360° Stakeholder Mapping

OnTrackNorthAmerica has pioneered an approach to stakeholder identification and cataloging that supercharges facilitation, collaboration, and results for any problem or opportunity. We have successfully applied this approach for over thirty years, advising on infrastructure projects in 47 U.S. states and Canadian provinces.

Stakeholder engagement has often been stymied from the outset by the question, “Who are all the stakeholders?" The answer can seem indiscernible until you think out the list or catalog of stakeholder groups comprising an industrial system or a geographic area. With that framework crystalized, you can zero in on each group's relevant entities and individuals. All stakeholders can 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. In addition to IntelliSynthesis®, OTNA provides this essential tool to enable the collaboration and coordination necessary to tackle the world's most pressing challenges.

360° Stakeholder Mapping is the solution for facilitating efficient participation of all stakeholders, including relevant representatives from these sectors: academia, advocacy, business, community, funders, government, labor, and media. Zeroing in on who to include from each sector for a new initiative begins with informative online research. However, the key is to dialogue with knowledgeable individuals in the industrial arena and region to learn who needs to be included.

Three questions to stimulate your thinking…

What is the ecosystem of stakeholders you want to engage to transform the results of that system?

What groups comprise all stakeholders in that arena and community?

What group and subgroup designations enable specific conversations with the stakeholders most involved with that subject?

Create your groups and subgroups while thinking about the project’s objectives. Think about the ecosystem's geographic extent. Designate each stakeholder in multiple groups by sector, roles, and geography. Sometimes, you want to communicate with everyone in a specific county, region, state, or country or organize stakeholders into geographic teams. At other times, you may wish to convene a dialogue with all the folks who provide transportation services or work in mining, whether in the private or public sector. So, for instance, you may benefit from creating Federal, state, and local government subgroups within a "Public sector" (uber) group. Since these people will be assigned multiple group designations, you can effectively convene cross-sector stakeholder discussions for specific subject areas.

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

Industrial systems are for people, managed by people, and impact people. The fundamental requirement for large-scale collaboration and progress is to relate to the appropriate people. Delivering and receiving input, perspectives, and commitments is magnificently efficient when you build an initiative’s participant database through 360° Stakeholder Mapping. With this practical approach to stakeholder facilitation, all the right people can redesign our industrial systems.