What's the best way to update stakeholders on your project?

Updating stakeholders effectively involves identifying key stakeholders and understanding their communication preferences. Choosing suitable communication methods, such as meetings, reports, or presentations, is crucial. Prepare concise yet comprehensive content, tailored to each stakeholder's needs, and format it appropriately. When delivering updates, engage stakeholders actively, inviting feedback and addressing concerns. Evaluate the effectiveness of your update, gather input for improvement, and adapt your communication strategies accordingly. Additionally, factors like timeliness, transparency, and clarity significantly impact successful stakeholder updates.

Communication is key! 📢🔑 I'd identify stakeholders and understand their information needs. Choosing the proper communication methods—meetings, emails, or reports—ensures the message is received. Preparing explicit, concise, and relevant content for stakeholders is crucial. Engagingly delivering updates encourages feedback and dialogue. After communicating, evaluating the effectiveness of the update helps improve future communications, ensuring stakeholders are informed, involved, and supportive throughout the project lifecycle.

Before you can update anyone, you need to make sure that the stakeholder register is updated. There is no blanket answer on how to communicate with your stakeholders, as each stakeholder may wish to be communicated with differently. Having a well-documented stakeholder communication plan is incredibly helpful so that you can meet the agreed-upon expectations.

If you are a part of the any project, you know your stakeholders from day 01. So in my opinion, it is better to have a Status Review Report based on the various stakeholders. It can be weekly for all but for a core team it is on daily basis so deliverables are ensure on timely manner. It should be a email and then need basis calls to ensure that project milestones are achieved.

One effective way to update stakeholders on your project as a health 4.0 AI developer is to provide regular, concise, and transparent communication. Prepare a clear and comprehensive summary of project progress, including key milestones, achievements, and challenges. Utilize visual aids such as charts and graphs to present data more effectively. Tailor your update to the needs and interests of each stakeholder, highlighting the benefits and impact of your AI development in the healthcare field. Encourage feedback and address any concerns promptly to maintain stakeholder engagement and support.

I have to say I really don't like the word "communication methods" - it feels like a one-way flow. You telling them! Change your mindset to how we will engage. Consider asking the stakeholders how they would like to engage. Make sure the time has been set aside for proper engagement to occur. And most importantly when you do engage - ensure you are using the stakeholders voice, addressing their concerns with respect to your project. That means we need more than just a log of interactions against stakeholders but most importantly a plan against the agendas of stakeholders.

Engagement should always be a two way approach. Talk WITH your stakeholders and not merely TO them. Give them confidence that they can come to you with thoughts, ideas, concerns etc. learn to LISTEN and not just HEAR what they are saying. Coffee and a sticky bun works wonders as an informal way to chat with your stakeholders - it might surprise you how much information you gain from this.

"Horses for courses" is the key phrase to remember. This dictates both HOW to communicate, the FREQUENCY and WHO should own the communication. For example - those segmented as low interest & influence can be sent an short update prepared by the project team by email infrequently - those with high influence (especially if not supportive) may need communication owned by the Sponsor Lastly, as a PM, always remember that your most important stakeholder is your Sponsor so please, please pick up the phone if you have bad news to communicate.

In my experience, for stakeholders spread across different time zones, asynchronous communication methods like detailed emails or shared dashboards proved effective. However, for critical updates, scheduling synchronous video calls is preferred to address immediate concerns.

Once stakeholders are identified, strategically select communication methods aligned with their needs. Consider purpose, frequency, and complexity, along with stakeholder preferences. Options include email, phone, video calls, reports, presentations, meetings, or dashboards. Use a communication matrix to systematically map out the most effective method for each stakeholder, ensuring timely and relevant updates in a format that resonates with their preferences. This enhances project communication, fostering meaningful engagement and understanding.

Following the selection of communication methods, focus on preparing content that is clear, concise, and tailored to stakeholder needs. Leverage a project status report template to structure updates with essential details such as project name, objectives, scope, deliverables, progress, achievements, milestones, risks, issues, changes, budget, schedule, quality, and next steps. Enhance clarity and engagement by incorporating visual aids like charts, graphs, or tables to highlight key data and trends. For technical details or examples, consider using code blocks. This meticulous preparation ensures that your updates are not only comprehensive but also presented in a format that facilitates understanding and decision-making for stakeholders.

I've always found it helpful to provide a high level summary for all of my stakeholders, to ensure everyone's on the same page. But, I also like to go the extra mile and find out how key stakeholders prefer their updates. Some might like detailed reports, a quick chat, or even to keep an assistant looped in. Tailor your communication plan to their preferences for a more impactful connection.

In the tech sector, where innovation moves at lightning speed, engaging stakeholders with clear updates is vital. Once, during a critical software rollout, we structured updates to show not just progress but also roadmaps and potential impacts. Interactive demos allowed stakeholders to experience the product's evolution firsthand, forging a strong connection to the project's success. This direct engagement ensured stakeholders were not just informed but also involved, turning updates into collaborative sessions.

Effectively updating and engaging stakeholders on a project involves a strategic and transparent communication approach. Identify key stakeholders and understand their preferences, utilizing channels like progress meetings and digital platforms for diverse communication. Clearly communicate milestones and challenges, addressing stakeholder concerns, and encouraging two-way communication for feedback. Visual aids like charts enhance clarity, and regular, consistent updates foster trust and stakeholder engagement throughout the project lifecycle. Encourage two-way communication, inviting stakeholders to provide feedback and pose questions to foster a sense of involvement and ownership.

The best way is by prioritizing brief, focused communications that highlight key achievements, challenges, and action items. Opt for a dynamic approach, leveraging tools like dashboards and visualizations to convey information efficiently. Emphasize a continuous and transparent flow of information, encouraging real-time feedback and collaboration, rather than relying on periodic updates.

Leverage tools like the Power-Interest Matrix to map stakeholders strategically based on their level of power and interest in the project. As important players, high-power stakeholders are closely managed, while those with high interest but low power are kept informed. Directly involve stakeholders and conduct interactive activities such as presentations or Q&A sessions. This encourages collaboration, allows for fast explanation, and guarantees that project details are understood by all parties.

If the project going through a time of year that many of the people are not available and nothing much has been added to the project, be honest with the stakeholders. Tell them What's done (even if it's Nothing), Why nothing's done (blockers, no timeline calling for action, etc), Plans to move forward (or overcome roadblocks or call out blockers) To avoid getting negative feedback from these reports, your previous reports should list this potential as a risk for the project and you should have conversations with your stakeholders to be sure they are okay with it and see if it makes sense to escalate your project so it is one of the higher priorities getting work done.