Stakeholder and Influence Map

How to run it

1. Write what has to be decided, precisely. "Approve the hall for Thursdays after five", not "get everyone on board". Name who formally decides, and by when, and what happens if it slips.
2. List everyone with a say or a stake, one line each. Include the people who can’t help you but can stop you, and the ones with no formal role who are listened to anyway.
3. For each, say what part they play: decides, advises, implements, affected, or gatekeeper. Then what they actually want, which is often about something else entirely.
4. Rate each person’s influence on this decision specifically: high, medium or low. Then where they stand today, honestly: champion, supportive, neutral, sceptical or opposed. Somebody is opposed. If nobody is, look again.
5. For each, write what would move them: the evidence, the concession or the reassurance. "Nothing" is a real answer and changes the plan. Note who has their ear.
6. Put a name and a week beside everyone you need to move, opposed and sceptical first. Then decide the order of conversations, the one to have this week, and what you do if the key person says no.

Where it falls down. People aren’t fixed points.