Stakeholder canvas
Are we going for it?
Objective: Identify the people involved in the project and understand their roles. Then think about how you can involve them.
Work instruction short
- Duration: 45 – 60 minutes (depending on the case and group size)
- Complexity: 3/5
- Group size: 2 – 6 participants
Introduction
When you start an innovation project, you will have to deal with stakeholders. This starts with the person, team or department that raises a problem. To help you understand the playing field, this stakeholder canvas has been designed. You can build, maintain and strengthen the relationship with your stakeholders once you know more about them. This canvas helps you determine per stakeholder who they are, what function they have within or outside the organization, what their characteristics are, what needs they have, and what your innovation project needs from them. You can also see how they relate to your innovation.
What is the canvas?
When do you use the canvas?
Why a Canvas?
How do you use the canvas?
How does Canvas work?
- Stakeholder: Who is the stakeholder and what role does it have within or outside the organization?
- Characteristics: What characterizes the stakeholder? What does he/she do in his/her free time? Where does the stakeholder come from? Make it as personal as possible and look for similarities.
- Role: Is the stakeholder responsible? Is the stakeholder consulted? Informed? Does the stakeholder perform tasks?
- Needs: What are the wishes? What is the agenda? What does the stakeholder find important? What does the stakeholder hope for?
- Positive: What makes the stakeholder happy? What arouses interest? What motivates the stakeholder?
- Negative: What frustrates the stakeholder? What causes resistance? What demotivates the stakeholder?
- Innovation needs: What needs does the team have regarding the stakeholder? What is expected of the stakeholder?
Step by step instruction
This is not a fixed process, but an example that you can apply and adapt to your own working method and the context of your work.
Prior to
Make sure that you (yes, you as a facilitator!) have had a good intake with the person who presented a problem or challenge. By asking the right questions during an intake interview, you can identify many stakeholders. Then continue exploring. What names are mentioned? Schedule appointments to get acquainted. Don't be guided by how others experience a particular stakeholder, discover it yourself and/or with your team.
Apply this canvas during the identification phase of an innovation project. Organize a team meeting and prepare all necessary materials to facilitate this properly. (At the office or digitally)
Checklist
- Invitation: time, location, theme/assignment, purpose
- Space: large, comfortable, furnished differently than usual, whiteboards, etc., possibly digital
- Materials: walls prepared with canvas and other supplies, markers, post-its, digital if necessary
- Possible energizer
- Pilot test: go through the script 30 minutes prior to the session with the co-facilitator/client or with yourself to check whether everything is ready
Opening
Start with an introduction to the session: why are you here together? What is the purpose of the session?
and then continue with the introduction of the Stakeholder canvas.
TIP: Use the IDOARRT during the introduction. Intention, Desired Outcome, Agenda, Roles, Rules, Time.
Stakeholder canvas introduction
Bring everyone to the canvas. Walk through all parts from top to bottom and from left to right and explain what needs to be completed for each part. Explain what will be accomplished once the entire canvas is completed. What does the team gain from it?
Make sure every team member contributes to completing the canvas. Make sure everyone understands the purpose and what the canvas entails. “Ready to get started?” And after a resounding “Yes” from the team, you can start filling out the form.
Overview:
Complete this section from left to right. Make sure you immediately fill in the corresponding properties for each identified stakeholder, down to the team's needs related to that stakeholder.
This keeps everyone on their toes and prevents you from having to return to previously identified stakeholders later. As a facilitator, you can write down the mentioned details of each part on the canvas with post-its.
Plotting:
After identifying and describing the stakeholders, place them on the matrix. Do this based on the level of interest of the stakeholder in the innovation project and the level of influence of the stakeholder on the innovation process. For example, you can assess how involved the stakeholder is, what time or capacity the stakeholder frees up to be and remain involved in the innovation process. The horizontal axis indicates how much influence the stakeholder has on the innovation project. Is the stakeholder a decisive player who, for example, allocates a budget to further innovation? Then the influence is high.
NOTE: plotting is relative. You place the stakeholders in relation to the innovation project, but also indirectly in relation to each other. Once you have identified the most important stakeholder, you can better assess how the other stakeholders relate to that most important stakeholder. Just start!
STAKEHOLDERS: The stakeholders who support the innovation project or can remove resistance. Actively involve this group.
TOP PLAYERS: Crucial stakeholders who deserve continuous attention and are needed to advance innovation.
CROWD: Potential stakeholders instead of actual stakeholders. It is not interesting to spend a lot of time and energy on this group.
INFLUENCERS: The stakeholders who influence the future context of the innovation project. Create interest and increase this group's awareness of the innovation project.
Next steps:
Finally, determine what the next steps are for your project team to build, maintain or strengthen the relationship with your stakeholders where necessary. Do the top players receive enough attention? What does it take to keep the top players happy? What does the team need from these top players? And how are we going to achieve that? The steps can vary from planning a series of meetings to organizing an interim evaluation and inviting stakeholders for this. Discuss the steps with your team, prioritize them and take action. This way you can be sure that in addition to identifying your stakeholders, action is also taken on stakeholder management. Let's do it!
Afterwards, ensure that all insights surrounding the stakeholder canvas are secured. If necessary, schedule a new session during the innovation project to update the stakeholder canvas.
Good luck and have fun using it!