What are the best methods and tools for conducting stakeholder interviews and focus groups?

??Stakeholder interviews and focus groups are not a replacement for having subject matter experts on your project team. Interviews and focus groups are complimentary and additive to having the right balance of diversity and expertise on your team. If you want to understand how a process works, the BEST place to start is observe the process in real time with a subject matter expert (SME) who currently works on that process. If possible, avoid solely leveraging someone in management who used to do the process. While they may say the process has not changed, it likely has and the SME doing the process now is ultimately the best resource. Matt Rebeiro - Challenge the Status Quo #bpi #bpm #SME #Stakeholder #FocusGroup

If you are looking to make improvements for a particular population, client, user type, etc., it is imperative that you get diverse participation from that group. Having a hypothesis is important, but you must meet people where they are at and engage those actually impacted to improve their experiences. Ideally, that same group should remain engaged in project processes as they move through project stages of ideation to evaluation to ensure the appropriate voices are heard and reflected in a continuous feedback loop.

To conduct effective stakeholder interviews and focus groups, start by defining your objectives and scope. Clearly outline what you want to learn and which aspects of the process or project you're focusing on. This helps ensure that your questions are relevant and that you gather useful, targeted information. In a past project, we wanted to improve our internal communication. We defined our objectives as understanding communication gaps and gathering suggestions for improvement. This focused approach allowed us to ask the right questions and get actionable feedback, making the interviews and focus groups more effective and insightful.

There are various ways to find participants for focus groups, including using recruitment agencies, social media platforms, online communities, personal networks, flyers or posters, and local advertisements. It's important to make sure that the participants fit your target audience and have the relevant experience or knowledge for your study.

I came to learn that tools like Miro, Mural and Microsoft Whiteboard or Apple FreeForm completely enhanced the experience of gathering participatory input from stakeholders. Use the embedded timing tools and infinite canvas to have expansive conversations that allow you to enhance your listening while people capture in their own word and images, their perspective and sentiment. I like to use an exercise called, “I Want… I Wish… I Wonder…” This allows stakeholders to frame the from to in a generous and inclusive manner. It’s often the Wonder statements that are far more revealing in how people want to engage in change. Happy to share more insights and successes. Thanks for letting me share.

People have different levels of comfort in engagement. Some may prefer to share their opinions quietly, while others want to be sure they are heard. Allow opportunity for people to provide feedback in a way that is comfortable and authentic to them. Facilitate with flexibility and keep certain components in mind: Accessibility (in-person discussion) - is it accessible for those with limited mobility? Accessible via public transportation? Accessibility (virtual discussion) - are there closed captions on virtual meetings? Diversity - are you engaging people in their native language/dialect? Are you engaging people from various neighborhood experiences?