Building and Maintaining PMO Stakeholder Engagement Across Industries
Why is it so important to get stakeholder engagement right? There are numerous studies indicating that stakeholder engagement directly impacts the success of a program. It’s easy to find examples of unsuccessful projects where stakeholders were not engaged or were engaged too late. Building and maintaining PMO stakeholder engagement throughout all phases of a program is key to ensuring the goals and business case ROI for the program are achieved.
Who Are the Stakeholders?
Program stakeholders are the individuals who have an interest and are impacted by the current program. There are both internal stakeholders, from within the organization, and external stakeholders, who are not part of the organization but directly interact with it. Internal stakeholders have different context for the change and need to not only understand what the overall benefits are for the company, but also the WIIFM (what’s in it for me?). External stakeholders need to understand and agree to expectations for any changes they will need to accommodate or may need to provide guidance, e.g., regulatory, depending on the type of change. They need to commit to working with the program to support the changes within the program schedule.
A key internal stakeholder is the program sponsor(s). The sponsor is responsible for ensuring the change aligns with the vision and goals of the organization, holds the budget, and ensures the change realizes the benefits defined in the business case. This role often requires coaching to be effective and understanding their role and responsibilities. It’s important for sponsors to be active and visible in the program and deliver key messages, build collaboration across the organization, and communicate. It’s proven that strong sponsorship engagement can be a differentiating factor when it comes to program management – 62% of successfully completed projects have highly supportive sponsors.
With various stakeholders, both internal and external, sustaining engagement can be challenging and complex. It’s critical to identify all stakeholders and develop a strategy to engage them appropriately throughout the program.
Considerations for Stakeholder Engagement
Identify and map internal stakeholders
The project and organizational change managers work with the sponsor(s) to identify a list of internal stakeholders. Once the stakeholder list is created, interviews are conducted by the project and organizational change managers to collect information to assess interest, level of influence, and potential impact on the program.
As stakeholders discussions are conducted, there’s an opportunity to ask if there are other individuals it would be helpful to talk with. The interviewers can ask questions to help identify individuals who are not in a management role but may be an influencer within the organization and look for ways to leverage their influence to support the program. Project and organizational change managers prioritize stakeholders by their level of influence within the organization to develop a tailored approach to address organizational communication needs and supporting activities. This focused approach optimizes the engagement efforts to align with individuals who have the greatest impact. This this level of involvement during each phase of the program is important, as attitudes and behaviors may shift as the program continues. This participation keeps key stakeholders engaged. Change is inevitable, work with your organization to be comfortable to navigate continuous change.
Identify external stakeholders
External stakeholders aren’t on the core team but often play a significant role on the program in ensuring success. They often interact with the core team by providing approvals, ensuring compliance, providing insights, and helping to identify risks. When they’re not identified early in the program, it can lead to issues and delays in a project. These include stakeholders like regulatory agencies, suppliers, vendors, customers, etc. External stakeholders need to be informed, brought in to support changes, and ensure the solution is implemented smoothly. Roles and responsibilities need to be clearly defined, communicated, and agreed to.
Talk the language of your stakeholders
Stakeholders vary by industry and vertical. It’s important to understand their frame of reference and be able to explain the change in terms that make sense to them. Information should be tailored to provide them an understanding of their role and how it fits into the success of the program. Keep in mind, they don’t need to be inundated with every detail; communication just needs to be tailored to their role. Below, we break down these considerations across the life sciences, consumer products, and retail industries.
Key stakeholders in the life sciences may include roles like finance, research & development (R&D), quality, scientists, providers, patients, patients’ families, and regulators. Working with highly educated scientists, it helps to have a person on the team that has an advanced understanding of scientific terms so there is the ability to translate complex concepts into a language that can be understood by a less experienced audience.
R&D managers are often data-focused so it is important to ensure they can get the data they need to make decisions. Consideration also needs to be paid to regulatory stakeholders who are concerned with compliance, reporting requirements and other governance. It is important to be knowledgeable on the latest guidance. Working in an industry that focuses on critical health issues, it is important to approach your stakeholders with empathy and understand their role and concerns.
Consumer product companies manufacture and market products or commodities that can be purchased and used. Goods are sold to retailers for resale. Consumer product companies may also have a direct to consumer (DTC) program. Stakeholders in consumer products organizations may include finance, supply chain, manufacturing, distributors, brokers, retailers, customers, suppliers, investors, and employees.
External stakeholders like suppliers and retailers are often critical to the success of a program and should be treated as valued partners. Ensure to establish feedback loops so they have opportunity to openly provide feedback on changes that impact them and so you understand their perspective. Investors should understand the business plan and be communicated to on any changes to the perceived ROI on the program. Employees need to be aware of the change being implemented and receive the training they need to succeed in the new environment.
Retailers sell goods in small quantities to customers for personal use. These goods are purchased from manufacturers. Stakeholders in retail may include manufacturers, customers, employees, investors, and government agencies.
Retailers are used to interacting with customers from more of a sales and marketing perspective, but when a program impacts customers, the focus needs to be on engaging them and providing the information they need to know to have a good retail experience. Understand the impact on employees and put the right training in place to help them build the knowledge and skills they need to navigate to the future state.
Communication and adoption
Communication and supporting activities are used to keep stakeholders informed and help manage adoption. It is important to establish a project meeting cadence to support steering committee meetings, project status meetings, etc. Conducting these meetings are key to ensuring transparency, risks are managed and mitigated, issues are addressed, the program timeline and budget are maintained, and next steps are clearly defined. Be thoughtful about how the meetings are structured and who needs to attend on a regular basis. Limit the number of meetings as much as possible so individuals are not overwhelmed, and conversations are productive and meaningful.
Conduct a communication needs assessment to identify the most effective vehicles for delivering communications to the organization, and external stakeholders. Develop key messages and a communication plan that builds the foundation for effective communication but ensure the communication is timed and builds on the previous communication. Use plain language with minimal jargon to support quick, transparent, and clear updates. Keeping stakeholders informed throughout the project enables the team to be more proactive and less reactive. Be clear about what you expect from your stakeholders and ensure you have the mechanisms in place to follow up.
Reward your stakeholders
Rewarding and acknowledging stakeholders’ engagement and contributions can build support. Recognition shouldn’t be limited to a celebration at the end of the program but can be used to acknowledge milestones and accomplishments throughout the project. There are a variety of techniques such as timely feedback or formal acknowledgment of contributions and rewards, that help maintain continued support of the program.
Improving Stakeholder Engagement in Your Program
Including stakeholders in the decision-making process is key to navigating issues that will arise during the program. Deciding where to begin can be challenging; however, with experience managing programs/projects across the life sciences, consumer products, and retail industries, Clarkston’s program management team has the expertise to help throughout any phase. Reach out to see how our experts can assist in ensuring success.
