What are effective strategies to engage stakeholders with diverse backgrounds in operational planning?

Who are the stakeholders? One would argue they are the contributors or benefactors. If you consider the children as stakeholders and their future is the plan, diversity is a requisite. This should be the center of gravity. Plan to their strengths. They are curious and confused, a combined strength that will measure their tenacity. Be guided by their unknown, understand their confusion to satisfy their curiosity. The operational plan will unfold.

Effective operational planning is aimed at optimizing stakeholders' values and needs. Stakeholder engagement starts by identifying the stakeholders and prioritizing stakeholders' needs in terms of power and their influence on the project. Secondly, get them involved in developing the planning and contributing to the project vision. Effectively communicate to understand the stakeholders' needs and keep them informed about the plan/project using milestone presentations.

In my experience, it is true when stakeholders have similar experience in their work life and it will be a problem if they want to affect their unknown opinion.

I have found that stakeholder engagement matters in operational planning because it ensures that the perspectives, needs, and expectations of all relevant stakeholders are considered. This involvement fosters collaboration and helps identify potential challenges early on. By including stakeholders, such as employees, customers, and suppliers, in the planning process, operational plans are more likely to align with organisational goals and be successfully implemented. Additionally, engaged stakeholders are more likely to support and contribute positively to the execution of the operational plan.

I have found that the best way to identify and segment stakeholders in operational planning is: 1. Identification: List internal and external stakeholders like employees, customers, and suppliers. 2. Categorization: Use tools such as the power-interest matrix to segment based on relevance and influence. 3. Assessment: Understand each group's needs, expectations, and concerns regarding the operational plan. 4. Prioritisation: Rank stakeholders by significance to allocate resources effectively. 5. Engagement Strategy: Tailor strategies for each group, considering different levels of involvement and communication. This systematic approach ensures a focused and efficient stakeholder engagement process.

I was the new Ops Manager at a steel coil processing plant and one day we were running a coil that was slow and complicated when one of the 15+ year veterans told me how much he hated these coils. I listened to him explain the technical issues, the process reversals, and the QC care (time) that went into them and he made it clear that he truly disliked this type of work. After he was finished, I explained to him the sky high margin we made of these coils and helped him see that the work difficulty gave us a premium that paid for less profitable (easy) work. I couldn't believe that he never knew that before. EMPOWERMENT. I spent the next two weeks training our team on margins and product types. Once hated work was now revered work.