Change Toolkit Stakeholders Overview
Who are Stakeholders
Stakeholders are the managers representing:
- Any business area that will use the outcomes of the delivery
- Any business area that is critical to successful delivery
- Any business area that has assumed the outcome will be achieved in their business plans
- Any business area that will be held accountable for the successful delivery.
Role of Stakeholder Group
The role of a Stakeholder Group is to:
- Represent their business area
- Ensure that all business areas are aware of the Programme and their responsibilities
- Ensure that the correct priority is given to activities and resources for the Programme
- Cascade the change through the organisation
- Set and agree detailed objectives, anticipated benefits, timings and costs to fit with their overall and individual responsibilities
- Resolve design conflicts (between business areas and Programme requirements)
- Make key decisions for the Programme
- Agree to scope changes
- Address issues and risks for the Programme
- Support the Programme Sponsor within their business area.
Appointment
The Stakeholders should be appointed early in the Programme lifecycle.
The Stakeholders should remain appointed throughout the lifecycle of the Programme.
Authority
The Stakeholder Group must have full authority to make decisions on behalf of the Programme. This means:
- They must be able to make decisions about their business area
- They must have the authority to make decisions ‘stick’
- They must be able to represent the change to the organisation.
Critical issue
As a general rule a Stakeholder is responsible for other critical activities for the business. They are usually not specialists in Programme or Change Management. The Programme is often a small percentage of their daily job although it may be a critical aspect of their future.
The Stakeholders must find enough time to support the Programme.
Forming a Steering Group
The Steering Group is usually all or a subset of the Stakeholder group. The Steering Group may be a smaller and more focussed team providing regular direction and guidance to the Programme.