What Is a Stakeholder Plan?

Stakeholders possess a vested interest in whether a business succeeds or isn't able. They stand to gain or lose financially based about the outcome of the business. Sometimes stakeholders find themselves at odds with one another because they have different ideas of how best to create a business successful. Stakeholder plans can be useful devices to create stakeholders together by outlining a common way to make the company profitable through a specific project. A good stakeholder strategy identifies the stakeholders, discusses goals, determines methods and identifies the risks active in the project.

1. Identify
Identifying the stakeholders in a business is the most crucial part of a stakeholder plan. Stakeholders can include anyone who's affected, has influence over or who has a valid stake within the company. These individuals are financially affected by the economic status from the company. Once they are identified, their needs should be outlined within the plan. Different stakeholders will have different needs and sometimes these needs is going to be in conflict. One stakeholder may need cash right away and an additional stakeholder may need his money to continue vesting over some time. By outlining these needs in a plan, a strategy can be developed to account for all your needs of all stakeholders.

2. Goals
Even though the requirements of stakeholders may differ, their ultimate goals should be the same and that's for the project to be successful and profitable. To ensure the stakeholders have the same goals, interviews can be conducted to go over these issues. These interviews and comments should be recorded and incorporated to the stakeholder plan. Goals need to be clear and concise so the plan can be organized to meet the desired finish.

3. Methods
To achieve the goals established, the stakeholder plan must outline the methods that'll be used in the project. For a project, this includes its cost and deadline. It can also list the individuals who will focus on the project and any supplies they need. The methods will include the location of the project and whether any testing should be completed. An alternate method should also be included just in case the first method cannot work.

4. Risks
Listing the risks involved is definitely an important part of a stakeholder plan. This helps in attempting to prevent these things from happening during the project. Potential risks include spending money or going over a specific time allotted for the actual project. Communication can also be a risk if stakeholders aren't continuously informed of any problems or delays with the actual project. Once these risks are identified, solutions should be determined and everything ought to be written down in a log. This log should continuously be updated throughout the project.