Who are your stakeholders and what are their roles?

The most common types of stakeholders include your project sponsor, the one who identified the need and assigned you the project; your manager, the one who can provide approvals and signoffs, yet also remove roadblocks; your project team, those who carry out particular functions and tasks; and the customer, the person or organization who buys the good or service and is thereby the recipient. As with any job, you are given a responsibility and to fulfill a requirement, there are checks and balances that need to take place. Your stakeholders are there to provide guidance, give input and make decisions in the best interest of the project. Many of them are involved throughout the duration of the project; others come in specifically at a certain phase or milestone.

Stakeholders play a key role in influencing the project’s direction. While most projects include the stakeholders mentioned above, there are stakeholder who might not be as obvious. Thus, it’s to your benefit to do your research, identify them and consider them for your projects. Some of these stakeholders may include the following:

Peers: Your peers or colleagues may not be part of your immediate project team. They may not have a vested interest in your initiative nor would they be directly impacted by the outcome. However, chances are that some of the projects you take on are not the first of its kind in your organization. It’s good to have friends in different parts of the organization to ask questions and learn from them — especially if you are new to the company or if it’s your first time taking on this type of project. Chances are you’ll pick up a tip or make a new friend.

Internal Business Partners: Often times, when you’re asked to initiate a project or solve a problem, it’s helpful to consult with counterparts across lines of businesses. Sometimes the project you initiate can spark new ideas and be leveraged in a different part of the organization. Usually, it’s a matter of conducting a lunch and learn or having a brown bag lunch session or even a departmental meeting to share projects and pass on knowledge. When you exchange ideas, you’re likely to collaborate with those internal business partners, distribute the workload and create a synergy that may even prevent one team from trying to reinvent the wheel.

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs): Not far from your project team are SMEs, a person or group of people who have in-depth information and are considered the authority in a particular area or topic. An SME might include a product manager, IT specialist, legal counsel, account manager or business analyst and others who specialize in a particular field. SMEs demonstrate superior expertise combining knowledge, experience, education and best practices that set them apart from others within the field.

Industry Specialists and Associations: Partnering with leaders and organizations representing a specialized interest group goes a long way in helping you stay up to date with news and current events, marketplace trends, and shifts in consumption behaviors and patterns. It provides access to a group of like-minded individuals and a unique perspective that can serve as valuable input to your project. Don’t leave industry specialists off of your stakeholder list.

The role of stakeholder is varied across organizations and it’s in the best interest of the project to identify your stakeholders and define their roles and responsibilities at the start. Usually this is captured in a requirements brief and expectations are set in a project kickoff. However over the course of a project, you may experience shifts or variances and learn about new developments that can alter your original goal and even change your stakeholder list. Listen to your project team, and keep an open mind to those who may not be on your project list. Your stakeholders are your eyes and ears and guard rails for moving your project to a successful state of completion.