You’re running a complex, fast moving project. The delivery team is sending you messages every few minutes. “What does this ticket description mean?”, “When will this be approved?”, “What are we working on next?”.
Answering questions like these often requires input from someone with authority. A client team member who knows the project priorities, and can approve changes. They are a stakeholder, and knowing how and when to involve them is key to keeping projects on track.
In this article, we’ll explore the basics of stakeholders. Who they are, why they’re important, when to involve them, and how to keep them happy.
To understand how to involve the right people in your project decisions, we first need to clearly define who our stakeholders are.
What are stakeholders?
The engine of project progress is your delivery team. Without them, nothing valuable would be created. But how do we know what is valuable?
That’s where stakeholders come in. A stakeholder is often defined as anybody outside the delivery team, who is impacted by our work.
Quite literally anybody who has a stake in the success of the work we are doing. Including clients, sponsors, internal leaders, end users, customers and many other groups.
While the broad definition of stakeholders can feel vague, it’s helpful when we narrow it down to those directly interacting with our delivery teams, and those affected by project outcomes.
Anybody outside the delivery team, who is impacted by our work.
And if we improve our definition even further
Anybody our delivery team will interact with, who is impacted by the success or failure of our work.
For instance, the manager who approved funding for the project, and a delivery lead who coordinates tasks for the client are both stakeholders, but their roles and impacts differ significantly.
The definition clearly includes our client’s team members, but ideally it should also include end users of the product or service we’re focused on.
Now that we know who our stakeholders are, the next question is: why do they matter so much?
Why do stakeholders matter?
Stakeholders matter because for a project to be successful, we need to meet their expectations, and to meet those expectations we first need to understand them.
But how do you ensure that you’re meeting these expectations throughout the project lifecycle? That’s where constant stakeholder alignment and involvement makes all the difference.
Our teams have the ability to deliver exceptional results. We use all sorts of tools and techniques in our projects. We solve complex problems, create valuable results and successful outcomes.
But every client, stakeholder and project is unique. Unlike product sales, we can’t just repeat the same process and expect consistent success.
For example, if a client doesn’t fully understand the project timeline, they may push for unrealistic deadlines. Engaging stakeholders early can help set clear expectations, avoiding conflicts later.
Understanding why stakeholders matter is one thing, but seeing their real-world impact makes it even clearer.
For each project we need to learn what success looks like, and how to measure it.
This means our team spending time with the stakeholders, asking questions to understand as much as possible about their needs, the needs of their business and the needs of their users or customers.
Without regular stakeholder involvement, we cannot make good decisions for a project, no matter how experienced the team is.
While stakeholder management is always essential, agencies face unique challenges.
Agency project stakeholders: What makes them different?
In agency projects, stakeholders are usually external, so their roles and impact aren’t always clear from the start. Identifying them early helps us map out decision-makers and influencers, avoiding surprises later.
It’s critical to learn about who will be involved, how, when and what input and impact they could have.
Mapping stakeholders early ensures we have a good understanding of who will make decisions, and who will be critical to helping solve problems.
Learning what success looks like for each individual stakeholder can enable better communication, feedback, and value delivery throughout a project.
Ultimately what we have in common with all stakeholders is that we want the project to have the maximum impact given the time and money available.
We both want to generate the maximum impact we can, for the budget available.
Agencies aren’t just dealing with the classic stakeholder challenges. We face unique obstacles related to the external nature of our clients.
The challenges of stakeholder management
Understanding project stakeholders well is key to maximising success, but alone it doesn’t guarantee anything.
It’s common for stakeholders to change during the course of longer projects. Continuity is as much our responsibility as it is the client’s.
Documentation, handovers and early trust building are critical to avoid scope creep and unexpected pivots when a new decision maker gets involved.
Another common challenge is balancing conflicting interests among stakeholders.
Consider a project where the creative team wanted to push the visual boundaries while the client insists on a conservative approach. Balancing these contrasting viewpoints requires open communication and a clear understanding of priorities.
Conflicting priorities can easily derail a project unless a shared vision was agreed upfront, and ongoing work happens to maintain that alignment.
We must keep stakeholders engaged and involved even when they have other commitments away from our work with them.
Releasing small pieces of valuable progress early and often. Asking for specific feedback and approval to maintain progress. Reducing the overhead of our work for them however possible.
Finally ensuring all stakeholders are informed, involved and valued, no matter who speaks loudest or most often. If only a small group of stakeholders signs off progress, it leads to rework and changes later.
Given the complexity of stakeholder dynamics and the potential for conflict, having a consistent stakeholder approach becomes not just helpful, but essential.
Why you need a stakeholder strategy
A consistent, proven approach to managing stakeholders helps avoid challenges that arise from sporadic engagement.
‘Nightmare clients’ are almost always simply clients who we don’t know well, haven’t consulted properly, or haven’t considered the personal success measured of.
To put this into practice, here’s what an effective stakeholder strategy looks like.
Key factors attributed to good agencies by stakeholders include; a consistent communication approach, certainty and reassurance, using simple shared language, recommending relevant ideas and being flexible to valuable change suggestions.
The best agency approaches to project stakeholders help to build trust, encourage shared decision making, and consistently discuss opportunities beyond the scope of the current project.
By proactively managing stakeholders through a well-thought-out approach, you minimise conflicts and keep project on track.
For example, at the start of a web redesign project, the agency mapped out key stakeholders: the client’s marketing lead, the IT manager, and an end-user. By holding a kickoff meeting to agree goals and a preferred communication approach, the team set clear expectations from day one.
Ultimately, effective stakeholder management is about building relationships and fostering collaboration.
It might feel counterintuitive to spend time managing stakeholders when deadlines are tight, but proactive engagement actually saves time by reducing misunderstandings and late-stage changes.
Building strong stakeholder relationships
Every project has stakeholders. For agency projects, they are almost exclusively outside of our own organisation.
To succeed we need to work closely with stakeholders to guarantee that what we create together is not only what they’re expecting, but also what is valuable, lovable, and ultimately offers them personal success in their role.
By prioritising stakeholder management from the start, you position your project for success—both in meeting client expectations and in delivering valuable outcomes.
- Identify people early and understand their needs
- Communicate consistently and build strong relationships
- Adapt to changes while maintaining alignment
By recognising the importance of stakeholder success measures, you’re already a step ahead in delivering results that matter to everyone.
Building strong stakeholder relationships is not just a project necessity, but a skill that can transform outcomes. If you’d like to discuss how I can help your teams consistently approach stakeholder management the right way – from mapping to communication and relationship building – I’d love to hear from you.
Get in touch to explore how we can work together to enhance your project success.