Stakeholder interaction is an oft underappreciated aspect of successful project management that must be actively addressed if a project is to achieve its full potential. As (soon to be) RESS graduates, you are expected to be able to conceive and develop technically outstanding projects, but you must also be able to develop projects that succeed within their governmental, social, and cultural context. Stakeholder interaction is a key component to making that happen.
The purpose of working through the following Lynda.com lessons is to remind you how project managers works with potential and enrolled stakeholders. These tutorials are geared more towards how businesses and enterprise in general comprehend stakeholder relationships. What these video tutorials do not address is how we must further push our thinking about stakeholder engagement as a fundamental aspect of sustainability and sustainable systems. You have encountered issues concerning sustainability and stakeholders in numerous RESS courses and their lessons (from BIOET 533, EME 504, EME 805, EME 803, and others), and you are expected to approach stakeholder engagement aligned with those broader perspectives.
This is a fair question. If people are not actually doing the work, why should they be involved? Here are a few good reasons; perhaps you can think of others as well:
Building sustainable cities - and a sustainable future - will need open dialogue among all branches of national, regional and local government. And it will need the engagement of all stakeholders - including the private sector and civil society, and especially the poor and marginalized.
~ Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary-General
The key to effective stakeholder engagement is creation and implementation of a Stakeholder Interaction Plan. While some people and groups carry out stakeholder interaction plans on an informal basis, it is best to explicitly create a written plan to that can be reviewed and revised, thus ensuring that key groups or activities are not excluded. Every stakeholder interaction plan should include, at a minimum, the following elements: