Manage Stakeholder Engagement is the active work of building and maintaining stakeholder relationships: communicating, setting and managing expectations, addressing concerns, and resolving issues to keep stakeholders supportive. It puts the engagement plan into practice.
The PM leans on negotiation, conflict management, and cultural and political awareness to move stakeholders toward productive engagement and head off resistance before it hardens. Ground rules and timely issue resolution keep relationships healthy.
Common pitfalls. Engaging only when something is needed; ignoring early signs of resistance; treating all stakeholders identically; and letting issues sit in the log without resolution.
Inputs, Tools & Techniques, and Outputs
Inputs
- Project management plan
- Project documents
- Enterprise environmental factors
- Organizational process assets
Tools & Techniques
- Expert judgment
- Communication skills
- Interpersonal and team skills
- Ground rules
- Meetings
Outputs
- Change requests
- Project management plan updates
- Project documents updates
How This Process Connects
Every process hands artifacts to other processes. Follow the flow of this one:
Where its inputs come from
- Develop Project Management Planproduces: Project management plan
Where its outputs go
- Perform Integrated Change Controluses: Change requests
More in Project Stakeholder Management
In the Domains & Principles View
The PMBOK® Guide frames this work through performance domains and principles:
In the Eighth Edition
Manage Stakeholder Engagement keeps its name in the Eighth Edition. It is one of the 40 processes and sits in the Stakeholders performance domain.