Keeping your stakeholders in the loop

Why stakeholder alignment determines whether strategy is executed

A strategy can look convincing on paper but still fail if the people affected by it do not understand, support or act on it. Strategy is developed and executed by people and for people, so stakeholder alignment is essential.

We call these people ‘stakeholders’ because they have a stake in doing the work and in reaping the benefits. Keeping them aligned is not simply about broadcasting updates. You need to involve the right people in decisions, clarify who is accountable, communicate progress clearly and create opportunities to work together.

StratNav makes this easier by helping you manage stakeholder information, connect people to the work that matters and keep communication focused.

The five-step stakeholder-engagement workflow

Use this simple workflow to engage stakeholders throughout strategy development and execution:

1. Identify and manage stakeholders by recording the people, organisations and groups affected by your strategy.
2. Clarify roles and accountability by linking stakeholders to relevant goals, initiatives, decisions, actions and risks.
3. Consult and involve stakeholders before decisions where their expertise or commitment matters, and involve delivery stakeholders in planning and problem-solving.
4. Communicate appropriately by giving sponsors and affected groups concise updates on progress, decisions and actions.
5. Review and respond by escalating risks, decisions and blocked actions promptly, then updating the strategy when feedback changes the evidence.

The aim is to ensure that every stakeholder knows what they need to know, decide or contribute, at the right point in the journey.

Manage stakeholders: people, organisations and groups

You can create records for all of your stakeholders in StratNav and capture the relevant details about them on the platform.

Stakeholders can be:

1. people: including names, profile images, contact details and other information.
   (See also People.)
2. organisations: including their names, logos, websites, associated people, the roles they play and other information.
   (See also Organisations.)
3. groups of people and/or organisations: including links to the people or organisations that make up the group, as well as other information.
   (See also Groups of Stakeholders.)

You can associate stakeholders with almost every element in StratNav, including insights, goals, initiatives, actions, decisions and issues. This gives you a clearer picture of who is involved, who is affected and where engagement is needed.

See also:

• Adding Stakeholders to your Strategy
• Managing Stakeholders from LinkedIn with our Bookmarklet
• Manage Stakeholders by email with our Bookmarklet
• CRM integrations

Clarify roles and accountability with RASCI

Stakeholder alignment breaks down when roles are unclear. People may assume somebody else is responsible, important expertise may not be consulted, or decision-makers may only discover an issue after it has become urgent.

StratNav enables you to describe stakeholders’ roles and relationships with strategy elements according to the context:

• You can use the RASCI framework to define them as Responsible, Accountable, Supporting, to be Consulted, or to be Informed.
• You can define them as a Performer or a Beneficiary.
• You can give the stakeholder’s role a title and add explanatory text.
• The Initiative RASCI Matrix and Goal RASCI Matrix provide clear summaries of how your stakeholders relate to strategic goals and initiatives.

Using RASCI consistently helps you identify who needs to act, who owns the outcome and who needs to be involved before a decision is made.

Communicate the right update to the right people

Keeping all of your stakeholders in the loop can be challenging. But with StratNav, you can communicate directly with the people linked to a particular strategy element.

Wherever you have listed people as stakeholders, StratNav allows you to send them all an email at the click of a button. Simply click the “Email All” button, identified by the envelope-shaped icon, for that list.

Provided you have entered their email addresses, StratNav opens your email client and prepares a draft email. It will be from you, addressed to the listed stakeholders other than yourself, and the subject will be prepopulated with the title of the strategy element to which they are linked.

You can add or remove recipients and change the subject before sending. Starting with a relevant draft is quicker than creating every update from scratch.

If you have not already captured stakeholders’ email addresses, StratNav gives you the opportunity to do so before preparing the draft, and remembers them for next time.

See also:

• Gmail and G Suite email integration

Collaborate securely through controlled project access

Another way to keep stakeholders involved is to invite them to collaborate with you directly in StratNav. This enables core contributors to participate in the work itself, rather than relying only on updates after decisions have been made.

Collaboration is particularly useful when stakeholders need to help shape initiatives, contribute evidence, take ownership of actions or resolve issues. Learn more about sharing your projects.

Establish a review rhythm for progress, risks and decisions

Stakeholder engagement should not stop once the strategy has been agreed. Set a regular review and update rhythm so that the right people can see progress, contribute feedback and respond to change.

• Consult stakeholders before decisions where their expertise or commitment matters.
• Involve delivery stakeholders in planning, action ownership and problem-solving.
• Inform sponsors and affected groups through concise progress updates.
• Escalate risks, decisions and blocked actions promptly to the people who can resolve them.
• Share progress, decisions and actions, and update the strategy when feedback changes the evidence.

A regular rhythm helps prevent surprises. It also makes it easier to distinguish between stakeholders who need to make a decision, those who need to contribute to delivery and those who simply need to remain informed.

Worked example

A consultancy team is developing a client growth strategy. It records the client sponsor, functional leads and delivery partners as stakeholders; assigns RASCI roles to priority initiatives; invites core contributors into the project; uses comments and meetings to capture feedback; and sends concise updates to informed stakeholders after each review.

This combines the three engagement modes: managing stakeholder information and roles, collaborating with the people doing the work, and communicating progress to those who need to stay informed.

Get started in StratNav

Effective stakeholder engagement gives your strategy a better chance of being understood, supported and executed. By managing stakeholder records, clarifying roles, communicating clearly and maintaining a regular review rhythm, you can keep people aligned around the work that matters.

Try StratNav to manage stakeholders alongside your goals, initiatives, actions, decisions and risks.