When capturing a Stakeholder in Insight, you are asked to select the influence and impact level a Stakeholder has on a project-by-project basis. However, it can sometimes be confusing as to what this actually means. Do we mean how much impact there is on the Stakeholder? Does influence mean how much influence the project has on Stakeholder?

To clear this up, Stakeholder influence describes the level of involvement the person has in your change initiative, and their impact can be described as the ability of the stakeholder to help achieve the desired change.

In Serendata Insight terms, this effectively means how much influence the stakeholder has over the success of the project's change objectives, and how much impact they can have on the outcomes you are trying to achieve. The influence and impact ratings you assign to your Stakeholders also help you understand what kind of engagement your stakeholders require and where to focus your team's attention.

Once you have captured the influence level and impact of your project Stakeholders in Serendata Insight, you can then classify those stakeholders into four quadrants of engagement. The most influential and impactful Stakeholders will require the most Stakeholder management and thus should be closely managed, whereas, although still important, stakeholders with a lower impact or influence in relation to the success of your change initiative may just be aware of your project objectives and on-going activities but do not need to be closely engaged.

It is important to spend some time accurately capturing your Stakeholder influence and impact, as it will help your change team provide the right level of Stakeholder management to ensure your project and change initiative's success.