Programme overview
Introduction:
Project stakeholder management often fails quietly: a sponsor stops attending reviews, a user department learns of a change at go-live, and a steering committee receives reports that hide the decisions it needs to take. Expectations drift, resistance hardens and delivery slows. This Core Concept course gives project managers a repeatable method to identify and analyse project stakeholders, plan engagement and communications across the project lifecycle, and report and escalate through sponsors and steering committees. Working on a multi-sector case project, participants produce a Project Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Plan with a sponsor and steering committee reporting pack.
Course Objectives:
- Identify and analyse project stakeholders using a stakeholder register, power/interest grid and salience model
- Assess current and desired engagement levels with a stakeholder engagement assessment matrix and set engagement actions for each gap
- Build a project communications plan that defines audiences, messages, channels, frequency and owners for each project phase
- Structure sponsor and steering committee governance, including decision requests, reporting packs and escalation routes
- Diagnose resistance and conflicting expectations on a project and select targeted engagement responses
- Measure stakeholder engagement over time with indicators, pulse surveys and plan updates
Target Audience:
- Managers who lead projects with many internal departments, suppliers, users and external parties
- Project leads responsible for securing sponsor support and steering committee decisions
- PMO staff who set stakeholder and communications standards and templates for project teams
- Workstream and change leads who prepare users and business units for project deliverables
- Business owners who represent the receiving organisation on a project board
Course Outline:
Day 1: Project Stakeholders in Context and Current-State Review
- PMBOK Guide Stakeholders Performance Domain: Outcomes and Indicators
- Project Stakeholder Categories: Sponsor, Users, Suppliers, Regulators and Affected Groups
- Project Charter Review for Stakeholder and Governance Clues
- Stakeholder Identification Workshop Using Brainstorming and Organisation Charts
- Stakeholder Health Check Scorecard for a Current Project
Day 2: Stakeholder Analysis and Engagement Planning Models
- Stakeholder Register Structure: Role, Interest, Influence and Expectations
- Power/Interest Grid Mapping and Management Strategies
- Salience Model Classification for Project Stakeholders
- Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix: Unaware, Resistant, Neutral, Supportive and Leading
- Stakeholder Engagement Plan Template: Gaps, Actions, Owners and Timing
Day 3: Project Communications Planning and Sponsor Governance
- Communications Management Plan: Audience, Message, Channel, Frequency and Owner Matrix
- Communication Requirements Analysis and Channel Selection by Project Phase
- Sponsor Role Agreement and Sponsor Briefing Routine
- Steering Committee Terms of Reference, Agenda and Decision Log
- Stakeholder Status Report and Dashboard Design with RAG Criteria
Day 4: Resistance, Conflicting Expectations and Escalation
- Resistance Diagnosis Grid: Causes, Signals and Engagement Responses
- Expectation Alignment Using a Requirements and Benefits Trade-Off Table
- Escalation Route Design: Thresholds, Levels and Response Times
- Stakeholder Issue Log and Project Change Communication Protocol
- Engagement Measurement: Pulse Surveys, Attendance and Sentiment Indicators
Day 5: Case Work: Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Plan
- Infrastructure and Technology Case Projects: Stakeholder Baseline Build
- Case Engagement Assessment Matrix and Engagement Action Plan Drafting
- Case Communications Plan and Calendar for Three Project Phases
- Mock Steering Committee Pack Preparation and Decision Request Review
- Plan Presentation and Peer Challenge on Engagement Measures
Skills You Will Gain:
- Stakeholder Identification
- Stakeholder Mapping and Prioritisation
- Engagement Gap Analysis
- Communications Planning
- Sponsor Relationship Management
- Steering Committee Reporting
- Resistance Diagnosis
- Engagement Performance Tracking
Why Attend This Course:
- Return with a Project Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Plan and a steering committee reporting pack built on a realistic case project
- Know which stakeholders to brief, consult or involve at each phase instead of informing everyone the same way
- Bring clearer decision requests to sponsors and steering committees and escalate issues before they stall delivery
- Compare stakeholder practice with peers running construction, technology, public service and industrial projects
Conclusion:
Projects keep their support when the right stakeholders are identified early, engaged at the level the project needs and informed through a planned rhythm of communication and governance. This course moves from stakeholder context and current-state review, through analysis models and the engagement assessment matrix, to communications planning, sponsor and steering committee routines, and then to resistance, conflicting expectations, escalation and engagement measurement. The final day applies these methods to a case project, producing a stakeholder engagement and communications plan ready for use on a live project.