How to manage multiple projects
Dealing with multiple stakeholders is something every stakeholder engagement manager has to learn to juggle, especially in a public business.
Whilst internal stakeholders can cause plenty of trouble on their own, if you have a mix of customers, community groups, political parties, activist’s business partners and agencies all interested in your multiple projects and wanting their voices heard, you need a strategy to make it through the working week feeling like you are making progress.
So how can you support yourself (and keep your sanity) when managing multiple projects?
Plan for success
When you have multiple stakeholders, you need to have a strategic plan that takes you through from the initial stakeholder identification to how they are affected by your business.
You will also need to plan how to maintain ethical standards and offer transparency in your communications.
Be Inclusive and make sure you research your stakeholders correctly making sure local organisations, resident groups, and faith communities alike have been identified.
In addition, categorise by interest and influence. Identify and categorise all your stakeholders using a stakeholder mapping tool to manage how, where and when you should communicate with them.
This is the cornerstone of your success and will help reduce the massive overwhelm of not knowing who to contact and when.
Here are some of our top resources to help you identify, categorise and map your stakeholders:
- Why are stakeholders important
- Finding Stakeholders Using Search Engines
- Stakeholder Analysis: Definition, Examples and Template
- A Guide to Categorising Stakeholders
- The Stakeholder Mapping Complete Guide
- Create an effective stakeholder strategy plan
Create an editorial calendar
Editorial calendars are used in marketing and communications to help you see at a glance, and also in detail, some of the communications you are sending, when and why.
Not only does this bring you clarity, but it also helps to create trust in your activities when you have a clear showcase of events that you can share with anyone.
Here are a few resources to help you find a calendar that’s right for you:
Stack your communications
Effective stakeholder communication is the real key to great stakeholder engagement and if you get the right channel and the right time, there can’t be too much of it.
The requirements and needs of each stakeholder are different but it’s safe to say most of them need some regular updates.
By using your editorial calendar you can plan this in-person, telephone and e-mail communication and build these partnerships up.
We would recommend that whatever methods you take, all the information is saved in one place.
You might think that an email conversation is nothing much - until it becomes very important indeed. Keep everything logged and stored.
You can use spreadsheets and email, however, not only is this a potential GDPR risk but this method is also fallible to errors.
More resources to help you:
- Effective Ways to Communicate With Stakeholders
- Stakeholder Management in Spreadsheets Can Hinder Your GDPR Compliance
Get your reports in order
Part of stakeholder management is the ability to give a snapshot overview of what the ‘temperature’ is on any project at any given time.
Reports help you analyse your stakeholders' data in a more streamlined way and understand their relationship with your projects. This will help you identify points for improvement in your communications and make informed decisions moving forwards with your project.
One key tip would be to ensure that these reports are automated to the best of your abilities.
If you can automate them or have an interactive dashboard, you can see problems and issues as they arise and stay on top of any situation.
Repeat this process in three or six months, compare it to your initial plan and you will be able to see your stakeholders' evolution and identify where you can improve!
The most efficient way to manage multiple stakeholder projects
If you’re struggling to enhance your communication with stakeholders because you feel overwhelmed, we can help.
Our complete stakeholder management & engagement software has been designed to offer everything you need to engage and manage stakeholders in one place.
Tractivity allows you to put your world in order. All your stakeholder engagement activities communication and insights live in one place, easily accessed by any team member.
Reports are auto-scheduled to arrive when and where they are needed. Surveys and email blasts are sent from one place, events can be created in minutes, and much more.
