How do you segment key stakeholders in business relationships?

2 Why is stakeholder segmentation important?

Stakeholder segmentation is a valuable tool in understanding the different needs, expectations, and motivations of your key stakeholders. Segmenting your stakeholders allows you to focus on the most influential and interested stakeholders who can make or break your project, service, or product. Additionally, it helps you manage the expectations and risks of the powerful but less interested stakeholders who can impact your project, service, or product with minimal involvement. Furthermore, it facilitates informing and involving the interested but less powerful stakeholders who can support your project, service, or product with their feedback and advocacy. Finally, it enables you to monitor and communicate with the less interested and less powerful stakeholders who can affect your project, service, or product indirectly or marginally. Segmenting your stakeholders is essential for allocating time and resources more effectively and efficiently.

3 How do you segment your key stakeholders?

To segment your key stakeholders using the stakeholder matrix, you need to identify them first. Sources such as organizational charts, project documents, customer data, surveys, interviews, and brainstorming sessions can all help you with this. Then you should measure their power and interest levels using qualitative or quantitative methods. Consider factors like position, influence, authority, resources, knowledge, expertise, or relationships when doing this. After plotting your stakeholders on the grid based on their power and interest levels, you should review and refine your stakeholder matrix. Consult with stakeholders, peers, managers or experts to validate and update it. You may also need to revise your stakeholder matrix as your project progresses or changes.

4 How do you communicate and collaborate with different stakeholder groups?

Once you have segmented your key stakeholders, you need to develop and implement appropriate communication and collaboration strategies for each stakeholder group. When dealing with high power and high interest stakeholders, it's important to communicate and collaborate with them frequently and closely, keeping them fully informed and engaged. You should also build trust and rapport with them, and seek their input and feedback. Formal and informal channels can be used, such as meetings, reports, presentations, emails, phone calls, or chats. For high power and low interest stakeholders, communication should be occasional and brief, while managing their expectations and risks. Formal and concise channels such as newsletters, summaries, dashboards, or memos can be used. Low power and high interest stakeholders should be communicated with regularly and openly to acknowledge their support and participation. Informal and interactive channels such as workshops, surveys, forums, or social media are suitable for this type of stakeholder. Lastly, low power and low interest stakeholders should be communicated with infrequently but briefly to keep them updated and aware. Informal channels such as newsletters, flyers, posters, or emails can be used here.