What is a Stakeholder Map?

Over time when we talk about the person or an organization who takes a keen interest and shows concerns about an organization’s ongoing and past projects, we are simply talking about the stakeholder. So, now we can easily get that their interest, either good or bad, dramatically affects the organization, and so the organization’s actions also affect the stakeholders.

We can easily understand how important it is to track the company’s stakeholders, understand their concerns, manage them, and communicate them for the projects. This is a big and headache task for a stakeholder manager. From here, Stakeholder Mapping holds its part.

Stakeholder mapping is simply a process in which the company’s stakeholder is tracked, identified, their outcomes from a project are calculated, and all this information is derived during this crucial process—the person who is managing the project maps and categorizes them.

The four-part table or simply four quadrants are used to categorizes them, which fall into two categories one category is the stakeholder’s interest, and the second one is the stakeholder’s influence in the project. As for influences, it means what influence or type of influence the stakeholder does have in a particular project and how is that person can change the way of the project.

The other side of the equation is the interest in the project, which means he has no influence, but he wants to get the outcomes from the project. The stakeholder map simply makes his relationship to the project visible, which simply guides stakeholder management. In essence, the stakeholder mapping the visual practice. The above figure shows the example of stakeholder mapping.

This useful drill came from the researchers at the Tavistock Institute in London in the late 1960s and early 70s. But with time, this concept has become advance and is continuously changing.

Without stakeholder mapping, a project will never gain success, and the success of the project defines the company's success, so it’s important to practice this matrix before any project kicks off.

Penning down the influence and interests of the stakeholder before the actual beginning of the project gives the project manager a good understanding of how to communicate with the stakeholders, how to satisfy their concerns, understanding their expectations, and confronting them without any confusion and tussle and cherry on the top keeping them happy during the whole project.

The stakeholder mapping is like targeting the two good points with one arrow. Knowing your stakeholders in-depth gives the project manager a good scenery of how he will make the project work by knowing what the stakeholder desires from the project and confronting all the risks that will create the painful hurdle and experience for the project manager and the stakeholders of an organization.

Plus, continuously making a project's ongoing actions makes the stakeholders satisfy and this will only happen when the practice of stakeholder mapping practices at the beginning of all the projects by communicating the organization's people of interest. And without good communication, this matric can never be filled, and stakeholders' expectations can never be met.

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The advantages of stakeholder mapping are defined below.

The stakeholder mapping provides a better vision for every stakeholder. The relationship with every stakeholder is made concrete because of this matric because in the whole process, you are so transparent, and the opposite side believes in you because of this transparency.

The organization gets to know the interests and influence of every stakeholder working with the project and this makes decision making and future planning company easy, the organization get to know the background of the stakeholder and his priorities and that helps the organization to know who are the real heroes for the better of the organization.

With stakeholder mapping, we get to know the risks associated with each stakeholder and the ways are derives from the matric to confront and mitigate those risks. And this again helps in defining the good policies and strategies of an organization to play in the market. And the crux of the biscuit, when all the stakeholders are on one platform, all parties easily accept the strategies associated with the particular project.

The stakeholder mapping should be done continuously before the starting of every project because there is a major risk that a stakeholder may change his plans and actions so, putting everyone in the same queue is a time taking work so a good amount of time should be allocated for the stakeholder mapping.

The organization must try the position of this will help in devising the plan from which the company will perform towards its stakeholders.

It is nearly impossible to satisfy every of your stakeholder so, if the problem starts create a balance factor by putting the points in mind that the main player from a group of stakeholders should be prioritized, his needs should be given carefully and satisfy the leftovers stakeholder till the point of possibility and this main player stakeholder could be the owners, stakeholders or even managers.

The other point that should be kept in mind while making a balance factor that tries to satisfy them or balance according to their part, influence, and supremacy. Plus, profitable coopetition with stakeholders is missing quite often.

Step 01: Understand your projects thoroughly

To make a stakeholder map you must at first focus on the goals, outcomes, and scope of your project.

Step 02: Identify your stakeholders

Take a pen and pencil, and list down all the stakeholders that have a relationship with this project.

Step 03: Prioritize your stakeholder

Prioritize, weigh and assess them this will help you in decision making and finding who’s the godfather. Their influence and interests should also be defined.

Step 04: Mapping the stakeholders

After the above work now map them into the diagram, from the y-axis tracking the level of influence from low to high. With the x-axis, you map the level of interest, low to high. Now, plot your stakeholders according to your investigations.

Step 05: Know the relationship between the stakeholders

Investigate how your stakeholders communicate what is the level of love, care, friendship, money exchange between them, Use the arrows to show the connection, and obviously for two ways exchange connection you need two arrows.

After all, analyze the outcome and make decisions according to it.

Read more about practical tips when making stakeholder maps.

Career Stakeholder Analysis

This is the visual representation of stakeholder mapping or analysis, on which mapping is done for a company-based project. As can be seen, the C-level entities are put on a high level and their needs will be met, VP sales are the key players. See the IT support they are least important from the stakeholders and consideration will be shown to the sales group from the stakeholders.

More Stakeholder Map Examples

Stakeholder Map Template

Stakeholder Onion Diagram Template

Individual Employee Stakeholder Analysis Template

Stakeholder Map Mind Map Template

So, in essence, the stakeholders are the entities who take interest in the projects of an organization and their expectations should be meet correctly, this can only be done by stakeholder mapping. You can get many tools for mapping your stakeholders but see the EdrawMax. This tool will help you in stakeholder mapping efficiently and it is the best stakeholder mapping tool.