Major transformation programmes typically span multiple years, geographies and business functions, so they must work effectively within the organisational confines and political structures of a business. Diverse stakeholders may have different motivations and desire different outcomes from a transformation initiative, making implementation complexity a function of the political landscape.
Successful programmes maintain a firm grip on their stakeholder environment, valuing and embracing stakeholder contributions whilst exercising strong leadership to prevent unhelpful behaviours and driving decisions based on a broad consensus. However, many transformation programmes hit major stakeholder roadblocks, leading to frustration, delays and political fall-out, placing the benefits of the transformation at significant risk. Poor stakeholder management is at the very top of most lists of common inhibitors to successful business transformation.
Positive and negative stakeholders
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” (Sun-Tzu – Chinese General & Military Strategist). Part of managing stakeholders is recognising that ‘friends’ and ‘enemies’ createtwo types of stakeholders:
A positive stakeholderis one who benefits if the transformation programme succeeds but also may have something to lose if it fails. As such, they are likely to be committed to helping the transformation flourish.
A negative stakeholderbelieves they will win if the programme fails. Perhaps their team is at risk, their expertise will be challenged, they dislike the sponsor personally, or their political vision of self will be compromised. Someone who is fearful of the transformation programme’s existence and what it will mean for them.
Understanding and responding to your stakeholders’ motivations and behaviours is crucial. A key role of the transformation leadership team is to embrace stakeholders maintain support for the direction of travel, requiring both positive and negative stakeholders to be given clear accountabilities, responsibilities and for them to be consulted and informed on a regular basis. This blog discusses some of the techniques we can use to keep your key stakeholders on side.
Make sure there are clear, agreed expectations of stakeholders:
For transformations to run smoothly, key stakeholders and the transformation team need to share the same expectations about the dynamics of the programme and their participation in it. Both positive and negative stakeholders are unavoidably in the mix, so it is important that they agree expectations up-front via effective, frequent, 2-way exchanges of information.
Listening to stakeholders is hugely important if you are to understand their motivations and interests. Creating a win-win relationship involves understanding the root cause of stakeholder motivations and behaviours so that you can clearly define what ‘success’ means for each one. A comprehensive picture of the stakeholder landscape is best achieved by feeding in analysis from different people about how each stakeholder is best managed: the type of engagement they prefer, how much communication they are comfortable with, the likelihood of them going off-message, their level of positivity or negativity, and so on. Once you have the landscape mapped out, the first enabler of effective stakeholder management is to agree clear expectations by:
Clarifying and documenting the areas which each stakeholder is accountable and/or responsible for. Often, this is can be broad brush at a business function level but a rigorous programme manager will want to see ownership clearly articulated in sections of the programme and project plans to avoid ambiguity and generate buy-in (or at least acceptance) from each stakeholder
Sharing and communicating, so that each stakeholder understands their own, and each other’s accountabilities. It is important that all stakeholders are held to the same expectations as regards behaviours, deliverables and timescales. The moment you start to make exceptions for one stakeholder, the rest will expect the same to be done for them and that way disaster lies
Remembering that we are human, emotional beings. We do not always behave in a rational, reasonable, consistent or predictable way, so transformation programmes must manage stakeholders with an awareness of human feelings and the potential for personal agendas. By understanding the root cause of stakeholder behaviour, you can assess if there is a better way to work together to maintain a productive relationship. If a stakeholder is resistant to change, they may fear something, or simply believe you are doing the wrong thing. Understanding why someone might resist change will help you to formulate a strategy to convert sceptics into mere doubters and doubters into supporters
Starting again with relationships as stakeholders change. The motivation of someone new in post may be quite different from someone who has been doing the job for several years
It is not safe to assume that if a stakeholder signs off at the start, they will sign off at the end. Many programmes make the mistake of neglecting stakeholder contact only to find that someone’s position has changed over time, sometimes merely because you haven’t given them enough love and attention. Maintaining regular stakeholder contact, outside of formal meetings, is crucial to the strength of the programme’s relationships.
How to keep stakeholders on side
As well as ensuring that clear expectations are formed, maintaining the relationships you have built is crucial. Here are some ideas to help with that:
Invest time. Organisations and programmes vary in political complexity – the political ones are more common, the apolitical ones are more fun and are typically far easier to deliver. But they all have one thing in common – stakeholders are busy people with day jobs, so you must invest your time well to engage them and hold their attention
Build consensus amongst the stakeholder group by inviting them to events and specially convened sessions where they can shape and agree transformation goals expectations, solutions and approaches
Don’t rely upon one person to own all the stakeholder relationships. Some people simply do not get on, so pair people with stakeholders where there is a more positive relationship. A typical transformation programme will need several key roles at the top of its leadership team – use them optimally to share the stakeholder workload, and maintain harmonious relations
Create a ‘coalition of the willing’ so that responsibility is assigned to positive team members across the organisation who do have something to gain or are willing to help. This is especially effective in organisations where executive management time is severely limited, or you need to cut through silos or bureaucratic processes. Each member of the coalition is responsible for managing their functional stakeholders at all levels
Build a Stakeholder Management Plan (see Fig. 1 above) and make sure that your transformation leadership team actively reviews and updates it monthly to head off any issues
User ‘influencers’ - in the case of particularly difficult stakeholders, consider the use of peer pressure, lining up positive stakeholders to keep the negative ones in check. This should include bringing key negative stakeholders into the Executive Steering Committee in order that the programme’s leadership can give clear direction and therefore expect it to be followed
And finally, there is no substitute for strong leadership if consensus doesn’t work. Sometimes, your head needs to go above the political parapet to get something worthwhile done
Conclusion
Complex transformation programmes require the continual management of a matrix of stakeholders. It is important not to underestimate how much of the programme leadership’s time will be consumed just keeping people on board with the journey, let alone explaining and gaining support for changes and resolving challenges. Deploying effective stakeholder management techniques will help to minimise political interference, galvanise support for your transformation programme and enable the realisation of its strategic goals.
Contact Claverton
To talk to us about your transformation needs please visit our website (www.clavertonconsulting.co.uk) or contact us at info@clavertonconsulting.co.uk.
Comentarios