Thank leaders stakeholder triage. In any stakeholder analysis, there needs to be a quick and easy assessment, which will help us spot which stakeholders we're going to focus in on and what the core strategies are going to be for those stakeholders. And for me, that technique is stakeholder triage triage just means sorting. So what do we sort by? Well, you'll find lots of different stakeholder triage models, but my preferred one is to sort on two categories. Firstly, the extent to which the stakeholder is liable to support or oppose the change that you're trying to implement.

And the second is the impact they can have on your change project. So they may be a supporter they may be an opposer They may be able to have a lot of impact, or maybe just a little and that gives us four quadrants. And the nice thing about using these criteria for sorting is not only does it give us a very clear SOT but each of the four boxes has a very clear and compelling strategy to go alongside it. So, let's start off with the stakeholders who are likely in many cases to be your top priority. They can have a lot of impact on your program, but they don't like it. And therefore, because they don't like it, they're probably going to be highly motivated to try and get in way.

That's human nature. So they are likely to be your top priority. And your strategy is simple. It's one I call Whoo. And when we need to do everything that is lawful and ethical, to persuade them of the benefits of the change, and a reason to engage with it. Ideally you want to move them up into To The Top quadrant.

But even if you can't do that, as minimum, you want to neutralize as much of their opposition as possible. This second group to look at are those who have a lower impact, but who do support what you're trying to do. Now, there's not much you can do to give them more enthusiasm. But what you can do is highest enthusiasm they've got, the problem is they don't have a lot of impact. So we need to move them from their position to the right on the chart. So we need to inform them about what's going on.

So they feel informed, they stay motivated. And we also need to coach them into how they can be useful in supporting the change. If you were to write this less if you were to speak to this person, if you were to help us out with this piece of analysis. coaching them will help them to be more influential, and therefore to have a greater impact on the success of your project. That will move them into the top right? Which is where our favorite people are.

They like what you're trying to do with the change. They're a supporter and they have a lot of impact. So what are we going to do about them? Well, we're going to engage them and employ them in helping us to persuade, particularly the people in the lower quadrant, who oppose, because if you tell someone that the change that you're leading is a good change, a wise change, something beneficial, they're likely responses gonna push. So what you would say that wouldn't you? If you can engage other people to say that on your behalf, we are far more likely to be influential.

The final group of people in the bottom left. Now these sad souls don't have a lot of impact. And they don't really like what you're trying to do. And there is a temptation to ignore them. And too many projects do that. And then I've got a problem because The reality is there's nobody in society who has no power.

And what if they have more power than you think they do to impact the project? What if they know someone? Or what if they band together and they work together to oppose it. So your first element of your strategy is to monitor them. If you find that they have a voice, and they have connections, that they are making more of an impact, then you can move them from one quadrant to the next. If on the other hand, they genuinely aren't impacting the project, you have to recognize that when you create change an organization chances are it will be complex and there will be winners and there will be losers.

And the reality is that no matter how well you design change, there will be some losers and these are them. You need to be honest with them. You need to look them in the eyes. So yes, you're going to lose out but here's what we can do to help you. But ultimately, you're stuck. Is to outvote them to make the change happen anyway.

And to do as much as you can to minimize the distraction that they pose, of course, you're going to try to persuade them with the benefits, but they don't have as much impact as the people to the right on the chart. And therefore the efforts you will put in will be less said there you have it, four categories of stakeholder giving rise to four strategies. But there's one more that you need to be aware of those people who straddle the line, they're neither opposes, nor are they supporters, not because they have no opinion, but because they haven't yet made their mind up. These should be your urgent top priority. These are the floating voters, the fence sitters, who with a gentle push will fall to one side or another. And you need to be the one who makes that gentle push at the outset.

So stakeholder triage is a valuable tool. One of my favorites, one that you should be using in the early stages of your stakeholder analysis.