Step 6 - Manage Stakeholders

Stakeholder management, as it relates to ICAM, involves coordination, collaboration, and communication with numerous entities within the agency. Each stakeholder group has a distinct mission requirement and performs a specific set of duties in support of the overall agency mission. These stakeholders will have different viewpoints that may conflict with one another or the overarching ICAM program objectives. Furthermore, decisions made in one program area may impact another.

Checklist

 Collaborate through formal tiger teams and working groups. Collaboration is usually achieved through the development of expert problem-solving teams, such as working groups that are established to address larger issues and present solutions. The success of these groups relies on participation and the involvement from stakeholders across the program to ensure that all requirements are considered. These representatives work with the group to incorporate their needs into agency-wide program capabilities and requirements. Working groups are also used as a forum for sharing implementation lessons learned across bureaus/components or individual programs in order to reduce overall ICAM program risk and increase speed and efficiency in implementation.

 Stand up focus groups or teams. In addition to working groups, you may choose to stand up smaller focus groups or tiger teams to resolve specific program issues or providing direct support for implementation. This group will help improve stakeholder buy-in associated with enterprise approaches and services by promoting better understanding and a sense of inclusion and ownership in the program. It also improves consistency across an agency’s ICAM implementation. For example, an agency‘s ICAM program management staff could leverage small focus groups with expertise in the agency‘s enterprise ICAM program and tools to consult with and support implementation efforts at the bureau/component level.