Communication and stakeholder engagement

Communication is the people element in action. Every PRINCE2 report, meeting, review and handover is communication, and every stakeholder's view of a project is shaped by what they hear, when they hear it and from whom. PRINCE2 7 treats communication as a planned, controlled, two-way exchange between the project and its ecosystem, described in the communication management approach. This lesson covers how to identify and analyse stakeholders, plan engagement, design the communication management approach and check whether communication is working. Stakeholder negotiation and communication planning from a PMI perspective are covered in PMP-121.

Stakeholders in PRINCE2 terms

A stakeholder is any individual, group or organization that can affect, be affected by or perceive itself to be affected by a project. The last part of that definition matters: people who believe they will be affected behave as stakeholders whether or not the project agrees. Stakeholders include the board and team, but also users who are not represented directly, operational managers, support teams, customers, suppliers, regulators, unions, communities and the media. Some are supporters, some are sceptics and some do not yet know the project exists.

Stakeholder engagement is the process of identifying, analysing, planning and carrying out actions to influence and involve stakeholders. It is closely linked to leading change, because the groups most affected by change are often the most important stakeholders, and to the business case, because stakeholder support affects whether benefits are realized.

Identifying and analysing stakeholders

Identification starts with the mandate and the change impact assessment, and grows through workshops, interviews and the knowledge of board members and team managers. Analysis then asks, for each stakeholder: what is their interest in the project, how much influence do they have, what is their current attitude and what do we need from them? A widely used tool is the power-interest grid, which places stakeholders according to their power to affect the project and their interest in it.

Engagement levels and gaps

A second useful analysis compares each stakeholder's current level of engagement with the level the project needs. A simple five-point scale runs from unaware, through resistant, neutral and supportive, to leading. Where the gap between current and desired is large, the project needs deliberate engagement actions. Where a stakeholder is already supportive and needs to stay that way, light-touch communication may be enough.

The communication management approach

In PRINCE2 7 the communication management approach is the management product that describes how the project will communicate with its stakeholders. It is created during initiation, approved by the board as part of the project initiation documentation and reviewed at each stage boundary. It typically covers who needs what information, why, in what format, how often, from whom and through what channel, as well as how feedback will be gathered and how the approach itself will be evaluated.

Note that the senior user and line managers, not the project manager, send messages to staff about the change. That reflects the point from lesson 5: people take their cues from their own leaders. The project manager drafts and coordinates, but the most important messages about change should come from those who lead the business.

Two-way communication

Communication that flows only outward is broadcasting. PRINCE2 7 stresses that communication should be two-way: the project needs to hear concerns, ideas, risks and reactions as much as stakeholders need to hear about progress. Feedback routes such as question sessions, surveys, user representatives, suggestion channels and informal conversations give stakeholders a voice and give the project early warning of problems. Feedback that is gathered but never acted on, however, damages trust faster than no feedback at all, so the project should close the loop by showing what it heard and what it did.

PRINCE2 reports as communication

Many of PRINCE2's management products are communication tools. Checkpoint reports carry information from team managers to the project manager. Highlight reports carry it from the project manager to the board. End stage reports and exception reports support board decisions. The end project report and lessons report carry information to the business layer and future projects. Designing these well is part of communication. A highlight report that runs to twenty pages is unlikely to be read; one that shows status against tolerances, key risks, decisions needed and forecasts on a single page is more likely to support management by exception.

Inclusive and accessible communication

Stakeholders differ in language, literacy, digital access, disability and preferred channels. Communication that works for head office managers may not reach shift workers without email, people who need screen readers or communities who prefer another language. An inclusive approach offers several channels, uses plain language and follows accessibility standards for documents and web content.

In Canada, federal institutions must respect the Official Languages Act, which means communications with the public and many internal communications must be available in English and French. Federally regulated organizations have duties under the Accessible Canada Act, and Ontario organizations have duties under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, including accessible web content. A project in these settings should build bilingual and accessible communication into its plans and budget from the start.

Is communication working?

Communication should be evaluated, not assumed. Simple measures include whether stakeholders can correctly state key facts about the change, attendance and participation at briefings, the number and nature of questions received, survey results and changes in engagement levels over time. The communication management approach should say how and when these checks will happen, and stage boundaries are a natural point to review and adjust it.

Information overload and message design

More communication is not always better. Stakeholders who receive frequent, long or irrelevant messages stop reading them, and then miss the ones that matter. Good message design starts with the audience: what do they need to know, what do they need to do, and by when? A short message that leads with the action required, explains why in a sentence or two and points to further detail for those who want it will usually be read. Consistent subject lines or labels help people recognize project messages and decide which to read first.

It also helps to separate information from decisions. A highlight report that buries a request for a board decision on page six risks the decision being missed. Many project managers put decisions needed at the top of every report, with a deadline, so that board members can act even if they read nothing else. The same principle applies to staff messages: if people must complete training by a certain date, say so in the first line.

Finally, communication must be consistent. When the project, the program, line managers and suppliers all send messages, they can contradict each other. A shared calendar of planned communications and a single source of key facts, such as dates and locations, reduce the risk of mixed messages that undermine trust.