Stakeholder Management

A Decision-Based Simulation

A decision-based learning experience about prioritisation, influence, engagement, and alignment across competing stakeholder interests.

Stakeholder management simulation showing changing stakeholder priorities

Overview

Important initiatives rarely fail because the plan was completely wrong. They fail when the people who can enable, resist, influence, or reshape the plan are misunderstood.

Built to simulate the concept of Mendelow Matrix (AKA Stakeholder Management Matrix), participants take responsibility for moving a complex initiative forward while working with stakeholders who differ in power, interest, urgency, trust, and resistance. New information emerges over time, stakeholder positions change, and participants must decide where to invest attention, which messages to use, when to build coalitions, and how to respond when support begins to weaken.

The experience helps learners move beyond a static stakeholder matrix. They see that stakeholder management is an ongoing process of interpretation, engagement, adaptation, and relationship-building.

What participants experience

Open any item for the detail.

A Changing Stakeholder Landscape
Stakeholder priorities and positions evolve as the initiative progresses.
Limited Time and Attention
Participants cannot engage everyone equally. They must decide where effort will create the greatest impact.
Different Sources of Influence
Formal authority, expertise, trust, networks, and urgency shape stakeholder power in different ways.
Communication Choices
Participants select how to frame messages, which concerns to address, and when to involve others.
Resistance and Coalition-Building
The simulation shows how support can be strengthened, lost, or redirected through relationships and coordinated action.
Consequences Over Time
Early engagement choices affect later trust, adoption, and the initiative’s ability to move forward.

Learning objectives

Stakeholder Prioritisation: Assess stakeholders using power, interest, urgency, influence, and potential impact.
Engagement Strategy: Select different engagement approaches for different stakeholder needs and positions.
Influence and Communication: Frame messages around stakeholder concerns rather than relying on one generic communication plan.
Adaptive Leadership: Revise the approach as stakeholder positions and the operating context change.
Trust and Resistance: Understand how timing, transparency, and follow-through shape long-term support.

Recommended use cases

Stakeholder management workshops
Change-management programmes
Project and programme leadership
Cross-functional alignment
Influence without authority
Consulting and client-management training
MBA and executive education courses

Facilitator notes

The Facilitator Notes will include stakeholder profiles, suggested delivery flow, observation cues, debrief questions, learning connections, and guidance for comparing different engagement strategies across teams.

Available soon

See How Stakeholder Decisions Change the Outcome

Submit your details and receive demo access by email immediately after submission. Explore how participants assess stakeholders, choose engagement actions, and respond as the situation changes.

Your demo access will be emailed immediately after submission.

Build Around Your Own Stakeholder Context

Your organisation may have a specific transformation, policy, programme, or leadership context that would benefit from a tailored stakeholder simulation. We can build a white-labelled experience around your stakeholders, capability framework, and learning objectives.

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