Senior stakeholders are crucial to your project's success. How can you ensure they stay engaged and informed?

First step is understanding the stakeholders relevant to the project. - Perform stakeholder mapping to categorize them with Impact and influence, this will provide clarity on the critical & important stakeholders. - Focus on influential stakeholders as this can impact the outcome of the project. - Keep this group well informed, provide periodic insights, updates & seek necessary support. - This will make them feel valued and that will help you in seeking guidance & support.

Aligning the outcomes and project milestones with senior stakeholders sets a sense of expectation and relevance. It’s imperative that the communication is consistent, with linkages that allow stakeholders to come in and grasp the whole picture without hour-long meetings or cadences.

One time while leading a multi-stakeholder working group, I learnt the importance of showing senior stakeholders that I understood what 'value' meant to them and constantly demonstrated how I would deliver it within time and resources. Key to this was by providing consistent information and feedback, including probabilities of unexpected changes ahead of time and seeking their input in the measures taken. For multiple stakeholders, it is also important to find the 'sweet spot' where their interests align (shared value) as this will keep everyone focused on the common goal without feeling like they are not receiving value.

Start by knowing them well—understand their priorities, concerns, and preferred communication style. Regular updates are essential, but quality over quantity—ensure the information is relevant and concise. Clear communication goes beyond just data; it involves presenting insights that align with their strategic goals. Actively involve them by seeking input on key decisions to foster a sense of ownership. Make it a point to address concerns early to build trust and demonstrate you are aligned with their vision. Finally, empower champions within the project team to act as conduits between you and senior stakeholders, ensuring they feel consistently connected and valued throughout the project's lifecycle.

To truly engage senior stakeholders, it's not just about knowing their interests but also understanding their influence. According to ITIL (Specialist Drive Stakeholders Value—I'm certified 🤓), stakeholders can be categorized by their power and interest. High-power, high-interest stakeholders are key influencers and should be closely managed, while those with lower power but high interest should be kept well-informed. Tailoring your strategy to these types ensures alignment with their objectives, keeping them actively involved and supportive.

Following a constructive stakeholder engagement process the objective is to enable an Action Plan addressing the most material issues, i.e. an "Environmental and Social Action Plan" is not only to inform stakeholders timely, regularly and on material for them issues, but also to take into consideration actions needed by all stakeholders. Addressing the material topics is about taking action and this is the ground that stakeholders need to get as mature in action as business. The role of business is to share know how and other material resources, financial and human to implement the ESAP.

When starting out, establish a regular update schedule for stakeholders. Choose intervals that suit the project's needs, such as bi-weekly or monthly updates, and ensure they are clear and focused on the most relevant information. From my perspective, adopting a structured template for these updates can be very helpful. This template should highlight progress, address any issues, and outline next steps, making it easy for stakeholders to follow along. One strategy that has worked well for me is incorporating a mix of visual aids and concise summaries. This approach helps to communicate complex data effectively and keeps stakeholders engaged with the project's progress.

To keep stakeholders engaged, establish a regular update schedule that is concise, relevant, and timely. Whether through formal reports, briefings, or informal catch-ups, consistency is key. Ensure updates highlight progress, address challenges, and offer solutions. This approach helps stakeholders stay connected to daily developments and reassures them that their investment is being managed effectively, fostering trust and ongoing support for the project.

Finish your thoughts and ideas before communicating them. Start communicating the big picture and transition to the details with facts and proof points linking to the big picture. Help the stakeholders to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena. Always bring the conversation back to the big picture to express the main messages that you would like to shape or influence the stakeholders to agree upon. Always use simple language. Speak to express and not to impress. If you lose their interest because they cannot follow your abstract and conceptual thinking style, make your ideas more concrete by visual aids, using analogies or metaphors. Explain your concepts step by step.

Communication is the key in every business and it plays a vital role in the stakeholder management as well. It’s very important to be transparent with your business partners and share the latest information available through appropriate channels. Few critical or difficult messages need to be communicated in a call or in person meeting before sending a shocking email to your stakeholders.

When dealing with senior stakeholders, start by simplifying your message to highlight key points and strategic impacts. This keeps their focus on high-level objectives without getting bogged down by technical specifics. From my experience, using visual aids like charts or dashboards can significantly enhance understanding and keep stakeholders engaged. It transforms complex data into easily digestible insights. One technique I've found beneficial is preparing concise executive summaries and key takeaways before meetings, ensuring that stakeholders quickly grasp the most critical aspects of the project and its relevance to their interests.

Clear communication is vital when engaging with senior stakeholders. Avoid jargon and be concise, emphasizing the 'big picture' rather than delving into technical details. Use visual aids like charts and dashboards to make complex information more accessible. Ensure stakeholders understand the project's status and its implications for their interests. This clarity helps maintain their engagement and demonstrates that you’re effectively managing their investment.

Clear communication is not just delivering a concise summary but emphasizing "what does this mean?" and "what is the recommendation or need?". What is your interpretation of your summary? How did you arrive at that interpretation? What action as a result of the interpretation do you want the senior stakeholder to perform? Leave the room within your summary and interpretation for the executive's own summary and interpretation. Welcome needed dialogue.

In all projects that stakeholder involvement, support and participation was a prerequisite of the project the outcomes were always reach and fruitful demonstrating success in tangible outcomes that have been identified as common objectives. The results have been long term as they have flourished in the maturity of the stakeholders. This is the case for example in projects like the "LAB" that was funded initially by TITAN Group in Kosovo, the "KARPOS FRONTIDAS" in Greece, founded by McCain Foods and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and many other projects that have taken place and offer a ground for further research for their long term impacts.

I would go a little further and make it easy for them to be involved. This doesn’t mean bend over backwards, suck up to them or do their work for them. It means make it clear what they have to decide; it means give them an idea of the impact of their decisions; it means come forward with options and choice; it means be honest about risk. If they have to make key decisions about your project or product, then think from the perspective of how it would align with their goals, their purpose, their concerns, their teams.

I would add to this: 1) “Do what you say you will”. Showing a commitment to your role, your promises, the project, the goals engenders trust. They want to know that if you say you’ve got something, that you will deliver, that you will communicate. 2) Hand in hand with point 1) is honesty. Don’t spin lines to cover up things. If there is an issue, talk about it. If you missed something own up about it and come forward with a way to fix it. This, again, fosters trust in you, your word, the product, the project.