Introduction
In an ID project, there are
different kinds of stakeholders. A project manager must have the ability to
manage and deal with different people (Murphy, 1994).
When referring to my team, I
always compare a project team to a band. An instructional design project cannot
be implemented successfully without the whole band being fully engaged. Well
informed, engaged stakeholders can provide the project with insights, views,
share guidance and opinions that are vital to the instructional design project.
A critical part of the engagement is having them understand what the project is
all about, the benefits, their roles, how they can support the project and how
the project would support them.
At my workplace the key
stakeholders are the members of the executive team that includes the chief of
Human Resources (the budget owner), respective Chiefs who requests for specific
programs to be developed for the business and staff development, the banks
staff, my line manager, marketing and communication team, senior managers,
subject matter experts, IT team and the other two learning and development
managers ( virtual learning is a key driver to deliver training programs, a
virtual learning manager hence works as a link between the other two learning
and development manager) . All these stakeholders have interest in the outcomes
of the Instructional Design projects. It is important to identify your
stakeholders and obtain their buy in early on in the project to ensure success
of an ID project. TechRepublic (http://www.techrepublic.com/) shares a simple form that
identifies the stakeholders, their roles in the project, importance and impact
etc.
Source http://www.techrepublic.com/
Three examples of the types of
people in an organization who could cause re-work or otherwise negatively
impact an ID project.
Responding to this question is
like attending a therapy session of a situation I am currently in. Before I
start lamenting on the situation, it’s important to know that just because
someone disagrees with us, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are difficult. That
being cleared, I must say, some people thrive on being difficult and find every
way to demonstrate their competence in the field e.g. differing opinions
to the extent that no one can move ahead, disengaged SME who chooses not to
respond to emails, never send contents and documents on time (or submit wrong
versions) and try to avoid you at the canteen, the bossy ones who wants you to
change a memo to an e-learning course ---the list is ongoing (welcome to my
world).
Allow
me to share three personalities that in my view can cause re-work.
Personality
|
Features
|
Strategies on how to deal with them
|
When to engage during the project process
|
Sherman tanks
|
·
The want everybody to agree with their view point, they
literally get angry, can be abusive, attacking, intimidating and
confrontational when you disagree with them. They often cause the project not
to proceed especially if they are the sponsors.
|
·
Give them an opportunity to air their thoughts.
·
Communicate your views, plans and targets in a
non-confrontational manner
·
Explain consequences of continuing e.g. disagreeing
·
Escalate to get more assistance and inform that you will be
seeking assistance.
|
Initial phase of the project
|
Know-it-all-experts
|
These are in their own
league. They are very productive, they share details, facts and knowledge.
They are accurate and good planners ---and that’s when things get tough: -
they believe their input should suffice, they can hardly wait for others
thoughts and often make decisions that could hurt the entire project.
E.g. Can we add this item to the project, and another item?
Introducing budget, time and resources issues.
|
I usually node and show that I am listening to them. I try to
avoid confrontations at any time. I acknowledge their experience and
expertise while asking for more details (letting them be the experts) and
communicate what exactly I want/need.
|
Implementation and initial stage
|
Indecisive
|
They can’t just make decisions, they delay things because they
do not want to upset or hurt other people. Sometimes these people are
perfectionists and want to have high standards regardless of the timelines
etc.
|
Provide information, clarity, structure, engagement at every
little step to help them make an informed decision. Share policies and
procedures to reassure decisions are aligned. I also bank on my ability to
develop trust and good work relationships so they get comfortable in making
decisions.
|
Initial stage
|
What I have seen working best
is having the emotional intelligence to deal with different personality types,
listening, understanding and collaboration – i.e. ‘’seek first to understand
then to be understood’’ – Stephen Covey’s habits of highly effectively people
as mentioned in the project management minimalist (pg. 48)
Reference
Murphy, C. (1994). Utilizing project management techniques in the design of
instructional materials. Performance & Instruction, 33(3), 9–11.
Laureate Education, Inc.
(Executive Producer). (n.d.). Project management concerns: ‘Scope creep’ [Video
file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Elliott, L. (2007, June 08).
Use these two forms to analyze your stakeholders - Page 1027920. Retrieved
January 18, 2017, fromhttp://www.techrepublic.com/article/use-these-two-forms-to-analyze-your-stakeholders/1027920/
Portny, S. E., Kramer, B. E.,
Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., & Shafer, S. M. (2007). Project management.
Chichester, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons.
