Welcome to Engaging and Aligning Stakeholders.

Launching a successful project isn’t just about having a great plan — it’s about bringing people together and making sure everyone’s priorities are heard. When stakeholders feel included and aligned, projects move faster, face fewer surprises, and deliver results that actually matter. As a project lead, you set the tone for how your team and stakeholders experience the project from day one. Your ability to listen, communicate, and build trust will shape how smoothly your project runs and how much value it delivers.

In this course, you’ll learn how to:

• Build trust and strong relationships with stakeholders through regular, open communication.
• Create clear, realistic project plans by breaking down work into manageable steps and setting achievable timelines.
• Prioritize high-impact work and protect key deadlines to keep your project moving forward.
• Balance constraints by accurately estimating costs and allocating resources, so your project stays realistic and delivers real value.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll know how to identify key stakeholders, uncover their priorities, build trust through clear communication, and use tools like the RACI matrix to keep everyone informed and aligned from the very start of your project.

Before you can engage and align your stakeholders, you first need to identify who they are. Start by listing everyone who will be impacted by the project, has decision-making authority, or will contribute resources or expertise. Once you’ve identified your stakeholders, you can begin uncovering what matters most to each of them and how best to involve them in the project.

Every stakeholder brings their own goals, concerns, and definitions of success. Start by asking open-ended questions to uncover what each stakeholder values. For example:

• “What does success look like for you in this project?”
• “Are there any concerns you want us to address early on?”
• “What’s one thing you want to make sure we get right?”

Listen carefully to their answers, reflect back what you hear, and avoid making assumptions. This not only helps you design a plan that meets real needs, but also shows stakeholders that their input matters.

Once you’ve identified priorities, the next step is to build trust and rapport through consistent, meaningful engagement and clear communication. Think back to a time when you were part of a project and didn’t know what was going on, or felt your concerns weren’t heard. Engaging stakeholders is about making sure no one feels left out or in the dark. One powerful way to do this is by clarifying everyone’s role from the start using a RACI matrix.

The RACI matrix helps you map out who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for each key task or decision. Sharing this with your stakeholders shows you value their input and want to avoid confusion or surprises.

For example, if you’re launching a new feature:

Keeping stakeholders informed is essential for maintaining alignment and momentum. Your updates should be timely, relevant, and tailored to your audience. When you communicate proactively and follow up on commitments, you show stakeholders that you value their time and input.

Here’s how this might sound in a real conversation:

• Jessica: Hi Chris, thanks for making time to meet. Before we dive into the project plan, I’d love to hear what’s most important to you and your team as we get started.
• Chris: Thanks, Jessica. My main concern is making sure our support team isn’t overwhelmed during the rollout. We’ve had issues with that in the past.
• Jessica: That’s really helpful to know. I want to make sure we’re supporting your team, not adding stress. Are there specific times or processes that tend to be most challenging?
• Chris: Usually, it’s when there are last-minute changes or unclear communication about what’s expected from us.
• Jessica: Understood. I’ll make it a priority to keep you updated on any changes as early as possible, and I’ll share a summary after each meeting so nothing gets missed. Does that sound like it would help?
• Chris: Absolutely, that would make a big difference. Thanks for being proactive about it.

Jessica starts by identifying Chris’s priorities, listens for specific needs, and then commits to clear, regular updates — making Chris feel heard and supported from the very beginning.

When communicating changes, be upfront and solution-oriented. For instance:
"Due to a delay in delivery, we’ve adjusted the timeline. Here’s how we’ll stay on track moving forward."

By engaging stakeholders early, listening actively, and keeping everyone informed, you lay the groundwork for a project that runs smoothly and delivers real value. Next, you’ll get a chance to map out your own stakeholders and practice building a RACI matrix for a sample project.