EXECUTING STAGE (STAKEHOLDERS) : MANAGE STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

This is the process of communicating and working with stakeholders in order to meet their expectations or needs, increase their support, reduce their resistances, address issues once occurred and increase chances of achieving project success. It also helps to 

• confirm their commitment to the project, 
• enable them to understand clearly the project goals, objectives, benefits and risks, 
• get their guidance on activities and project decisions, 
• be a proactive project manager in order to win more their support and minimize their negative impacts.

Manage stakeholder engagement process has the following inputs to use:

• Stakeholder management plan that provides guidance on how to manage various stakeholders in the project as well as methods and technologies to be used for stakeholder communication
• Communication management plan that provides guidance on how to communicate the project information with the stakeholders. The project information will depend on the stakeholder requirement such as language, format, content and level of detail. Also, the plan will provide names of who will receive the project information and the reasons for distribution of such information
• Change log that documents any change occurs during the project and its impacts. This document will also be communicated to stakeholders in order to be aware of the situation
• Organizational Process Assets that explain the historical information and previous projects concerning the process, organizational communication requirements, issues management procedures etc.

The process can be done by:

• Using communication methods depending on the stakeholder requirements. This helps to decide what project information will be distributed and how, when and which communication methods will be used. (Kindly refer interactive, pull and push communication methods)

• Using interpersonal skills such as building trust, resolving conflicts, active listening and overcoming resistance to change unnecessarily
• Using management skills in order to coordinate, harmonize, negotiate, influence and facilitate the stakeholders

The outputs are Issue log, a document with issues identified by the stakeholders and resolved, change requests if there is a need to take corrective or preventive actions to the project or the product and updates in 

• project management plan (if there is a new or change of stakeholder requirement, stakeholder communication method and so forth), 
• project documents for instance stakeholder register and 
• organizational process assets like stakeholder notification, project reports, presentations and records provided to the stakeholders, feedback from the stakeholders and lessons learnt

References:

PMI (2013). A Guide to the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide 5^th Ed.) USA, Project Management Institute

https://www.erm.com/en/sustainabilityreport2016/home-page/sustainability-at-erm/our-stakeholders/

https://www.acer-group.com/ag/en/TW/content/stakeholder-engagement

https://projectforsuccess.blogspot.com/2017/11/planning-stage-communications-plan.html