Much has been written about leadership and team building, but there are still major gaps in thinking and research about how to engage senior stakeholders in support of an organisation's projects. The central role of stakeholders in the successful delivery of organisational strategy is becoming increasingly recognised, as is the importance of developing a sponsor culture to support more collaborative practices within the organisation. Building, and managing, relationships with senior (upwards) stakeholders is essential for success. Advising Upwards brings together the ideas of experts in fields related to engaging senior stakeholders, such as risk management, decision-making, understanding cultural considerations, effective communication and other disciplines that may enhance the sustainable engagement of senior stakeholders. The starting point is an examination of the difficulties that senior managers face as they move through the ranks of an organisation from middle management to executive levels. Senior managers usually move up through the organisation on the basis of command and control management. Once in the executive ranks they must develop a more collaborative approach and adopt the principles of emotional intelligence (EQ) to succeed. Awareness of difficulties that senior stakeholders may face drives effective approaches for communication between the team and sponsors. Case studies and stories from experts illustrate practical, structured approaches that enable the teams to develop robust relationships with senior stakeholders will result in teams 'being heard', and support their 'being extraordinary' through innovative approaches to advising upwards.

Projects are performed by people for people, with the key determinants of success being the relationships between project teams and project stakeholders. This web of relationships will either enable or obstruct the flow of information between people and, as a consequence, will largely determine project success or failure. Making Projects Work: Effective Stakeholder and Communication Management provides a framework for understanding and managing the factors required for achieving successful project and program outcomes. It presents guidelines to help readers develop an understanding of governance and its connection to strategy as the starting point for deciding what work needs to be done. Introduces the idea of an organization's communication ecosystem where information flows freely within and among all organizational layers Explores the importance of the relationships with the project's stakeholder community as keys to project success Describes the theoretical underpinnings of leadership Provides detailed analysis of the different types of project stakeholders Supplies guidance on developing the appropriate messages to meet project and stakeholder needs The book describes how to craft appropriate communication strategies for developing and maintaining successful relationships with stakeholders. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of existing project controls and outlines effective communication techniques for managing expectations and acquiring the support required to deliver successful projects on time and under budget.

Projects are performed by people for people, with the key determinants of success being the relationships between project teams and project stakeholders. This web of relationships will either enable or obstruct the flow of information between people and, as a consequence, will largely determine project success or failure. Making Projects Work: Effective Stakeholder and Communication Management provides a framework for understanding and managing the factors required for achieving successful project and program outcomes. It presents guidelines to help readers develop an understanding of governance and its connection to strategy as the starting point for deciding what work needs to be done. Introduces the idea of an organization's communication ecosystem where information flows freely within and among all organizational layers Explores the importance of the relationships with the project's stakeholder community as keys to project success Describes the theoretical underpinnings of leadership Provides detailed analysis of the different types of project stakeholders Supplies guidance on developing the appropriate messages to meet project and stakeholder needs The book describes how to craft appropriate communication strategies for developing and maintaining successful relationships with stakeholders. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of existing project controls and outlines effective communication techniques for managing expectations and acquiring the support required to deliver successful projects on time and under budget.

In any activity an organisation undertakes, whether strategic, operational or tactical, the activity can only be successful with the input, commitment and support of its people - stakeholders. Gaining and maintaining the support and commitment of stakeholders requires a continuous process of engaging the right stakeholders at the right time and understanding and managing their expectations. Unfortunately, most organisations have difficulty implementing such culture change, and need assistance and guidance to implement a consistent process for identification and management of stakeholders and their changing expectations. As a continuous improvement process, stakeholder management requires understanding and support from everyone in the organisation from the CEO to the short-term contractor. This requires the concepts and practices of effective stakeholder management to become embedded in the culture of the organisation: 'how we do things around here', this book provides the 'road map' to help organisations achieve these objectives. The text has two specific purposes. Firstly, it is an 'how-to' book providing the fundamental processes and practices for improving stakeholder management in endeavours such as projects, and program management offices (PMO), it also gives guidance on organisational survival during mergers and acquisitions, preparing for the tender bidding, and marketing campaigns. Secondly, Lynda Bourne's book is for organisations that have recognised the importance of stakeholder engagement to their success, it is a guidebook for assessing their current maturity regarding implementation of stakeholder relationship management with a series of guidelines and milestones for achieving the preferred level of maturity.

Project success and failure is related to stakeholders' perceptions of the value created by the project and the nature of their relationship with the project team. It is strongly influenced by both the expectations and perceptions of the stakeholders, and the capability and willingness of project managers to effectively manage these relationships within the organisation's political environment. The Stakeholder Circle(r) is based on the premise that a project can only exist with the informed consent of its stakeholder community. The methodology supported by the tool provides an effective mechanism for assessing the relative influence of a project's stakeholders, understanding their expectations, and defining appropriate engagement procedures to influence the key stakeholders' expectations and perceptions for the benefit of the project. The new approaches to project relationship management implicit in the Stakeholder Circle(r) methodology and visualisation tool will benefit organisations and their managers at all levels through improving the chances of project succ