A project portfolio is a set of initiatives that your organization is trying to accomplish within a time frame and with limited resources. As a project manager, you are responsible for a project and you control its follow-up.

You are the person responsible for its realization and success. In practice, your project portfolio is often managed by a project team. But how to involve stakeholders in project management.

1. Involve stakeholders in project management

Project portfolio management is one of the key success factors of an organization. 

Project management is carried out with the help of stakeholders

When you have to manage a project, you need to make sure that the management of the project is done with the help of the stakeholders. This allows you to ensure that they are involved in the project.

By setting up regular meetings, you can also regularly check that everything is going well.

After the implementation of the project, the stakeholders analyze the results obtained

Analyzing the results is an important step in your project because it is a time when you can evaluate your work and know if you have achieved your goals. It is also a time when you can determine whether or not you need to change your project strategy.

However, for this analysis to be truly useful, it is important that you are able to evaluate the work of your stakeholders.

Stakeholders are involved in project management

Stakeholder involvement is a way to give your stakeholders a say in the management of your project. This allows them to help you better understand your needs. It is also important to take into account their opinions on the project.

This ensures that everyone involved agrees with the project and helps you avoid any conflicts.

Stakeholders participate in meetings

When you hold a meeting, you should still bring all stakeholders together. This will ensure that all information is disseminated.

For example, you can make sure that all participants understand the purpose of the action, and that they all agree. This can help you avoid a lot of discussion and get results faster.

2. The stakeholders

In this blog, you will have the opportunity to discover the stakeholders of a business creation project. You will learn who these partners are, who you will meet during the project and what their functions are.

The sponsor

The sponsor is the person or company that supports a project and finances it. It is also the person who takes charge of a project, but does not finance it.

A sponsor can also be an intermediary, such as a privileged interlocutor. It can also be an intermediary between the promoter and the partners. It can also be an intermediary between the promoter and the media.

The consultants

When you work with a consultant, it is important to know how they work. This will allow you to know if you should let him work in the same way or not. Moreover, you must also know if you must intervene on his words.

This will let you know if you need to correct him/her if you don't think that what he/she is saying is correct. Finally, you also need to know if you should help him or her with what they are saying.

The people involved

When managing a project you have to take into account different people. This will allow you to keep a good balance in your project. In particular, you must take into account your partners, but also your customers. To do this, you usually need to hold working meetings, where you can discuss with them.

You must also consider the people who work under you. You must also consider the employees of your partners.

3. How to involve stakeholders in the management of your project portfolio

Stakeholders are interests or parties that have an impact on the success of a project.

They can be the company, the customer, employees, suppliers, parties outside the company (such as regulators), government, media and shareholders.

It is important to remember that each stakeholder plays a key role in the success of a project. 

Define clear project objectives

Within a project, you must have clear objectives. This allows you to evaluate the performance of each of your projects. It also allows you to determine if you have succeeded in your project.

This means that you need to decide on your project goals before you embark on the project. This will ensure that everyone is focused on the same thing.

Set fixed goals

When you are in charge of project management, you need to define clear objectives for yourself and for your stakeholders. This will allow you to deal with unforeseen situations.

This can be for example to define an end date or to make sure that the project is completed. It is also a way to check that the project is well done.

4. How to involve stakeholders in the management of your project portfolio?

Stakeholder involvement is a key success factor in project management. It is an essential component of project governance and must be integrated into the initial project definition so that stakeholders are involved in all stages of the project.

Stakeholder involvement is often overlooked in the start-up phase of projects, but results show that stakeholder engagement at all stages leads to higher performance.

What skills can the different stakeholders bring to the management of the projects?

When managing a project, you need to make sure you understand how different stakeholders can help you manage it. This is especially true when it comes to risk management.

So you need to be interested in their skills and know how to use them.

How to involve stakeholders in project management?

Involving stakeholders in the management of a project can be very useful. For example, it can help to ensure that you are meeting company standards. It is also possible to make sure that you manage projects efficiently. This allows you to avoid mistakes and delays.

What are the benefits of harnessing collective intelligence?

Collective intelligence allows you to make your project evolve by benefiting from the know-how of your employees and partners. It allows you, for example, to propose ideas from people who do not work in your company.

You can also gain a better understanding of your market and your customers. They can offer you ideas, and you can even ask them for their opinion on all or part of your project.

Conclusion

The project portfolio is one of the most important tools in project planning. It is a table linking the various projects of an organization and their planning. It provides a framework for the actions of the project, and more generally of the management, by ensuring that there is a clear commitment to the stakeholders.

However, stakeholders are often not really involved in the management of the project portfolio. This involvement can take place at different levels: organizational, technical, financial, ad hoc.