Rath & Strongs Six Sigma Team Pocket Guide

Step 1. Identify Your Project Stakeholders

Definition

Stakeholders are any individuals or groups who have a “stake” (or vested interest) in your project.

• They are affected by—or can affect the outcome of—your Six Sigma project.

• Either of you may lose or gain something as a result of what the other does.

• You may supply them with something they need, or vice versa.

• You can make each other’s lives easier or more difficult.

What to Do:

1. Use a worksheet like that shown in Tool 10-1 to list your stakeholders. (We’ll discuss the “map” later in this chapter.)

Worksheet: Project Stakeholder Identification

Tool 10-1.

2. Use the Checklist: Potential Project Stakeholders (Tool 10-2) to identify “obvious” and “not-so-obvious” stakeholders. List them on your worksheet.

Checklist: Potential Project Stakeholders

Tool 10-2.

3. Think of all the major activities of your project.

   • Identify people (individuals or groups) who are affected by each activity and add them to your worksheet list.

   • Identify people who could affect the success of each activity, and add them to your list.

4. For each project stakeholder, consider whether that person’s boss or direct reports are also stakeholders; add to the list as appropriate.

Note on Tool 10-2: We recommend that project teams work together on creating a project stakeholder plan to get support from those outside the team. See Chapter 1 for suggestions on how the team leader can use stakeholder planning to help the project team members feel committed to the team.