Stakeholder mapping and prioritisation workshop

Owned by Nicole Mc Neilly
Last updated: Aug 17, 2023
3 min read

Any discussion of impact means thinking about who you are having (or would like to have) impact for. However, you can’t create, or try to create, impact for everyone. You will need to prioritise.

The best way to do this is as a team, with a variety of people who are likely to understand your stakeholders from different perspectives. Adding this diversity to the group will strengthen your outcomes.

About the exercise

Who is involved? Team work

Time: 1.5 hours

Resources needed: paper to brainstorm on or a prepared digital canvas for online workshops; pens, post-it notes

Learning goals:

  • Better understanding of who your work impacts directly and indirectly

  • Inspired to be more focused on create impact for specific stakeholders

Results: full and prioritised list of stakeholders

Step 1: introduction and setting the scene (0 - 15 minutes)

  • Welcome everyone

  • Short ice-breaker or round of introductions if not everyone knows each other

  • Introduce the objectives of the meeting and anticipated results

  • Share an overview of the meeting structure and schedule

  • Introduce the exercise and organise everyone into small breakout groups

Step 2: stakeholder mapping (breakout groups) (15 - 35 minutes)

Instructions

1. Brainstorm. Write down (in a list, on post-its, or on your digital whiteboard) who you think the direct beneficiaries of your work are. Then you might think about who the indirect beneficiaries of your work are. You can discuss as you go, or brainstorm first then cluster and discuss the suggestions later.

For example, it might look like this - this is a list for a hypothetical local heritage digitisation project with schools.

Direct stakeholders (beneficiaries)

  • School teachers

  • Pupils

Indirect stakeholders (beneficiaries)

  • Parents, guardians, family of pupils involved

  • Funders

  • Local community

 

2. Group discussion. You might notice that you have a very long list, and that there are differences over who you think directly or indirectly benefits from your activities or for whom you are doing the activity for. Make sure that you allow enough time for discussion.

Next steps