How do you match consulting recommendations to stakeholder needs?

1 Identify the stakeholders

The first step is to identify who are the relevant stakeholders for your project. Stakeholders are any individuals or groups who have an interest, influence, or impact on the outcome of your project. They can be internal or external to your client's organization, such as employees, managers, customers, suppliers, regulators, competitors, or partners. You can use various tools and methods to identify your stakeholders, such as interviews, surveys, brainstorming, stakeholder mapping, or power-interest grids.

2 Assess their needs and expectations

The second step is to assess what each stakeholder needs and expects from your project. This involves understanding their goals, motivations, preferences, concerns, pain points, and constraints. You can use various tools and methods to assess your stakeholders' needs and expectations, such as interviews, surveys, focus groups, observation, or empathy maps. You should also consider the cultural, social, and political factors that may affect their needs and expectations.

3 Evaluate their influence and interest

The third step is to evaluate how much influence and interest each stakeholder has on your project. Influence refers to the degree of power or authority that a stakeholder has over the project's decisions, resources, or outcomes. Interest refers to the degree of involvement or attention that a stakeholder has in the project's activities, processes, or results. You can use various tools and methods to evaluate your stakeholders' influence and interest, such as stakeholder mapping, power-interest grids, or influence-interest matrices.

4 Prioritize and segment the stakeholders

The fourth step is to prioritize and segment your stakeholders based on their influence and interest. This helps you to determine how much attention and communication you should allocate to each stakeholder group. You can use various tools and methods to prioritize and segment your stakeholders, such as stakeholder mapping, power-interest grids, or RACI matrices. You should also consider the potential risks and opportunities that each stakeholder group poses to your project.

5 Communicate and engage with the stakeholders

The fifth step is to communicate and engage with your stakeholders throughout the project. This involves sharing relevant information, soliciting feedback, building trust and rapport, managing expectations, resolving conflicts, and fostering collaboration. You can use various tools and methods to communicate and engage with your stakeholders, such as stakeholder analysis reports, newsletters, presentations, workshops, or meetings. You should also tailor your communication style and content to suit the needs and expectations of each stakeholder group.

6 Align your recommendations with the stakeholder needs

The sixth and final step is to align your recommendations with the stakeholder needs. This involves ensuring that your recommendations address the problems, goals, and priorities of each stakeholder group, as well as the benefits, costs, and risks associated with them. You can use various tools and methods to align your recommendations with the stakeholder needs, such as SWOT analysis, cost-benefit analysis, or decision matrices. You should also present your recommendations in a clear, concise, and compelling way that appeals to the logic and emotions of each stakeholder group.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?