Michaels & Associates

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How do I get everyone on board and keep them that way?

In the days or weeks before your project begins, it's a good idea to introduce yourself to the high-influence and high-interest stakeholders and ask them some of the questions mentioned previously. Because these are the team members you'll be working with the most, you can get their buy-in early by showing your interest in keeping them satisfied. You should also ask them their preferred method of communication and the type and frequency of communication they'd like to receive. Be sure to build this information into your project plan so you can be sure to meet their needs with the appropriate amount of communication.

Wondering what to discuss in the kickoff meeting? Here's a sample agenda to help you develop your own.

Kickoff Meeting Agenda

• Welcome and Introductions
• Project Overview
  • Goals
  • Scope of work
• Team Roles and Responsibilities
  • Training & Development
  • Stakeholders
• Guidelines for Review and Signoff
  • Review process
  • Review guidelines
• Project Schedule
  • Key deliverables and dates
  • Project milestones
  • Projected rollout activities and dates
• Review Action Items
• Meeting Wrap-up

To get all your stakeholders on board, it's highly advisable to hold a project kickoff meeting. This meeting is a critical first step in launching the project, and all stakeholders should attend. If you can't find a 1-2 hour timeslot that meets everyone's needs, hold the meeting with as many stakeholders as you can and follow up with the absent stakeholders within a week after the kickoff. During the meeting, introduce yourself, each other and the project. Also, be sure to clearly define the following:

• Your understanding of the project scope: This helps manage expectations, allow you to hear others' thoughts and enables you to gain a consensus on a common purpose. It also helps build trust within the team...a fundamental factor for success.


• Roles and responsibilities: Let everyone know exactly what you expect from them. Include the estimated time investment for different tasks, to set their expectations. It's essential for the stakeholders to understand where they fit into the process and how they will be contributing to the project's success.


• Project schedule: Review the schedule with everyone and ensure that key stakeholders will be able meet the projected milestones and delivery dates. Let them know that their participation and prompt review will help ensure that the project stays on track.


• Business objectives and learning objectives: Review the objectives and ensure that everyone understands the end vision for your project. Then gain agreement from everyone and get their buy-in to move forward with this vision in mind.


• Measure of success: How will the stakeholder team know if the training is a success? Let them know how you plan to measure success and their part in the process. This helps pave a clear path to project completion.


• Your development process and key deliverables: This is a chance to educate your stakeholders on effective instructional design practices. Tell them about the importance of each step in your process and where they'll contribute.


• Communication strategy: Let the stakeholders know how you intend to communicate with them during the project, and set their expectations on what communication you need from them. You can also discuss external communications, such as how the business will learn about the project and prepare for its arrival.


• Contacts: Make sure you provide everyone with email and phone contact information for the development team, project manager and business sponsor.

Note: You may choose to include all this information in a project workbook, so members of the stakeholder team can refer to it in the future.

At the kickoff meeting, you have a wonderful opportunity to define what success will look like and the exact path the team will follow to get there. To emphasize your confidence in them and the project, humbly inform the stakeholders that you'll be looking for testimonials and references since you expect this project to be successful and career enhancing for everyone involved.

As your project progresses, your involvement with the stakeholders will vary depending on their responsibilities. Your stakeholders who are heavily involved in the project deserve your greatest attention. Keep them fully engaged with regular status reports and notice of upcoming deadlines. Other stakeholders with less interest or involvement require your attention, too, so you can check in with them periodically to ensure no issues are arising and provide them with updates at key milestones in the project.

Cooperation and communication are two critical elements in keeping your stakeholders engaged. The American Management Association offers some tips in Building Better Projects Through Improved Cooperation.

How do I handle stakeholder issues during the project?

Even the smoothest paths have bumps along the way, but if you plan for them, the bumps will seem much smaller. For example, if your stakeholders have differing opinions, give them an opportunity to air their thoughts in a neutral environment. Then work through them together until you can either reach a consensus or agree to disagree and move forward. If some partnerships in the stakeholder team just aren't working despite your most valiant efforts, get the business sponsors involved. Let them know the consequences of the issue and ask for assistance. Then let the stakeholder know that you are contacting the business sponsor and that the project and end product need their support to be successful.

A familiar issue in training projects is the lack of SME involvement. To help SMEs meet your review deadlines, let them know a few days ahead of time when something is coming their way. That advance notice will help them plan review time into their schedules. When you deliver materials, highlight the areas where the stakeholder should look first; this helps them prioritize their limited time. Then touch base with the SMEs if you don't receive their feedback when promised. If you are ever required to make content available without having received SME feedback, clearly communicate that the content has not been properly reviewed. This manages everyone's expectations and meets your promised deadlines, while at the same time drawing attention to the need for proper review.

How should I end my project?

When your training has gone live and your stakeholder involvement comes to an end, invite them to a final wrap-up celebration/meeting. It's an opportunity to get everyone together one last time to discuss the project, and it gives you a chance to thank everyone for their involvement. During the meeting, discuss what went well, what could go better next time and any evaluation results you gathered during the program. Summarize the meeting with a lessons learned or end-of-project report, and distribute it to all stakeholders for review and approval. Be sure to communicate your dedication to implementing their feedback.

After the training is finished and you gather ROI metrics, be sure to communicate these results to the stakeholders. At this time, you can also ask for their testimonials. And don't be shy about sharing your success. Market it to the organization as an incentive to participate in company training, or use it in a "best practices" case study or white paper.

Developing and supporting a winning project team takes careful planning, continuous dedication and appropriate communication. You may not walk away with a gold statue in your hand, but you will be rewarded for your efforts with the commitment, respect and support of many significant people in your organization.

Do you have any thoughts to share? Let us know what you've learned from your experiences with stakeholder engagement. We'd love to hear from you.

Continue reading:
Making it Happen: Stakeholder Engagement (Part 1) →