No good workmanship of strategy without the support of your stakeholders!
We are going to be interested in effective methods in modern project management that will allow a project team to positively influence its stakeholders - and in a sustainable way!
Moreover, maybe you are asking yourself: “But why should I be interested in this blind spot in project management”? Because aligning your stakeholders is a critical resource ! Because your project deserves a strong and constant commitment at each stage of your stakeholders.
Yes: the budget and the efforts made by team members who are very involved in the tasks need the support and alignment of people who are more distant but concerned, and in a sustainable way. For effective progress, the challenge is to maintain a good level of energy and commitment around the project team. A real challenge if modern solutions and working methods are not applied.
Focus here on the concept of project monitoring, and five levers to modernize this approach within your organization.
A training reminder if you come from the planet “I don't know the projects”: the project monitoring aims to check the correct execution according to the established schedule, the expected quality and that human, material and financial resources are well respected, as well as the status of the milestones. It is a control and validation tool. It serves the goals of the project - so you have good reason to focus on it for a moment.
For their part, stakeholders are people who have any interest in the outcome of your project.. The people who will impact or be impacted in the long term by the project. There are always more than you think! This somewhat vague concept covers very different realities. When it's out of focus, there's a wolf. It's up to you to bring precision. It's a well-known adage in project management!
To explore the subject further, consult our A comprehensive guide to project management.
Let's talk about the Stakeholder map, this method of mapping stakeholders that is taught in project management courses. We are taught the importance of a management plan to locate the various key players on a power of influence/interest matrix. It is undoubtedly a good basis for reflection to formalize your strategy, and not to forget any stakeholders. There are always more than you think! Attention: each project must include everyone: suppliers and subcontractors are also stakeholders.
However, if we schematize voluntarily, this approach to the project plan implies focusing attention and communication on key stakeholders. In some ways, it's not having understood the cultural evolution linked to digitalization organizations. An evolution that allowed more horizontality in business relationships. Everyone counts. Any collaborator must be able to interact with the monitoring of the progress of the project through various means of communication.
🎙 “An essential point in the transformation is the communication aspects. You can never communicate enough. In any case in a fairly targeted and effective way. Transformation is something that people can be afraid of. If we don't communicate, projects can be perceived as a risk.” Alexia Schmitt, Centrimex Transformation and Information Systems Director invited to episode 22 of the CIO Revolution by AirSaaS Podcast.
No more piloting by email or a project blog! We now have enhanced project management. Recall the example of the automobile, and the first regulators and speed limiters. They are becoming widespread today! In project monitoring, a modernization of processes is under way. Let's not doubt these updates in progress. And let's choose the best assistant, the best helper for everyone on the team.
Alignment cannot be decreed... it is built step by step in sincerity and mutual respect. Each stakeholder may or may not make the choice to align despite the difficulties encountered - or because of them. To make our lives easier and find possible solutions, we have listed 5 levers of action. Discover our selection here.
As soon as the project plan is finalized, your first consultations will be used to: identify the clear “why” of your stakeholders. Why do they want to be involved in the project! What do they personally expect from it?
Thanks to this step you will clearly understand what is fundamental for them, their “mission”.
Attention: overall, they are probably OK with the objectives of the project. Dig! Because in detail they can tell you “no I don't really like that”. Everything is normal. What is fundamental at this stage is to formalize the agreement. Every project manager knows it: what's not written doesn't exist. This is part of the constraints of the job. “Factualize” and establish together, in a collective agreement, the indicators to be monitored throughout the project.
Finally, let's remember: after the discussion with the managers, for a good implementation, carry out this approach at all levels, and continue with all the stakeholders in the transformation, to really align all of your digital transformation planets.
The power/interest matrix mapping work described above will be a useful starting point for you to work on this lever.
Do you know the difference between a ritual and a habit? The first is practiced in a “chosen” way, the second in “automatic” and sometimes “undergone” mode.
Take care of your rituals with stakeholders. Routines and rituals are which will set the pace!
Do you want to get out of chronic “misalignment”? Instill the pace the project needs. Trivialize, mute, “sacralize” clear rituals in the agendas of stakeholders.
For example:
* yes, yes, not once every month...!
It will take time, of course - but it's worth the effort. When you are involved in a work, you no longer criticize it in the same way. You switch into the co-construction.
Go beyond simply listening and address concerns or grievances raised by stakeholders. Show that you are willing to have a conversation and to engage in a meaningful discussion about the problems encountered during project monitoring.
Because transformation is above all a human adventure, having transversal communication is essential. Otherwise, it may sting!
This injunction to transparency is undoubtedly the most difficult to follow. And yet, it is a real marker of respect. It will strengthen the trust, and therefore the commitment, of stakeholders. It is one of the recipes for getting out of the vicious circle: information silos -> frustration -> disengagement. No more reporting in siloed and hidden project management software!
Be uncompromising: zero private conversations, no information silos in your project management methods. Let's remember: without transparency no commitment! The more barriers we put in the more we try to hide, the more it backfires. Nothing good can come from a lack of transparency with stakeholders.
Of course, sensitive information is sensitive information that you put in your drawer and keep under lock and key. But try to avoid information or communication voids where nothing is said because of fear. Otherwise, what is likely to happen in the minds of the stakeholders: they invent stories. Don't you tell them about the program and how it's going? They make their own version! And it will no doubt be worse than the reality. Remember the nature that hates a void.
Be transparent with deadlines, resource management, dashboard, budget, monitoring tools, data : it's the only way to build trust.
If you fail let people know that you are failing. If you don't know what you're doing, let people know that you don't know what you're doing. It's easy.
Good news: unlike the old tools for managing “siloed” tasks and projects, with AirSaaS, you can ensure total transparency on the progress of projects, decisions, objectives, objectives, resources, results!
Objective: 100% visibility on the state of health and the progress of the project.
Give and Recall the meaning of the project in the strategy implemented by the company.
Frequently, beyond the evolution of the project, share the “big picture”, the global meaning of what everyone contributes to.
Did we already say that at the kick-off? Yes, and water has flowed under the bridges. In an age of chronic over-information, it is more than likely that many of your stakeholders have forgotten half of the key information about the meaning and scope of the project.
What are the strategic objectives in which the project participates? What transformation program is it part of? What business value is created for the company, its customers?
In short: let's get our heads off the handlebars!
Confucius (him again!) emphasized it”If you don't know where you're going, any path will take you there.” Likewise, in a transformation program, if you don't have a plan, you're going to follow someone else's plan instead!
La project portfolio management, or the Project management alone, require collaborative roadmaps.
The objective remains to see clearly in project management for decisions, prioritizations based on value, through collaboration and on an ongoing basis!
And let's remember: a deviation in the trajectory happens all the time. In a changing world, what is important is to adjust! The three-year master plans are dead: long live the Rolling Roadmaps collaborative that are updated while staying on track with the goals.
A transformation project shakes up organizations, processes, habits... outside of your project monitoring meetings, take care of your stakeholders in this transition phase.
By dint of focusing on risk management, objectives, value, we end up forgetting that we all have in common a great need for variety, pleasure, creativity... In short: vary the pleasures! Be authentic and fun.
* DSI tips:
We can sometimes call on personalities from outside the company in order to reinvigorate the vision or execution of the project, or even call on experts who will clarify certain subjects and/or eliminate certain cognitive biases that are potentially blocking certain stakeholders.
A double-edged sword though. Because the occasional “surprise guest” can arrive like a “hair in the soup”, it is a disruptive element whose added value is quite relative. If he is an expert, then why not ask him to write a recommendation note on a specific subject and send it to the people concerned in advance of the meeting? In short: surprise, always innovate with moderation and discernment!
So, beyond the prerequisites of dynamic stakeholder mapping and the first levers presented, let's keep in mind the human side, and therefore complex, of a transformation project. That's what makes it taste like!
Do you have all the keys to rely on your stakeholders? You know how to set up a pragmatic method. To finish the gesture, the Pro. de la Transfo. team invites you to discover a special article on Project communication plan: how to avoid failure?
