Originally published 20 December 2005. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
There are few techniques of greater value to consultation professionals than stakeholder mapping.
This can be done in a variety of ways, and to a greater or lesser sophistication. Whilst a simple back-of-an-envelope guess as to where stakeholders map onto an interest/influence matrix is better than nothing, a more formalised process has many advantages.
High on this list is the therapeutic benefit of forcing yourself to answer precise questions about a stakeholder's true interest in the consultation subject or the extent of its practical influence. We often don't know: but the process of finding out is a valuable exercise leading to consultors with a better 'fee' for those they consult - surely a good thing! The more people involved in stakeholder mapping, the greater the therapy. The more senior staff are involved, the more stakeholder-minded you make your organisation.
In terms of consultation, the prime role of stakeholder mapping is to help organisations design better ways to engage with their target audience. Mapping 20 or 30 key stakeholders helps to identify the top priorities; it helps to pinpoint those with particular influence. Most crucially it can show you whose voices need to be heard, but who may need help in articulating their case.
Capacity-building is an important issue as conscientious public bodies struggle to engage the hard-to-reach and widen the debate beyond the "usual suspects". Stakeholder mapping can help decide where limited resources are most needed, and how to make an investment that is sustainable for the longer term.
For most of 2004, feedback forms from over 200 participants at Consultation Institute training courses pointed to stakeholder mapping as the most useful technique they had learnt by attending. It's time to turn the theory into practice.
Trigger points
- Learn more about Stakeholder Mapping, either through Institute courses or an in-house workshop.
- Check out Policy Alignment Mapping - a special variant for Change Management scenarios.
- Experiment - and tell the Institute what's worked!
This is the 28th Tuesday Topic; a full list of subjects covered is available for Institute members and is a valuable resource covering so many aspects of consultation and engagement