Systems Thinking: stakeholder analysis
This is the third in a series of notes based on the course called Systems Thinking in Public Health by Johns Hopkins University on Coursera
Understanding and engaging with stakeholders
Solving complex problems often involves identifying the right stakeholders and engaging them in a participatory manner. In scenarios where there are diverse stakeholder perspectives or when stakeholders are unknown altogether, it becomes necessary to to gather intelligence in order to obtain buy-in or build concensus.
Stakeholder analysis
First, it’s important to understand who and where the key stakeholders are and what their interests might be before reaching out and getting them involved so that you can anticipate what their position will be in relation to a policy change or intervenetion/program.
→ Phase 1: articulate a clear problem statement
The aim of the analysis must be clearly established (e.g., policy analysis, project implementation, management, etc.) to avoid getting lost in process and wasting efforts following tangents. The intended/expected outcomes of the policy change should be defined and the likely consequences outlined.
The context of the problem and the planned solution must also be understood (e.g., culture, factors that affect how to interact with stakeholders, whether/how data can be collected). Appraising the context can also help with systematically identifying and categorising key stakeholders within different groups with differing perspectives or power levels.
The time dimension of the analysis (retrospective, prospective) must also be established early on to guide any data collection or measurement elements of the project. The level at which the analysis will take place (e.g., local, regional, national, international) must also be defined with feasibility considerations in mind.
→ Phase 2: identify, map, profile and communicate with stakeholders
This is the data gathering phase. Data must be collected to learn about each stakeolder’s current level of power/influence to dentify their primary concerns/interests and categorize key stakeholders by power, influence, leadership and level of agreement with the policy proposal.
Phase 3: identify the power, position and perspectives of stakeholders
This is the analytical phase where stakeholders are classified/categorized and the main strategies to approach them are assessed. Data summary tools such as matrices/tables should be used to categorize the different stakeholders by level of power vs. interest that can be divided into quadrants of subgroups of stakeholders to inform engagement approaches (e.g., monitor apathetics with low power/interest, keep defenders with low power/high interest informed, keep latents with high power/low interest satisfied and manage promoters with high power/interest closely). There may be several other dimensions of interest to explore.
This should culminate in a plan for how to engage with and involve stakeholders, next steps for collaboration with key groups and how to monitor people’s behaviour and where to target the information that you now have available. Note that all levels of influence/power should be considered in the wider context of the problem. For example, involving lay people may be crucial to the implementation, capacity-building and longterm sustainability/impact of a program.
The engagement appraoch chosen will depend on the purpose, resources available and research constraints encountered. You should also periodically repeat this analysis as the program progresses and the nature of the problem evolves.
Previous and subsequent installments of these course notes focus on the applications of a systems thinking approach to problem solving in complex adaptive systems.
