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Examples of enablers that need to be in place in an organisation to effectively identify and analyse stakeholder include:

-clear governance processes

-access to stakeholder data

-strong leadership for stakeholder engagement

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The main weakness is it is more time consuming and can be more complex to explain to non-technical stakeholders.

When it can be used:

-bring stakeholders together

-identifying influencers

-larger projects with numerous interconnected stakeholders

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I would do the following:

-conduct community surveys with residents and business owners

-hold some workshops

-analysis of social media, community groups and local media to identify less visible stakeholders.

I also like someone else's comment around ensuring the stakeholder list is always updated as new stakeholders could emerge.

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Key enablers include strong leadership support, clear engagement processes, accurate stakeholder information, skilled staff, open communication and enough time and resources. A respectful organisational culture is also important so different voices, including community and cultural perspectives, are properly heard.

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Key enablers include strong leadership support, clear engagement processes, accurate stakeholder information, skilled staff, open communication and enough time and resources. A respectful organisational culture is also important so different voices, including community and cultural perspectives, are properly heard.

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I would recommend using Community workshops, local surveys, one-on-one yarns and referrals from trusted community leaders. Reviewing local service networks, resident groups, businesses and government agencies would also help identify people who may otherwise be overlooked. Regularly updating the stakeholder list throughout the project is important, as new stakeholders may emerge over time.

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I would recommend using Community workshops, local surveys, one-on-one yarns and referrals from trusted community leaders. Reviewing local service networks, resident groups, businesses and government agencies would also help identify people who may otherwise be overlooked. Regularly updating the stakeholder list throughout the project is important, as new stakeholders may emerge over time.

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SNA can be more complex and time-consuming than a power-interest grid because it looks closely at relationships and influence between people.

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SNA can be more complex and time-consuming than a power-interest grid because it looks closely at relationships and influence between people.

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I would use SNA when I need to understand who is connected, who influences others, and who can help build trust or bring stakeholders together.

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Enablers for identifying and analysing stakeholders

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Enablers for identifying and analysing stakeholders

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Important enablers include:

Leadership support

Clear roles and responsibilities

Knowledge of the community

Inclusive and accessible communication

Accurate stakeholder records

Regular consultation

Trusting relationships

Regular review of stakeholders

A simple stakeholder analysis tool

These enablers help the organisation make sure the right people are included, especially people with disability and families who are directly affected by decisions.

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Comparing SNA and the Power-Interest Grid

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Comparing SNA and the Power-Interest Grid

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Social Network Analysis can be harder to use than a power-interest grid because it needs more data and can be more difficult to explain.

A power-interest grid is easier to use, especially at the start of a project. It helps sort stakeholders into groups, such as who needs to be closely managed, kept satisfied, kept informed or monitored.

In the Tianjin case study, SNA showed that stakeholder roles changed across the project. For example, the government’s role shifted, the public became more involved later, and some groups became disconnected during construction.

I would use SNA when:

there are many stakeholders

relationships are complex

there are communication problems or mistrust

informal influence is important

the project runs for a long time

stakeholder roles may change over time

I would use the power-interest grid first to create a simple engagement plan, then use SNA if I needed a deeper understanding of stakeholder relationships.

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As well as using Social Network Analysis, I would use a range of simple methods to identify stakeholders at the start of the project and keep checking throughout each stage.

Useful methods could include:

talking directly with residents, businesses and community groups

using surveys, interviews, focus groups and drop-in sessions

reviewing planning documents, complaints, policies and previous consultation reports

asking current stakeholders who else should be included

speaking with frontline workers and local leaders who know the community well

checking that vulnerable or less visible groups are included, such as renters, elderly people, people with disability, low-income households and people with limited digital access

reviewing the stakeholder list at every stage of the project

This would help make sure the project includes not only powerful or formal stakeholders, but also the people most affected by the urban renewal.

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To effectively identify and analyse stakeholders first and foremost you must have leadership support. Leadership must be on board with communicating effectively with all stakeholders internal and external. You need the appropriate stakeholder engagement tools in place as we are learning here today. Establishing community relationships and connections is very important - this is imperative for a local health service.

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I think the power grid is the most effective for identifying who your stakeholders are individually helping to determine their level of influence and how they should be managed. SNA is effective for determining the relationships and connections between your stakeholders. In my opinion the power interest grid would be an important tool for all projects in determining your stakeholders and then where building trust and relationships between stakeholders is of the utmost importance you would then utilise SNA.

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further methods to identify stakeholders

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further methods to identify stakeholders

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I think workshops are often a very effective way to engage stakeholders however to engage with those who aren't directly affected or perhaps are unaware of the project you could look at a traditional direct mail approach including a QR code for feedback. This helps to reach an older demographic or perhaps quieter community members. You could also utilise local businesses and operators as a voice to handout an engagement kit among their networks. This brings the information directly to the potential stakeholder rather than them making the time and effort to attend a workshop.

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From the case and in general, a few things stand out:

Strong leadership support, you need backing to get access to stakeholders

Good data and information sharing systems

Clear stakeholder engagement processes

Skills and capability in stakeholder analysis

Open communication culture so stakeholders are willing to engage

Time and resources allocated, this can’t just be a quick exercise

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weaknesses of SNA vs power interest grid

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weaknesses of SNA vs power interest grid

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The biggest weakness of SNA seems to be that it can get quite complex and data-heavy. It shows relationships well, but it’s not always easy to quickly see who has the most power or influence like you can with a simple power-interest grid. It also depends a lot on good data. If that is lacking, the whole network view can be misleading.

That said, I’d use SNA when relationships really matter, like in this case where stakeholders are highly interdependent and their roles change over time. It’s especially useful when you want to understand how people interact, not just who is important.

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I’d bring in a few more practical methods such as completing stakeholder workshops early on might help surface people or groups that might otherwise be missed as well as asking each identified stakeholder who else should be involved. I’d also look at project documentation and previous similar projects to spot recurring stakeholders. Finally, engaging the community directly (not just representatives) would help pick up voices that were missed, especially since the case showed public participation was quite low early on

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Enablers

Willing to identify and engage stakeholders in good faith, including activists and others who are not aligned to the plan / activity / vision

Multiple engagement methods to ensure the

Relationships are appropriately maintained once stakeholders are identified. And identifying when the relationship changes and the stakeholder management approach may need to change also

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One project in the article mentioned an outcome of the SNA was to increase multi-stakeholder participation. However, the SNA process does not identify the stakeholders in the first place, but is an analysis tool for how the identified stakeholders might interact and bring influence. The article also articulates a specific gap in this method – evolving stakeholder relationships over time - and of particular interest in this Tianjin context, how inter-relationships between stakeholders on the project might change as they get to understand each other better (as a result of the engagement).

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People are clearly flooding into urban areas in China, for many reasons, hence the need for the urban renewal projects to be identified and implemented effectively.

There are multiple alternative methods for engaging a broader group of stakeholders. I would suggest – particularly to engage the local community – townhall-style meetings; letterbox drops with information ways to contact the project team; door-knocking in locations which are likely to be most impacted, including local businesses; direct engagement at locations like malls or public transport hubs, etc. It will also be important to identify a range of views about the merits, or otherwise, of the project and ensure these views are represented.

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“Enablers” include involvement of influential members/leaders of different stakeholder groups, identification of a core group of key stakeholders who functioned as allies in the success of the process, inviting influential/core stakeholders to identify other stakeholders to be included (although there is a risk that this only generates the nomination of similar stakeholders to the existing group), increasing awareness of the issue and the process to draw out those who were already interested and to increase the interest and motivation of others, plus using a broad mix of media channels and in person presentations to promote awareness amongst different generations and cultural groups and increase the breadth of stakeholder interest and representation in the process.

Facilitators/speakers/project team members are key enablers – how they engage in interviews, workshops and community meetings/events is crucial: putting their own views/bias to one side, focussing on listening, modelling respect for difference and promoting genuine interaction. These interpersonal qualities will increase the likelihood that the identification and engagement of stakeholders will be effectively implemented.

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A weakness of the SNA is that it does not visualise the power dynamics that operate within the web of stakeholder relationships. The level of relative power greatly influences the level of engagement and influence of a stakeholder. SNA does not provide an assessment of the level of interest of a stakeholder, which can be an indicator of engagement in a change initiative and barriers that need to be addressed where current interest is rated low. Another weakness is that the level of complexity represented in the SNA could be time consuming to generate, overwhelming and not conducive to engagement planning.

The strength of the SNA approach: it can be used to build a map of the relational ecosystem, bringing out the complexities and subtleties that need to be considered and addressed in engagement, particularly in a community change initiative with a large number of stakeholders and types. This approach goes deeper than the focus of the Power-Interest Grid on the bidirectional relationship between an organisation and a single stakeholder.

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I think every member of a team has a role to play as an enabler to some extent. Relationships with different stakeholder groups are managed by people who occupy different roles - whether its a customer, a supplier, interested party, member of the board etc.

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I would canvas the stakeholder groups already identified to understand who else I would need to engage, understand blind spots. Engage with adversaries and allies.

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The complexity, technical skill and amount of data required for the SNA. The power-interest grid is efficient.