Article Review “Bring Stakeholders Into Alignment”

Juan Mavo-Navarro (2022) states that at the beginning of his career, he “assumed that all stakeholders were similarly interested in, and had a positive outlook for the project.” He admits that this mistake was rooted in failing to consider the context in which learning design projects occur, namely in human systems. But what should be done about that epiphany? It is easy to say, “Don’t forget that people are at the heart of all systems and all design.” Collecting tools and strategies for doing such a thing seems more complicated. However, Mavo-Navarro provides some concrete ideas to the forefront and explains how to navigate through a series of human performance barriers.

The first thing Mavo-Navarro (2022) does is postulate three questions. These questions are as follows:

1. Who is the project sponsor?

2. Who has a positive attitude toward the project?

3. Who has a negative attitude toward the project?

Mavo-Navvaro (2022) suggests that taking mental notes of the answers to these questions can help you discover perceptual barriers to the problem the project is trying to solve. Conversely, it can help a designer locate those likely to champion the project. And keeping a stakeholder registry to keep track of these and many other details is also recommended. Based on Mavo-Navarro’s recommendations, I created the following template for a possible stakeholder registry:

The registry will be much longer than three entries. Still, the template gives the learning designer a starting place and a way to organize information that may help them navigate essential stakeholder relationships.

In addition to building a stakeholder registry, Mavo-Navarro (2022) suggests that a taxonomy of issues that might impact the success of a project should also be considered. The following template was developed to create a tool for tracking the issues he felt necessary to mention in the article:

At the heart of this article is a learning design professional reaching out to those relatively new to the field who may need a glimpse into the context in which their work will take place. The practical advice, however, is appropriate for anyone who wishes to manage the relationships that impact projects effectively. The suggestions and strategy seem to be hard-won through years of experience. And, given that the article is published in the ATD-sponsored magazine TD, it seems safe to consider the information reliable.

After reading the article, I realized that keeping people and how they think and work is at the forefront of most businesses. After all, no matter what the product is and no matter who the buyers are, motivating people is at the heart of it. Any process we can use to help keep people collaborative with an agreed-upon goal will help increase the success rate of the projects in which we are involved. In the future, I hope to use this information through the templates I developed in response to reading this article. Although this article has given me a great start, I would love to elaborate on these templates as I continue to learn.

Questions I might pursue in connection to what I learned might include the following:

1. What are some strategies for giving project naysayers a reason for buying into the

project?

2. How does the loss of a stakeholder impact the social dynamic surrounding a project?

3. How can I keep tabs on other projects within the company to navigate how my project

fits into the whole picture of the business objectives?

Overall, I found this article to be practical, with actionable ideas that seem central to the element of human performance. I look forward to using the templates I created as I read this article. And I look forward to using them to keep human performance and people processes at the forefront of problem-solving in my field.

References

Mavo-Navarro, J. (2022) Align stakeholders: Poor relationship management can

put your design project in to peril. August 2022. ATD Alexandria, VA