Stakeholder Management as a Business Function

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‘If we were to imagine the mind of man and that of GOD to comprise an exquisitely designed broadcast system, then the frequency of the human mind, if tuned to be in resonance with that of GOD, ought to be up to task and do wonders’, says Mani Bhaumik* in his book ‘Code Name: GOD’. However, as Mani points out, ‘most of us tend to forget that this broadcast system even exists’. Time is well elapsed before we even figure this set up.

Similarly, businesses and organisations around the world have varied Programmes initiated with a ‘Purpose’. You broadcast this purpose, the business driver, to your stakeholders. They are your delivery arm and the decision makers within, to drive these Programmes to success. Your stakeholders may be an Organisational entity, an individual, internal or external.

The questions arise - are all your stakeholders tuned to either accept these Programmes in their entirety or can they accommodate your Programme in the timeframe you require to derive the business benefits? Having said that, are all your stakeholders, tuned in resonance with yours, in other words, do they all understand the rationale for the Programme and the way it should be interpreted?

In an ideal world, both the questions above would give us the answer, ‘Yes’, however this is not usually the case. On any one day, at every level in your businesses, your stakeholders come together to discuss and agree next steps to drive your Programmes to success. However, this time spent is not always used to the greatest effect and in the majority of cases with deadlines to meet this is time that you cannot afford to lose.

You can make more money but you can’t reclaim Time. Time is the most precious commodity that your business has and your success, in the majority of the cases, resides in timely execution and completion of your Programmes. It is hence absolutely essential that you get all your stakeholders tuned to what you want to achieve through your Programme, all the way from inception to finish, arising the need of Stakeholder Management.

What does Stakeholder Management offer?

As mentioned earlier, different stakeholders tend to have different views of the Programme and hence different perspectives and possibly hidden agendas in meetings. Often progress can be stalled, even in simple internal meetings by the language barrier that exists between business and technology orientated stakeholders.

Bridging these gaps, bringing the various parties together and gaining agreement between them in the given time scales is the business function of stakeholder management.

Stakeholder Management should not be taken in its literary terms as this function offers and is responsible for a myriad of services, in no particular order, as below

• Identify, engage and effectively plan interactions with the correct Stakeholders
• Set common expectations and facilitate negotiations across multiple stakeholders
• Document meeting outcomes and provide clear communications to the parties involved

The Stakeholder Management function, strives to ensure that at given point in time during the course of the Programme, all your stakeholders are tuned to be resonant with your business driver.

Stakeholder Management is a structured framework, with quality gates invoked within to ensure the smooth and efficient running of the Programme. It is a proven model and has helped many of my clients achieve their Business Goals.

Conclusion

Stakeholder Management is often thrown in as an afterthought when setting a programme in motion, or determining governance structures, but it is seldom conducted in anything but an adhoc manner.

Mobilising a dedicated, independent, stakeholder management function within the structure of any major programme or forum will improve the working atmosphere and the level of collaboration between the parties involved. This ensures timescales are met.

It is my experience that the savings in time that can be gained through such a dedicated business function far outweighs the associated cost of providing it.

When do you really need Stakeholder Engagement?

Having worked with varied clients it is my recommendation that a dedicated stakeholder management function is considered when embarking on any initiative that will require prolonged interaction of diverse stakeholders. Many on-going interactions in your business could also benefit from such a function, but the real benefit comes when a programme is started with this role in place. This allows the expectations of the stakeholders to be clearly defined and a common way of working to be established from the start.

Examples of interactions, we recommend, would benefit from a dedicated stakeholder management function include;

• Mid to long term programmes or projects that require continued input from, or communication to the stakeholder group
• Programmes or projects where requirements gathering is a key component
• Programmes, Projects, Forums or Governance boards that consist of diverse stakeholder groups
• Any ongoing interactions between business and technology orientated stakeholders

In each of these areas, Stakeholder Management can facilitate the negotiations between parties and ensure consensus is reached in the required timescales.


* Mani Bhaumik is a renowned scientist for his work in laser technology which made LASIK eye surgery possible. Code Name: God, an LA Times Bestseller, is an attempt by Mani to prove the existence of God, the super power, through Science.