PMP Tutorial › Module 3 · People (42%) › Lesson 6
Stakeholder Engagement & Communication
Projects succeed or fail on relationships and information flow. A PM spends roughly 90% of their time communicating. This lesson covers identifying and engaging stakeholders, and planning and managing project communications.
In this lesson
Identifying stakeholders
A stakeholder is anyone who can affect, be affected by, or perceive themselves to be affected by the project — sponsors, customers, team, users, regulators, vendors. Identify them early and continuously; record them in the stakeholder register (names, roles, interest, influence, expectations).
Classification: the power/interest grid
Classify stakeholders to decide how much attention each needs. The classic power/interest grid:
| Low interest | High interest | |
|---|---|---|
| High power | Keep satisfied | Manage closely |
| Low power | Monitor | Keep informed |
The stakeholder engagement assessment matrix
This tool compares each stakeholder's current engagement with the desired level, so you can plan actions to close the gap. The five levels:
- Unaware — doesn't know about the project.
- Resistant — aware but opposed to change.
- Neutral — aware but neither for nor against.
- Supportive — aware and supportive.
- Leading — actively engaged in ensuring success.
Mark current (C) and desired (D) for each; where they differ, plan engagement activities to move the stakeholder.
Communication management
Plan communications around who needs what information, when, in what format, and through which channel. Key concepts:
- Communication methods: interactive (two-way, e.g. meetings — best for resolving issues), push (email, reports — sent out), pull (intranet, repositories — recipients fetch).
- The communication model: sender → encode → message/medium (with noise) → decode → receiver → feedback.
- Communication channels formula:
n(n − 1) / 2, where n is the number of people. Adding people grows channels fast — 5 people = 10 channels; 10 people = 45. - 55/38/7 rule: most meaning is non-verbal (body language 55%, tone 38%, words 7%) — prefer richer channels for sensitive topics.