Visualising and mapping stakeholder influence

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer insights into a tool that one of the authors has developed to help map, and thus visualise, stakeholder power and influence within the performing organisation. Design/methodology/approach The concept described in this paper has been tested at several large international gatherings to well over 200 active professional project managers. The feedback to date has been very positive. This positive feedback led to testing of these ideas through research being conducted during 2004/2005 by one of the authors who is a candidate for the doctor of project management (DPM) at RMIT. Findings The research is centred around this tool, the stakeholder circle, as a means to provide a useful and effective way to visualise stakeholder power and influence that may have pivotal impact on a project's success or failure. The stakeholder‐circle tool is developed for each project through a methodology that identifies and prioritises key project stakeholders and then develops an engagement strategy to build and maintain robust relationships with those key stakeholders. An example of the tool is presented. Originality/value Future papers will provide case study examples currently under way of the use of this tool. The implication for this tool's use is that project managers can clearly visualise and map stakeholder influence patterns that have significant impact on stakeholder outcome expectations.