Stakeholder maps give program leaders a useful view of formal authority, however informal influence can shift stakeholder positions. A more dynamic view helps leaders understand what’s really shaping delivery when progress stalls.
In complex programs, people rarely make decisions as neatly as the governance structure suggests. Program leaders can put the right forums in place and map their stakeholders carefully yet still hit multiple unexpected roadblocks or watch support for a particular direction change without warning.
Often this happens because people continue the conversation outside those formal structures. Senior stakeholders discuss issues before governance meetings, and trusted advisers shape how decision makers see an issue. Influential operational leaders can build support or resistance behind the scenes. Key stakeholders may have already formed their positions by the time the official governance forum meets.
Program leaders who rely too heavily on the stakeholder map can easily miss what’s happening around it. They may also diagnose an organisational or political issue as a delivery problem and respond accordingly to address the symptom rather than the cause.
In complex programs, knowing who holds formal authority only takes you so far. Leaders also have to understand who influences those people and how those relationships affect the decisions they make.
Mature PMOs can use their portfolio insight to contribute earlier to executive decision-making. To do that well, they also need a good understanding of how people form and influence those decisions before they reach the formal governance table.
Why a stakeholder map has a short shelf life
Stakeholder mapping is completed early on in the project and usually captures a point in time. Yet complex programs can run for years, while the organisation around them continues to change.
People might come and go, and business priorities can change. As the implications of the transformation become clearer, stakeholders may also reassess what it means for them and their part of the business. People who initially supported a program may become less enthusiastic once it starts affecting their area.
The network of influence around those stakeholders changes as well. A trusted adviser may gain more access to an executive, while an operational leader who had little interest during planning may become highly influential as implementation approaches. Program leaders can’t therefore assume that the relationships they mapped at the beginning of the program will continue to shape decisions in the same way throughout delivery.
In complex transformation environments, stakeholder management is an ongoing exercise in reading the organisation.
Program leaders must watch how people respond as the program progresses and recognise when the dynamics that influence a key decision have changed. A stakeholder map might still provide a useful baseline, but the conversations happening around the program often tell leaders when that map no longer reflects the environment they’re working in.
Spotting informal influence on program decisions
Program leaders won’t always have visibility of the conversations influencing a stakeholder’s position, but they can pay attention to changes in behaviour.
For example, if a decision that seemed straightforward is stuck in a perpetual loop, or if a stakeholder who previously backed the program is suddenly reluctant to commit, it may be a sign that something outside the formal decision-making process is influencing the outcome.
When these patterns emerge, the immediate delivery issue may only tell part of the story. Another escalation or an additional layer of governance won’t necessarily address what’s changed. Someone outside the formal governance structure may be influencing the conversation, or the program may have started to affect an area of the business that previously had little reason to engage.
Program leaders often build a fuller picture by staying connected to what’s happening, beyond formal stakeholder engagement.
Relationships across the organisation give program leaders another source of insight into what’s affecting a decision. They can provide context around changing stakeholder positions and uncover concerns that are yet to reach the formal governance process.
How independent assurance shows what internal teams can’t see
Internal program teams operate within the same environment they’re trying to understand. They know the personalities and history and often have established relationships with the people involved. While that knowledge is valuable, it can also make some dynamics harder to recognise, particularly when the team is close to the issue itself.
An independent perspective creates some distance from those relationships and the internal politics surrounding the program. Experienced assurance partners can look beyond whether the formal governance is working as designed and assess whether it reflects how people are actually making and influencing decisions.
When repeated delays or resistance suggest that the problem extends beyond delivery, that outside perspective can help sponsors and executives understand what else may be affecting the program.
Look beyond governance when a program stalls
A well-run program can have sound governance with the right stakeholders at the table and still struggle to make progress. When the formal picture says the program should be moving but the reality says otherwise, often the cause sits in relationships and conversations around the governance structure that it wasn’t designed to capture.
Leaders who can read influence around key stakeholders typically have more context for decisions that the governance process alone cannot provide and can serve the program better by bringing in an independent lens to gain a clearer answer for what is actually holding it back.
The answers rarely point to more governance, but a different set of questions about what – or who – is really shaping the decision.
Quay Consulting is a professional services business specialising in the project landscape, transforming strategy into fit-for-purpose delivery. Meet our team or reach out to have a discussion today.