360° Stakeholder Mapping

OnTrackNorthAmerica has developed an innovative method for stakeholder identification and cataloging that supercharges facilitation, collaboration, and results for any challenge or opportunity. We have successfully used this method for over thirty years, advising on infrastructure projects across 47 U.S. states and Canadian provinces.

Stakeholder engagement is often stymied right from the start by the question, “Who are all the stakeholders?" The answer can seem indiscernible until you think out the list or catalog of stakeholder groups within an industrial system or geographic area. Once you have established that framework, you can focus on the relevant entities and individuals within each group. All stakeholders can then be identified and included. It’s no longer overwhelming. We have found a particular CRM software platform, Act!, to be well-suited for cataloging and accessing stakeholders by these groups and subgroups. Along with the IntelliSynthesis® dialogue methodology, 360° Stakeholder Mapping provides the essential tool for the level of collaboration and coordination required to address the world's most significant challenges.

360° Stakeholder Mapping is the solution for ensuring the effective participation of all stakeholders, including representatives from sectors like academia, advocacy, business, community, funders, government, labor, and media. Identifying who to include from each sector for a new initiative starts with thorough online research. However, the key is to engage with knowledgeable individuals in the industry or region to determine who needs to be part of the process. Consider these three questions to guide your thinking…

1. What is the ecosystem of stakeholders you want to engage to transform the results of that system?
2. What groups comprise all stakeholders in that arena and community?
3. What group and subgroup designations enable specific conversations with the stakeholders most involved with that subject?

Create your groups and subgroups based on what you think will help meet the project’s objectives. Assign each stakeholder to multiple groups by sector, role, and geography. Consider the geographic scope of the ecosystem. Sometimes, you may want to communicate with everyone in a specific county, region, state, or country, or organize stakeholders into geographic teams.

At other times, you might want to engage in conversations with all individuals who provide transportation services or work in the mining industry, whether in the private or public sector. For example, creating subgroups within a public-sector Uber group for federal, state, and local governments can be helpful. Since these individuals are likely to have other group assignments, you can efficiently gather cross-sector stakeholders around a specific topic.

This specificity demonstrates respect for stakeholders' time and energy, engenders trust and participation, and facilitates long-term engagement.

Collaboration and coordination require this method to provide relevant information to the appropriate people. Gathering input, perspectives, and commitments is remarkably efficient when you build an initiative’s stakeholder database in this manner. Industrial systems are for people, managed by people, and have an impact on people. With this practical approach to stakeholder facilitation, all the right people can redesign our industrial systems.