In the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), managing stakeholder expectations is one of the central issues explored. “The desired outcome is stakeholders who have realistic expectations of the product and project and support the project team’s approach to the project.” This is quite an ambitious goal given that stakeholders are so diverse and differ so widely in their expectations of a project. How do you manage and align them to create an optimal environment for your project’s growth and completion?

If you were planning a large-scale ERP implementation, such as PeopleSoft or Workday, you would have various stakeholders with which to contend. People from the Business Unit, IT, Finance, HR Analysts and in some cases the ultimate customer of the organization, would all have unique priorities and opinions. How do you handle these diverse and often conflicting concerns?

Here are three ways to effectively manage stakeholder expectations for any project:

• Identify stakeholders. Who will be affected, either directly or indirectly, by the project? How do they feel about the proposed project? What are their perceptions of it and its goals? After you’ve identified stakeholders, you need to prioritize them based on their influence on or power over the project. For instance, a major landowner may be a key stakeholder for our wind project, as could an investor 3,000 miles away. Who will be a key decision-maker or influencer

• Clarify and define goals and value. What is this project going to accomplish? How will stakeholders see progress? What often ends up happening is that project members may be aware of this but they do not clearly communicate that to the stakeholders. When goals are not adequately presented, expectations can increase or veer away from the original scope of the project.

• Build in participation and accountability. As a whole, the public is demanding greater transparency. This is essential for stakeholders because it increases their understanding of the project and ensures a higher level of participation. Another offshoot of this is that it tends to create greater trust in the project team. The goal is to create an active engagement model for the key stakeholders. Its about sharing good information and ad information with the key stakeholders so they are in a position to make decisions that will help the progress of the project

Accountability is also important; if stakeholders have expectations, they also have responsibility. For instance, if investors demand that project costs be cut, they also have to understand that the timeline may have to be extended or the original scope will not be attained.

Even well-conceived, well-planned projects can fail if stakeholder expectations are not managed. That doesn’t mean acquiescing to demands, but learning about intentions, motivations, and interests. The key to managing stakeholder expectations is to have them actively engaged in the process from start to finish, delivering value at regular stages and addressing their needs and concerns.