DAU introduces stakeholder management course.

With the complexity of today's acquisition programs, the number of stakeholders who can influence the programs' outcomes continues to grow and diversify. Many of these stakeholders reside outside the program manager's and the milestone decision authority's direct control and sphere of influence. How do stakeholders such as Congress, the media, the warfighter, industry, joint-coalition, and other executive agencies influence your program's outcome? Their view of the value of your program will drive their alignment as a proponent or detractor. The nature of your relationships with these key stakeholders can greatly extend your ability to effectively achieve your program's outcomes.

PMs face many questions regarding management of their key stakeholders: Does the PM's span of stakeholders change in quantity and impact depending on the stage of the acquisition process? If so, how does the PM effectively manage the change? At what level is the contact managed: just the PM level or the leadership team level? Is there a difference in merely keeping stakeholders informed versus managing their interests? Are their times when the stakeholders' interests and the PM's are different? Why is this?

The process of stakeholder management is a continually evolving and changing target that requires constant attention at various levels. Today's acquisition leadership teams must ask themselves how they are doing in the area of stakeholder management.

To support teams in stakeholder management, DAU will offer a new 3 1/2-day course in 2007 at each of the DAU regional campuses: ACQ 452: Forging Stakeholder Relationships. The course will expose the DoD and industry acquisition members to methods and skills for the identification, assessment, and building of stakeholder relationships required for success in the acquisition environment. The course will walk the student through the various phases of stakeholder management, including the application of a stakeholder model to their current or future program assignments. It will discuss how to meet stakeholder expectations and communicate effectively, relative to constraints and DoD guidance. And it will guide the student through the development of a stakeholder action plan to promote effective relationships.

When looking at emerging team situations, the driver in determining whether the situation becomes a roadblock or evolves into an opportunity is not solely the program's technical merits or its financial executability, but a combination of both, plus the ability of the team to engage and influence key stakeholders. True stakeholder influence can be achieved only by understanding the program needs and those of each stakeholder; providing alternatives that can support both sides' needs; and cultivating the person-to-person relationship necessary to make the solution a reality. ACQ 452 is the tool to help PMs achieve these outcomes.

Broadus and Mallicoat are professors at the DAU Mid-Atlantic Region, California, Md.