Stakeholder Influence Mapping
A Methodical Approach to Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder Influence Mapping is the process through which we identify centers of influence (both individuals and organizations) to inform and guide constituent engagement. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the source selection decision-makers, evaluators, and influencers.Why Stakeholder Maps Are Essential
To really know the stakeholders, your team needs to understand the larger ecosystem that sits around the stakeholders and how all the elements interact with each other. Maps place key decision-makers in the context of their story.
Without a thorough understanding of what defines each stakeholder category, any outreach from your team will be limited.
How We Build Our Stakeholder Matrices
Our stakeholder maps are organized into three multi-layered dimensions, the influence map, stakeholder profiles, and the engagement plan.Influence Map
The Influence Map illustrates the ecosystem in which the stakeholders operate, to provide context for existing and new information. This analysis identifies and categorizes; your champions and the program champions; key decision makers and influencers; and other critical constituents. We lay out the connections between stakeholders and assess their relative impact on the program.
The Influence Map helps us understand what sits beneath stakeholder behavior. Taking into consideration the experiences and environments that shape what stakeholders believe, what matters to them, how they act, and how that affects the ecosystem around them.
Stakeholder Profiles
Stakeholder profiles are a more granular look at the individuals on the Influence Map. We develop profiles for key stakeholders, detailing:
Key facts: what their role is, relationship to key decision makers (if not them) and their influence, other insights and implications, and where else they connect.
The degree of their influence: Do they make/approve decisions? Do they advise?
Their background: Past roles and associations are the lens through which they are looking at your program.
Their interests and behaviors (stated and observed): their mission, political, economic, aspirational, international views and how these views show up in their actions. This includes what they think of the program (and you).
Stakeholder profiles provide timely and accurate assessment of where individual personalities are at any time in the stakeholder map. They help your team identify and your specific program strengths and weaknesses to support win strategy messaging and actions. Our best work connects across multiple maps.
Engagement Plan
Laying out and naming all the connections surfaces networks that are not obvious at first glance. This helps set the foundation for an effective engagement plan. Understanding how these centers of influence fit together allows your team to activate stakeholders who may not be the direct decision-makers, but whose interests can meaningfully shape the outcome.
For example, the Navy may be the customer for a particular capability, but that capability may directly support Marine Corps amphibious operations. In that case, the Marine Corps represents another potential center of influence. Building support within the Marine Corps (and creating demand that can be expressed through the fleet) can strengthen the case with the ultimate decision-maker.
The Engagement Plan translates the data into action across two areas:
Constituent engagement: Who does your team need to influence? How should you engage them? What messages, evidence, and actions will resonate based on their interests, priorities, and position within the ecosystem?
Nontraditional pathways: What less obvious nodes of influence can your team activate? Where are there relationships, constituencies, or channels outside the traditional decision-making structure that can create additional momentum?
With this, your team will be able to identify the most direct path to a decision and the network of stakeholders who can reinforce the need, shape the conversation, and influence the outcome.
Contact us to build a Stakeholder Influence Map
