The Stakeholder Influence Process is not a one-off event. It should be reviewed and refreshed regularly until you have achieved your goal, or the goal is no longer critical for your valuable time and attention.
There are two main ways to do a review…
- A Key Question Review where you review your progress, learning, and decide what to do next, or
- A Process Step Review where you take a fresh look at one of the steps in the process to find creative new opportunities for advancing your goal.
Whichever review you do, make sure to have a copy of your Stakeholder Influence Map in front of you, or better still on the wall so the whole team can see it!
Each type of review requires a slightly different frame of mind; so if you are tempted to do them both in a single session, try to put a clear structure in place, otherwise you are likely to lose momentum and wander around the topics more than you need to do. Do the Key Question Review part first, then stop, take a break and then do the Process Step Review. At the end of the session, pull together your ideas from both types of review when deciding how to refresh your strategy or refocus your action.
When combining both reviews, set an even time limit for both, perhaps 15 minutes each. Be strict when the time is up!
I cannot stress highly enough the benefit of including others in your deliberations. Nobody is able to see everything, and ambitious people are particularly prone to closing down alternative views as they focus more determination on their goal. If you are working with a team, get them up to speed with the Stakeholder Influence Process. Share it with your boss and even your stakeholders. The more people you can include in your thinking, the richer you will become; richer in insight, action and probably financial rewards!
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