Framework library · Change management
Stakeholder mapping
A stakeholder map plots everyone who can affect or is affected by a change on two scales: how much power they have over the outcome and how much interest they take in it. The quadrant sets the kind of engagement each needs. The map's real use is to catch the stakeholders with high power and low interest, who can stop a change late because nobody kept them close.
Use it when
- A change or project depends on people outside your control, such as a regulator, a supplier, a landlord or another division.
- You need to decide where leadership time goes and who can be kept informed by a newsletter.
- A previous project was stopped late by someone nobody had thought to involve.
Avoid it when
- You need to plan what each group will hear and when. Use the map to choose who matters, then build a communication plan for change.
- Power is spread so evenly that the grid puts everyone in one quadrant. Map the specific decisions instead: who can approve, block or delay each one.
- You need to understand how people will feel about losing something. The map shows influence, not experience; use the Bridges transition model.
How to run it
Name the decision or change
Power and interest depend on the question. The planning authority has great power over a building and none over a pricing change.
List stakeholders as specifically as you can
"The electricity network operator's connections team", not "utilities". Split a group whose parts have different power or interest.
Score power and interest from 0 to 10
Power is the ability to stop, delay, fund or reshape the change. Interest is how much they care about this outcome and how closely they will follow it. The grid splits at 5.
Record stance now and the stance you need
Champion, supportive, neutral, sceptical or opposed. Not everyone needs to become a champion. The gap between now and needed is what the engagement action has to close.
Choose the engagement for each quadrant
Manage closely: involve in decisions. Keep satisfied: meet their requirements early and do not surprise them. Keep informed: regular two-way updates. Monitor: watch for changes in power or interest.
Give every high-power stakeholder an internal owner
One person who holds the relationship and notices when it moves.
Work through it
Answer the questions below, or load the worked example to see a finished one. The drawing updates as you type. Export the result as a PowerPoint deck, a Word document, an Excel workbook, a PDF or plain text.
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Mistakes to avoid
- Neglecting high-power, low-interest stakeholders because they are quiet. Their interest can rise suddenly, usually when it is most expensive.
- Mapping once. Power and interest change as a project moves from approval to build to launch.
- Treating the map as a list of people to persuade. Some stakeholders have requirements you have to meet, not attitudes you can change.
- Leaving the relationship with an adviser or consultant. Advisers can help, but someone inside should own it.
Where it comes from
Adapted from A. L. Mendelow, "Environmental Scanning: The Impact of the Stakeholder Concept", Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Information Systems, 1981, which set how closely to watch each stakeholder by its power and by how dynamic its position was. The power and interest grid appears as an adaptation of Mendelow in Gerry Johnson and Kevan Scholes's Exploring Corporate Strategy (1993 edition), cited there with the year 1991, which is how many textbooks still date it. Source.
Use it with
Further reading
Work through it with us
The frameworks here are free to use as they stand. If you would rather work through the question behind this one with us, these are the ways an engagement starts.