Stakeholder Matrix
Map influence and interest across internal and external stakeholders.
Stakeholder mapping plots influence vs interest (or support) to prioritise engagement — who to manage closely vs monitor.
Projects fail from invisible blockers. Stakeholder maps guide communication and political risk mitigation.
Enterprise sales, regulated deployments, internal transformation, partnership deals.
- List internal/external stakeholders.
- Score influence and interest.
- Place on grid; define engagement tactic per quadrant.
- Update after major meetings or org changes.
- Real names/roles, not generics.
- Tactics per quadrant.
- High influence opponents have plans.
- Stale map after leadership change.
- Ignoring low-interest high-power regulators.
- Map without engagement actions.
Northvale Systems stakeholders: high power/high interest = CIO and procurement; suppliers high interest/low power — keep informed with roadmap webinars.
Acme Analytics deal: CFO high influence/high interest champion; IT security high influence/medium interest — weekly security office hours planned.
Harbor Consulting plant project: union rep medium/high — consulted early on shift changes; owner high/high — weekly steering.
Clearwater Initiative stakeholders: district officials high power; community chairs high interest; keep donors informed without overriding local priorities.
/org stakeholder-matrix, IDs STK-01. Used in enterprise GTM and org planning.
Related techniques
Sources & further reading
- Mendelow, A. (1991). Stakeholder mapping. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Information Systems.