The first step is to identify who and what are the resources and stakeholders that you need to work with in your intervention project. Resources are the tangible and intangible assets that you can use to design, implement, and evaluate your solution, such as time, money, materials, technology, data, or expertise. Stakeholders are the individuals or groups that have an interest or influence in your intervention project, such as clients, sponsors, managers, users, beneficiaries, partners, or competitors. You can use various tools and methods to identify your resources and stakeholders, such as brainstorming, mapping, interviewing, or surveying.
The next step is to analyze your resources and stakeholders to understand their characteristics, needs, expectations, roles, and relationships. This will help you to prioritize, align, and leverage them effectively in your intervention project. You can use various tools and methods to analyze your resources and stakeholders, such as SWOT analysis, resource allocation matrix, stakeholder analysis matrix, power-interest grid, or stakeholder engagement plan.
This is an important step and should never be skipped! If you don't understand your stakeholders, it is easy to lose them early on - buy-in is not a permanent thing, and it can disappear quickly. My favorite tool is the SWOT analysis - I highly recommend. I like to look at stakeholders and resources separately or I get them mixed up - each is different and needs to be analyzed separately.
The third step is to plan how you will manage and coordinate your resources and stakeholders throughout your intervention project. This involves defining the scope, objectives, deliverables, milestones, budget, risks, and quality standards of your project, as well as the roles, responsibilities, communication channels, feedback mechanisms, and conflict resolution strategies of your team and stakeholders. You can use various tools and methods to plan your resource and stakeholder management, such as project charter, work breakdown structure, Gantt chart, risk register, quality plan, or RACI matrix.
The fourth step is to communicate with your resources and stakeholders regularly and effectively to keep them informed, engaged, and satisfied with your intervention project. This involves sharing information, updates, progress, issues, and results of your project, as well as soliciting input, feedback, suggestions, and support from your team and stakeholders. You can use various tools and methods to communicate with your resources and stakeholders, such as email, phone, video conference, social media, newsletter, report, presentation, or dashboard.
Take a step back and develop a clear communication plan so you don’t miss any essential messages. Identify and document timing, message, communication channel and objectives for each message.
The fifth step is to collaborate with your resources and stakeholders to ensure that your intervention project is aligned, integrated, and coordinated with their needs, expectations, and contributions. This involves working together, exchanging ideas, solving problems, making decisions, and delivering value to your team and stakeholders. You can use various tools and methods to collaborate with your resources and stakeholders, such as brainstorming, workshop, focus group, co-design, co-creation, or co-evaluation.
The sixth step is to evaluate your resource and stakeholder management to assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of your intervention project. This involves measuring and reporting the performance, outcomes, impacts, and benefits of your project, as well as the satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty of your team and stakeholders. You can use various tools and methods to evaluate your resource and stakeholder management, such as key performance indicators, logic model, theory of change, impact evaluation, or stakeholder feedback survey.
Assess performance against your objectives. Measure the impact of every key action. By analyzing the portion of the intervention that matters to the client group, you will gain insights on the true value of each element of the project. You should also analyze those aspects of the intervention that will provide insight to help you continually improve. Seek out ways to improve the next time you conduct a similar project.