Let’s talk about: How to manage stakeholder expectations
In this podcast project management consultant, speaker on personal growth and leadership, author and PPM expert Naomi Caietti from The Glass Breakers speaks with Elise about how to manage stakeholder expectations.
Naomi is the CEO of a women’s network called “The Glass Breakers”. Naomi was a speaker for 2013 Alcatel-Lucent International Project Management (IPM) Day and panel speaker for IPM Day Women in Project Management.
She engages with global information technology project management communities on topics of leadership and project management as a published author, speaker, editorial board member, community manager, thought leader, mentor and blogger.
Naomi is one of the top 50 project management professionals (PMP) on Twitter, a top contributor to the #PMChat for Community of Project Managers and is highly recommended for her project management leadership at work and in her community.
Naomi has served on PMI-SVC Board of Directors and held other leadership roles for PMI Global Operations Centre (GOC) at the local, regional, and global level.
Points raised in this podcast: - Identify an approach to start with, define what your project is and develop an approach that will fit with the culture.
- Have a focus or behaviour – focus on communication, organisational awareness and strategic planning efforts.
- Understand who your influencers are – who are your stakeholders, identify who they are, define their business roles; make a list of this information.
- Get buy in – if you have a project charter with a scope, you need buy in from your stakeholders. Influencers may change depending on the stage, so you need to continually get buy in.
- Constantly work on your communication – managing stakeholder expectations is one of the most important elements.
- It’s not about making noise; it is about delivering the right message, to the right audience at the right time. The more stakeholders are bombarded with information they may get disinterested.
- Focus on your influencers who are impacted by the change that the project will bring, this is where you will find some issues and gaps in your project.
- Share everything about your project to your stakeholders and have the appropriate feedback and understand what their concerns are. Have empathy for the changes that will occur.
- There will be a variety of stakeholders in your project, focus on the ones that have a lot of influence, if you can develop some ranking for the stakeholders this may help you use this information to manage expectations.
- Sometimes the process is trial by fire, continuing to hone your skills is the key.
- Trust is important in all stakeholder relationships. Program and project managers need to build trust on teams and with stakeholders. You may need to use different leadership styles to develop in these areas.
- Engage early with stakeholders, communicate often and adapt for your project and customers.
- Try until you get the outcome you need with your stakeholder relationships. You’re always going to get it right, you really need to develop relationships.
- Leading a project is best done away from the desk. Excellence can’t be achieved without face time with your stakeholders.
For more information on how to manage stakeholder expectations, Naomi or The Glass Breakers network visit www.theglassbreakers.net
