PgMP Office Read 5 - Program Stakeholder Engagement

Office Read 5 – Program Stakeholder Engagement

Disclaimer – This artifact is a short summary of respective content that will be covered in class. The summary is a great tool to review content however by no means replaces the SPM V4. Standard for Program Management remains the authoritative source of preparation for the PMP Exam

Goal of this domain: IMP - Program Stakeholder Engagement is the performance domain that identifies and analyzes stakeholder needs and manages expectations and communications to foster stakeholder support.

Weightage on the PgMP Exam: 16% (27 Questions)

Disclaimer – This artifact is a short summary of respective content that will be covered in class. The summary is a great tool to review content however by no means replaces the SPM V4. Standard for Program Management remains the authoritative source of preparation for the PMP Exam

4.0 PROGRAM Stakeholder Engagement (Overview of the performance domain)

5.1  Program Stakeholder Identification

5.2  Program Stakeholder Analysis

5.3  Program Stakeholder Engagement Planning

5.4  Program Stakeholder Engagement

5.5  Program Stakeholder Communications

This performance domain has been formed on the PMBOK Guide Stakeholder Knowledge Area. You will find identical concepts except addition of a new process (5.5), Program Sakeholder Communication. On the PgMP Exam also, there is high level of rigor associated with Stakeholder and Communication.

Important Exam Concept: Communication and Stakeholders go hand in hand.

Who is a stakeholder: A stakeholder is an individual, group, or organization that may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project, program, or portfolio.

Stakeholders may be internal or external to the program and may have a positive or negative impact on the outcome of the program.

Identification of Stakeholder -> Categorization of Stakeholders -> Analysis of Stakeholder -> Monitoring of Stakeholder

Important Concept: Program management literature focuses on the notion of stakeholder engagement rather than stakeholder management.

Program communication should be based on two-way communication which enables the program manager to deliver the benefits for the organization in accordance with the program charter.

Program Manager must act as Champion of Change to better manage stakeholders.

The program manager needs to bridge the gap between the current state of the organization and the desired future state. To do so, the program manager should understand the current state and how the program and its benefits will move the organization to the future state. Therefore, the program manager should be familiar with organizational change management.

Question: How do Program Managers set clear stakeholder engagement goals to address the change the program will bring.

Answer: Leadership skills

5.1 PROGRAM STAKEHOLDER IDENTIFICATION

1.     Program stakeholder identification aims to systematically identify all key stakeholders (or stakeholder groups) in the stakeholder register.

2.       This register lists the stakeholders and categorizes their relationship to the program, their ability to influence the program outcome, their degree of support for the program.

Question: What is it that the members of the program team can reference easily for use in reporting, distributing program deliverables, and providing formal and informal communications.

Answer: The stakeholder Register

Question: Why should the stakeholder register may have restriction on the content?

Answer: The stakeholder register may contain politically and legally sensitive information, and may have access and review restrictions placed on it by the program manager. As a result, it may be appropriate to ensure that the stakeholder register is appropriately secured.

Important Concept: The program manager should comply with data privacy regulations in countries where the program operates.

Stakeholder Register should be updated anytime a new stakeholder gets added to the program during the lifecycle of the program.

It is very important from exam perspective to clearly understand the various roles of in a program. You will be tested on these concepts.

The various Examples of key program stakeholders include but are not limited to:

Program sponsor: An individual or a group that provides resources and support for the program and is accountable for enabling success. The program sponsor is often the champion of the program.

Program steering committee: A group of participants representing various program-related interests with the purpose of supporting the program under its authority by providing guidance, endorsements, and approvals through the governance practices. This committee may be referred to as the program governance board.

Portfolio manager: The person or group assigned by the performing organization to establish, balance, monitor, and control portfolio components in order to achieve strategic business objectives.

Program manager: The individual authorized by the performing organization to lead the team or teams responsible for achieving program objectives.

Project manager: The person assigned by the performing organization to lead the team that is responsible for achieving project objectives.

Program team members: The individuals performing program activities.

Project team members: The individuals performing constituent project activities.

Funding organization. The part of the organization or the external organization providing funding for the program.

Performing organization: The organization whose personnel are the most directly involved in doing the work of the project or program.

Program management office: A management structure that standardizes the program-related governance processes and facilitates the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools, and techniques.

Customers: The individual or organization that will use the new capabilities delivered by the program and derive the anticipated benefits. The customer is a major stakeholder in the program’s final result and will influence whether the program is judged to be successful or not.

Potential customers: The past and future customers who will be watching intently to see how well the program delivers the stated benefits.

Suppliers” Product and service providers who are often affected by changing policies and procedures.

Regulatory agencies: A public authority or government agency responsible for setting and managing the regulatory and legal boundaries of their local and national sovereign governments. Typically, these organizations will set mandatory standards or requirements.

Affected individuals or organizations: Those who perceive that they will either benefit from or be disadvantaged by the program’s activities.

Other groups: Groups representing consumer, environmental, or other interests (including political interests). Organizational support functions such as human resources, legal, administration, and infrastructure are also considered key stakeholders.

The identification of stakeholders using the brainstorming technique aims to name stakeholders across the entire program life cycle. The resulting stakeholder register is an essential tool leading to effective engagement.

5.2 PROGRAM STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

1.     Once all major stakeholders are listed in the stakeholder register,

2.     The program manager will categorize them in order to start analyzing them.

3.     The categorization will highlight differences in their needs, expectations, or influence.

Question: How do Program team members obtain Key information from stakeholders in order to better understand the organizational culture, politics, and concerns related to the program, as well as the overall impact of the program.?

Answer: This information may be obtained through historical information, individual interviews, focus groups, or questionnaires and surveys. Questionnaires and surveys allow the program team to solicit feedback from a greater number of stakeholders than is possible with interviews or focus groups.

Question: Regardless of the technique used, key information should be gathered using what kind of questions?

Answer: Through open-ended questions to elicit stakeholder feedback.

After identification of stakeholders, a prioritized list of stakeholders should be developed to help focus the engagement effort on the people and organizations who have the most influence (positive or negative) on the program.

Question: What tool can program managers use for complex programs, to visually represent the interaction of all stakeholders’ current and desired support and influence.

Answer: Stakeholder map. The map serves as a tool to assess the impact of a change on the program community. It allows the program team to make informed decisions about how and when to engage stakeholders, taking into account their interest, influence, involvement, interdependencies and support levels. An alternative classification model used for stakeholder analysis is the power/interest grid. It groups stakeholders based on their level of authority (“power”) and their level of concern (“interest”) regarding the project outcomes. Figure 5-2 presents an example of the power/ interest grid with A-H representing the placement of generic stakeholders.

5.3 PROGRAM STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLANNING

The stakeholder engagement planning activity outlines how all program stakeholders will be engaged throughout the duration of the program.

Stakeholder Engagement Plan is developed at this stage.

Stakeholder Engagement Plan contains the following:

·         A detailed strategy for effective stakeholder engagement, based on current situation.

·         The plan includes stakeholder engagement guidelines and provides insight on how the stakeholders are engaged in various components of the program.

·         The plan defines the metrics used to measure the performance of stakeholder engagement activities such as measures of participation in meetings and other communication channels, and the degree of active or passive support or resistance, and can also strive to measure the effectiveness of the engagement in meeting its intended goal.

As part of the stakeholder analysis and engagement planning, the following aspects for each stakeholder are taken into consideration:

·         Organizational culture and acceptance of change,

·         Attitudes about the program and its sponsors,

·         Relevant phase(s) applicable to stakeholders specific engagement,

·         Expectation of program benefits delivery,

·         Degree of support or opposition to the program benefits, and Ability to influence the outcome of the program.

5.4 PROGRAM STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Stakeholder engagement is a continuous program activity.Interacting and engaging with stakeholders allows the program team to communicate program benefits and their relevance to the organization’s strategic objectives.

When necessary, the program manager may utilize strong communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills to help defuse stakeholder opposition to the program and its stated benefits.

Questions: What skill is required on large programs with diverse stakeholders stakeholder groups when their expectations conflict?

Answer: Negotiated Sessions

Question: What do Program Managers present to the stakeholders to help stakeholders establish common high-level expectations for the delivery of the program’s benefits?

Answer: The program manager provides stakeholders with appropriate information contained in the program charter and program business case, which can include an accompanying executive brief to summarize the details of the risks, dependencies, and benefits.

The program manager strives to ensure all interactions with the stakeholders are adequately logged, including meeting invitations, attendance, meeting minutes, and action items.

Very Important Concept (2-3 Questions from Exam standpoint from the below content)

Program managers review stakeholder metrics regularly to identify potential risks caused by lack of participation from stakeholders. Participation trends are analyzed and root-cause analysis is performed to identify and address the causes of nonparticipation.

The history of stakeholder participation provides important background information that could influence stakeholder perceptions and expectations.

 Thorough analysis avoids incorrect assumptions about stakeholder behavior that could lead to unanticipated issues or poor program management decisions.

Exam Question on the concept: Use of an issue log to document, prioritize, and track issues helps the entire program team understand the feedback received from the stakeholders.

When the list of stakeholders is small, a simple spreadsheet may be an adequate tracking tool. For programs with complex risks and issues affecting large numbers of stakeholders, a more sophisticated tracking and prioritization mechanism may be required.

Impact analysis could be used to understand the urgency and probability of stakeholder issues and determine which issues could turn into program risks.

5.5 PROGRAM STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS

Communication is at the heart of program stakeholder engagement. It is key to executing program endeavors and, ultimately, delivering benefits to the organization.

A strategy can be crafted for each stakeholder as identified in the stakeholder register. This accounts for communication requirements such as what information should be communicated, including language, format, content, and level of detail.

It can also address a feedback loop to discuss program changes and an escalation process. The resulting communication approach targets stakeholders’ support for the program strategy and delivery of the program benefits.

Exam Question on the concept: Some stakeholders are naturally curious about the program and often raise questions. These questions and their answers should be captured and published in a way that allows multiple stakeholders to benefit from the exchange.