Stakeholder mapping and engagement

The effectiveness of a targeted youth support (TYS) project is to a large extent dependent on the involvement of all relevant organisations and people. It is therefore critical that stakeholders should be identified at the beginning and involved throughout the change project.

Stakeholder mapping ensures stakeholders are communicated to and consulted with throughout the change process. This helps keep them motivated, delivers wide buy-in and commitment, and ensures that decisions are made in the confidence all parties are included and involved. It also helps ensure sign-off procedures are clear.

The TYS project operates in a political environment and this needs to be managed to ensure the best outcome for TYS. Understanding stakeholders' emotional and political needs is critical. 

Once stakeholders have been identified and mapped, the project sponsor and project manager should engage the key stakeholders first at senior level, and subsequently at middle management level. Gaining real commitment at an early stage is critical later, when participants from across agencies need to make hard decisions about the amount of effort they put into the process. Gaining commitment from organisations outside the local authority is especially critical, eg health, police and the voluntary sector.

The sponsor should not underestimate the personal time engaging these stakeholders may take.

It is important to regularly revisit and build the original stakeholder map throughout the change process. Stakeholders may change position on the map as the process progresses, relationships may change and new stakeholders are likely to join the process. Young people, for example, are likely to identify new stakeholders they want to work with, or are already working with. At a minimum, there should be a formal review of stakeholders after Decision Point 2 and Decision Point 3.

Case studies

Pathfinder perceived to be imposing solutions without fully engaging key stakeholders
How one local authority reassessed its approach to stakeholder engagement following difficult early meetings.

Director of children's services helps to overcome an initial lack of multi-agency engagement
How the project manager needed support from the director of children's services in engaging with a wide range of stakeholders.

Click for other activities supporting the Mobilise stage of the targeted youth support change process, or for an overview of the Mobilise stage.