another has little, it would be important to engage the latter before engaging the former. You can use various methods for prioritizing your stakeholders, including time, resources, relevancy, and need. Once you have prioritized your stakeholders, you can start engaging them with strategies such as meetings, workshops, surveys, focus groups, interviews, and online engagement tools like social media platforms or email listservs. Stakeholder engagement mapping is more effective when it is done with an open mind from multiple stakeholders who often have different perspectives on the same topic.

Identify what stakeholders are relevant to your current or future efforts: This will help you engage them effectively and avoid wasting time and resources on unimportant stakeholders who your initiative may not impact. The most effective way to do this is through stakeholder mapping, where each stakeholder is divided into groups based on their purpose and level of importance in the project. All participants in the mapping process then debate, discuss, and review which groups should be included in the project’s final list of stakeholders. Another example is often given to demonstrate the value of stakeholder engagement mapping would be when a large company wants to increase its customer base through an online advertising campaign. In this scenario, they could use a stakeholder map to decide which groups have the highest chance of being interested in their ad campaigns and then target these groups with an online ad campaign. Additionally, they would create a detailed plan for reaching out with online ads while using stakeholder engagement mapping as part of this process.

Before embarking on a stakeholder engagement project, it is important to identify the project’s overall goal. This will help identify key stakeholders across the entire stakeholder spectrum and provide a better understanding of who should be included and how they will be engaged. From this perspective, it is important to define your stakeholders from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. This helps determine who should be included in your projects depending on the nature of their role. A common example is often given to demonstrate the value of stakeholder engagement mapping is when a company wants approval from its primary customer base before going ahead with a new product release. Instead of approaching each customer individually to ask if they are in support, they identify all the customers as stakeholders and engage them on the release through stakeholder engagement mapping.

In defining stakeholder groups, it is important to identify how the different types of stakeholders differ and how their differing characteristics can be leveraged in designing a successful engagement strategy. Whether it is an effective way to engage with these stakeholders or a more effective way to engage with one group over another will depend on the specific project or initiative. For example, suppose your engagement strategy is focused on students about a new mathematics curriculum for high school students. In that case, you might want to focus on engaging parents and teachers. Asking parents and teachers what they think of this curriculum would provide you with valuable input. The same goes for engaging with students who don’t have any experience using math learning tools before in their education. One key question when considering how to engage with different stakeholders is whether or not we should target all stakeholders equally or select specific groups at first. The answer depends largely on the context of the project or initiative being undertaken as well as whether or not any external factors will impact engagement (e.g., budget constraints).

The granular level of engagement can be defined by whether your stakeholders are in support if they are willing to provide input or feedback, and when the stakeholders will be available to meet. The granular level of engagement is usually broken down into four levels:

Informal – where no formality is involved, and information is shared through social media
Formal – where information is shared through a formal communication piece
Informative – where people share information that is useful but not necessary
Actionable – where people are actively engaged in a conversation with the company

Engaging stakeholders can be challenging and requires time and resources. A common question during the mapping phase is what type of resources are needed to support our engagement strategy and follow-up activities. There are many ways in which stakeholders can be engaged, such as through social media, email, face-to-face meetings, or phone calls. It all depends on the strategy of how you want to engage. To keep up with stakeholder activity and provide a greater reach for your project or initiative, engaging them through various channels will allow for greater participation from your stakeholders.

From a preparation perspective, ensuring all the stakeholders are mapped out and their goals and objectives are clearly defined ensure that you have a clear idea of your stakeholder engagement strategy. From an engagement perspective, engaging with the stakeholder means considering their needs, concerns, and expectations.

Reference: A Step by Step Stakeholder Mapping Guide – Henrico Dolfing. https://www.henricodolfing.com/2018/03/a-step-by-step-stakeholder-mapping-guide.html