Liaising with stakeholders

Stakeholders are all the internal and external parties who have an interest in a team’s activities. They may include team members, upper management, clients, suppliers, customers, and shareholders. Different stakeholders have different needs and priorities, and effective communication ensures that they all receive information that is relevant to their respective relationship to the team. It is useful for team leaders to develop a process for managing communication with stakeholders. This process can be approached in a systematic way through the development of a stakeholder communication plan which outlines:

1. The stakeholders involved in the team’s operations
2. Stakeholder expectations
3. The stakeholder’s priority to the team in relation to other stakeholders
4. The communication techniques the team will use to communicate with each stakeholder
5. When or how often the communication will take place

Developing a stakeholder communications plan

All stakeholders will have a different reason for being involved in your team’s operations. As a team manager you will need to ‘put yourself in their shoes’ and determine what information it is that they will require from your team. This will involve consultation with these stakeholders to determine what expectations they have with regards to the work your team does. Once you have determined who your team’s stakeholders are and their expectations, you can then determine how important each one is in relation to your team’s activities. The next step will be to decide what communication methods you will use to maintain these expectations, how often this communication will take place, and who is responsible for ensuring it takes place. The following process outlines how to develop a stakeholder communications plan:

• Step 1: Identify stakeholders. The stakeholders requiring ongoing communication will usually need to be determined in consultation with senior management. These stakeholders will be critical to the ongoing success of the team’s activities. These may include people or teams external to the organisation like project sponsors and suppliers or other individuals or team within the organisation, such as another department that relies on the work completed by your team.
• Step 2: Determine stakeholder expectations. If the expectations of all stakeholders are not made clear to the team manager before the communication plan is developed, the team manager will need to consult with these stakeholders to determine their communication needs.
• Step 3: Determine stakeholder priority. The next step is to determine how important each stakeholder is to the team’s activities. This will depend on how critical the stakeholder is to the team’s activities. Stakeholder priority will likely be decided in consultation with senior management and the stakeholders themselves.
  
  A commonly used process involves grading stakeholder priority with a score of between 1 and 4, in which:
  • 1 = Highest priority – These stakeholders are the most likely to receive time, resources, and budget from the communications plan.
  • 2 = Strong priority – These stakeholders will require a high level of attention being given to their communication needs.
  • 3= Lesser priority – These stakeholders will require regular communication but will require less attention that those with a grade of 1 and 2.
  • 4 = Low priority – These stakeholders will receive some general communication throughout the team’s activities. However, they are not as critical to the team’s day to day activities as stakeholders with a rating of 1 – 3.
    
    Below is an example of a stakeholder communications plan.

    	Expectations	Priority	Communication Methods and Frequency
    Web Developers	Job role expectations Support when necessary from management	1	Weekly team meetings Weekly email outlining team meeting
    Database/server side manager	Job role expectations Support from team manager and senior management when necessary	1	Weekly team meetings Weekly management meetings Email as necessary
    Team Leader	Continual update of team activities and any serious issues and concerns raised by the team	1	Weekly management meetings Weekly email from Operations Manager outlining the teams activities
    CEO	Must be informed of any serious issues and concerns raised by team members relating to their role	2	Weekly management meetings Email as necessary
    IT Manager	Must be informed of teams progress	2	Weekly team meetings Weekly management meetings
    Clients	Information regarding any sales promotions	2	Monthly bulk email Marketing materials send by post on a monthly basis

• Step 4: Determine communication methods and frequency of communication. Once the stakeholders and their expectations have been identified and their priority determined, the means of communicating with them must be determined. Communication methods will need to be developed that provide stakeholders with information that is relevant, timely, and suited to their expectations. For example, the highest priority stakeholders may require face-to-face interactions, whereas lower priority stakeholders may only need to be informed of things via email. It is also useful to consider the benefit of informal communication methods when it comes to relationship building. For example, as a manager you may be competing with managers from other organisations for a supplier’s or client’s time. Engaging these stakeholders in informal ways can help to establish a long-term relationship. Some examples of formal and informal communication methods are included in the following extract.

As a team leader it is your responsibility to communicate information that you receive from senior management to your team. You may receive this information in many ways such as in face-to-face meetings, management meetings, or through reports sent to you by your own manager. This type of communication within an organisation is called downward communication. Downward communication occurs when messages and information flow ‘down’ through the organisation’s hierarchy from top to bottom.

Depending on the composition and role of the team, this may require the team leader to digest complex information and then simplify and distribute this information to appropriate team members. Alternatively, it may also simply be a case of re-communicating the information to all team members in a team meeting. Whichever method of communication is used, it must be suitable for the information being communicated and the needs of the team or individual team members involved. Some of the key points managers should remember when communicating this information include:

1. Adjust the information to match the team member’s needs: Often information received from upper management will be quite complex. It may be in the form of a financial report which not all team members would be able to understand and act upon. Therefore, the manager may need to spend time updating this information into a form that is more easily absorbed by team members.
2. Always keep a record of what is communicated to team members: If team managers are given the task of communicating information to team members, they are then held accountable for the team members having received this information. There should be no questions as to whether team members have been informed on information communicated by senior management. Managers should keep a record of what was communicated and when. This way if performance problems arise the team manager can assure the team members that they were informed about the organisation’s expectations of their work.
3. Provide team members with a record of what is communicated: While a manager may be satisfied that team members have heard and understood what is expected of them, it should not be assumed that they will remain aware of their responsibilities. In order to ensure they remain aware consider providing team members with a summary of what was communicated so they have a record that they can refer back to. For example, after a team meeting a manager should send an email to all team members outlining the minutes of the meeting including any important issues raised and a summary of their responsibilities.

Some of the potential communication methods that may be used to communicate downward information from management to the team include:

• Team meetings: The most common and often the most effective method of communicating information to teams is through team meetings. If a manager has been given information that applies to the whole team, then a team meeting where this information is communicated to the team in a consultative environment will be the most efficient method. However, it is important that there is a record of this communication is made. This is done by recording minutes of the meeting as well as any important issues raised by the team in the team meeting. After the meeting, the manager should provide all team members with a summary of the key points covered and issues raised.
• One-on-one meetings: If a manager needs to communicate information that only applies to one member of the team, then a team meeting is unnecessary. Often a one-on-one meeting is the best way of ensuring a team member understands what is being communicated.
• Emails: Sometimes a manager might receive information from senior management that will not require a team meeting or discussion. This may be because it is a relatively simple instruction or because it only relates to one member or a section of the team. In this situation the manager may communicate using email. The benefit of communicating by email is that there is a record of the communication that took place and the time it took place. It is good practice for the team manager to require team members respond and confirm that they have received and understood the contents of this email.
• Visual aids: This should be used in conjunction with other communication methods. By placing visual cues such as posters in the workplace, team members are constantly reminded of key aspects of their responsibilities on an ongoing basis. While these responsibilities should first be communicated through a different, more direct means of communication, visual cues can be a beneficial addition to a team manager’s communication techniques.

Team leaders and managers are also responsible for communicating information from their team to management. Often the feedback that a manager receives from their team is highly beneficial information that is useful to senior management to guide their understanding of day-to-day operations. This might include suggestions on how to increase efficiency in production or it may involve bringing a matter regarding workplace health and safety to the attention of management. This type of communication within an organisation is called the upward flow of information. Upward communication is the flow of information from frontline employees and managers ‘upwards’ through the organisational hierarchy to senior management.

Common methods used to communicate upward information from team members to senior management, via their team manager include:

• Management meetings: A management meeting may be conducted between one or more team managers and senior management. In a group management meeting, team managers can come together and talk about the performance of their teams and collaborate about how best to manage performance issues. This is also a useful time to discuss issues raised by team members. If the issue is raised by multiple team managers, it will give an indication of the importance of the issue. As with all meetings, it is important that the outcomes of the meeting are recorded and distributed to participants after the meeting has taken place.
• One-on-one meetings: If a team manager needs to communicate a serious issue raised by their team members, or if the issue involves privacy concerns, the best way to communicate with senior management is in one-on-one meetings.
• Emails: It is often not possible to meet in person with senior management. This may be due to managers being geographically spread across a number of locations or simply because of time constraints. By communicating through email, managers can communicate efficiently and a record of the information will be made automatically and recorded.

The importance of following-up

One of the most important factors in managing a team is to display leadership and gain the respect of your team members. When team members know that their manager is listening to their concerns and acting on them, they will accept their manager’s leadership more readily. Just because information is passed on to a more senior level of management, this does not mean that the information will be acted upon. It is therefore necessary for managers to display leadership and ensure that their team’s issues are being heard and acted upon by senior management.

Not all issues, complaints and concerns raised by team members will be resolved, however a successful team manager will ensure that these issues are both heard and seen to be heard. If the issue raised is to be acted upon, then managers should inform their team of this. Likewise, if issues are not able to be resolved the manager must also communicate this to team members, providing an explanation as to why the issue could not be resolved. This may require the team manager following up with senior management to check on the status of the issues they have raised. Communicating the status of feedback may be incorporated into regular management meetings or it may be discussed on a one-on-one basis or through email.

This section we have discussed how a team manager can communicate information between senior management and their team. However, these are only two types of stakeholders involved in a team’s activities. Other stakeholders can also include employees external to the team, suppliers, sponsors, clients, or customers. Whether internal or external, each of these stakeholders has varying needs and team managers must ensure that their needs are met in the same way that their team members’ and senior managers’ needs are met. This will require not only listening to their concerns but also taking action to ensure that these problems are resolved.

Taking corrective action

Whether dealing with internal or external stakeholders, usually the first step to taking corrective action is to ascertain ‘what went wrong?’ An overarching goal of organisational management is to reduce the number of issues and concerns raised by stakeholders. This means when issues are raised, this information should be used to improve processes. Often when issues are continually raised by stakeholders this represents some deviation from an organisational process, or it may relate to this process not being adequate for the situation – which means this process will need to be redesigned. Some questions to consider includes:

Discuss Guide Questions

Following the 4 Ws and 2Hs format can be helpful in crafting a more comprehensive corrective action plan. Consider asking these sample questions to facilitate a planning session with your team:

• What should be done to correct the issue?
• Who should be responsible for implementing these corrective actions?
• When and how often should the corrective actions be carried out?
• Where should the corrective action documentation take place?
• How can we make sure that these corrective actions prevent recurrence?

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Other than using these questions as a guidance, there are several crucial steps in taking corrective actions to resolve issues and concerns raised by stakeholders. Outlined below are the steps:

• Define the problem – it is always important to first identify and define the problem as well as the desired outcome. Without the desired outcome, it may be difficult to come up with a corrective action plan and work towards the outcome.
• Establish the scope of the problem – understanding the severity of the issue and how it will affect the organisation. Do note that they should look into the issue within the context of its occurrence.
• Take containment actions – the process to resolve the root cause of the issue takes time. Therefore, containment issues should be implemented to address any pressing problems to prevent further issue.
• Find the root cause of the problem – at this stage, you must be cautious that the root cause of the problem is not just surface-level issue.
• Plan corrective actions to fix the root cause – create a plan to address the root cause. Create SMART goals and assign feasible due date as well as included the stakeholders involved and their specific roles. Depending on your specific role and organisation’s procedure, you may need to get approval for funding.
• Implement the corrective action plan – be thorough and cautious with every aspect of the implementation of the action plan.
• Follow up to ensure the plan worked – schedule a final debrief to inform the team about any changes to operations or workflows. Follow up an appropriate time to check the corrective action plan resolved the problem.

The next step after taking corrective action is to communicate these changes to stakeholders. This may require redesigning organisational documents like the team charter and performance plans. Ultimately, whatever action is taken, it is important to keep the relevant stakeholder informed about what is being done. Just like your team, stakeholders will be happiest when they feel acknowledged and that their concerns are being taken seriously. And of course, keep all relevant stakeholders updated about the progress of these changes and when these changes are made.

In this section you learned how to maintain open communications with stakeholders using a stakeholder communications plan. You then learned how information is communicated in organisations from management to employees and from employees back to management. Finally, you learned how to manage problems and concerns raised by all stakeholders and take corrective action when necessary. By implementing the processes and strategies that you have learned about throughout this Study Guide, you will be able to lead and manage a successful team.