Managing Expectations from Three Stakeholder Types

Nelson Mandela said, “People respond in accordance to how you relate to them.” Increasing the extent stakeholders relate to you is essential to winning over and managing stakeholder expectations. An effective way to do this is to determine the type of stakeholder they are — process-oriented, tactical, or strategic — and work with them accordingly.

Let’s look at Process-oriented stakeholders first. These stakeholders are subject matter experts on the processes used to accomplish work. As a result, they are operationally focused and detailed. As a result, they’ll best respond to questions geared at a detailed level. Generally, they expect the project to bring them efficiencies in the short term. They look for improvements they can visualize and incorporate into processes they know and understand. Of particular importance is their knowledge about actual business practices and how they can vary from standard processes. These stakeholders typically find and understand shortcuts that aren’t documented. Querying this is important and can surface some of the most crucial information the project team will require to deliver value. One last note – working with these stakeholders works best when you have structured agendas, specific action items, and you produce clear documentation on meeting outcomes.

Tactical-minded stakeholders typically oversee processes that span multiple teams or departments. They look at efficiencies at a functional level. For example, they handle financial management, which includes accounts payable, receivables, forecasting, and profit and loss management. Discussing handoffs between departments with tactical stakeholders and focusing on organizational, rather than process-level, issues elicits the best responses. While they don’t typically create the organizational strategy, they are often responsible for implementing parts of it. Understanding and addressing obstacles to delivering strategic outcomes elicits enthusiastic responses. Working with these stakeholders works best when you arrange problem identification and solution meetings with clear outcomes and assignments.

Strategic stakeholders focus on longer-term thinking, growth, and efficiencies across the business. Their thinking typically encompasses a broad view of the marketplace, the workings of government policies and regulations, and how these will impact the organization. Cultural concerns and the need for organizational change management should be discussed with strategic stakeholders. They also look at risk holistically, addressing items involving long-term organizational impacts. Meetings with strategic stakeholders should explore future scenarios and opportunities, with follow-up discussions on how those opportunities will be impacted via project deliverables.

Taking the time to understand stakeholders and focusing discussions on the most significant topical areas of interest to them elicits the best responses. They will believe you understand their needs, which is a fantastic step in managing stakeholder expectations.