In our continuing series on stakeholder management, we’ve explored why identifying stakeholders is crucial and examined techniques like nomination, checklists, and the onion model. Now that we have identified our stakeholders, the next step is to analyze them using Mendelow’s Matrix – a fundamental tool for stakeholder mapping.

What is Mendelow’s Matrix?

Mendelow’s Matrix is known under different names, like a Stakeholder Power-Interest Matrix or a Stakeholder Power-Interest Grid. This technique analyzes the stakeholders based on two key factors:

(Relative) Power is the ability to persuade, induce, or coerce others into following certain courses of action. This model sees a stakeholder’s influence as indirect power. Power reflects stakeholders’ ability to impact decisions, outcomes, and the initiative’s direction.

Interest: Stakeholder interest includes their concerns, desires, expectations, and objectives for an initiative. It represents what stakeholders value. The interest is affected by the stakeholder’s role and responsibilities. It is also influenced by how much the initiative can help achieve their goals.

By analyzing stakeholders based on these two factors, business analysts can more effectively devise strategies for stakeholder engagement.

The Four Quadrants of Mendelow’s Matrix

Mendelow’s Matrix categorizes stakeholders into four quadrants: Minimal effort, Keep informed, Keep satisfied, and Key players.

High Power, High Interest (Key players)

These stakeholders are critical to project success. They require regular communication, where we continuously inform them with detailed updates and engage them in discussions about project progress and decisions. These stakeholders often require more time and resources than others. Their concerns and feedback must be addressed promptly and thoroughly to maintain their support and capitalize on their influence.

High Power, Low Interest (Keep satisfied)

These stakeholders can influence the project but may not be actively involved. The goal is to manage them so that they are satisfied with the project’s progress and outcomes, ensuring that their potentially high impact on the project is positive or at least not negative. We also don’t want to overwhelm them with excessive information or involvement that might elevate their interest to a level where they might demand more influence or become obstructive.

Low Power, High Interest (Keep informed)

While they lack significant power, these stakeholders have a vested interest in the project.  We keep them informed with relevant information (e.g. answering questions such as: “What does it mean to me and my situation?”, and “How will I benefit?”) and leverage their enthusiasm for support.

Low Power, Low Interest (Minimal effort)

These stakeholders require the least attention but should not be ignored entirely. Periodic updates are usually sufficient.

Tip: We can use a scale to express the amount of interest and relative power of the stakeholders. The amount of interest,  we can express on a scale ranging from “no interest” (0) to “lots of interest” (+10). In the case of power, a scale from “very weak”(0) to “very powerful” (+10) can suffice.

By systematically analyzing stakeholders, you ensure that the stakeholders are involved in the project in the right way and help you build stronger stakeholder relationships.

Determine stakeholder interaction frequency

The stakeholder categories can help us determine the frequency of interaction with a given stakeholder. A graph below, adopted from Jarvis-Grove, 2020, demonstrates this dependency and suggests different forms of communication relevant to each category.

Applying Mendelow’s Matrix 

Working with Mendelow’s Matrix is easy, but not without its challenges. Let us first explain the process:

1 List all potential stakeholders.

2 Assess their level of power and interest.

3 Plot them on the matrix.

4 Develop tailored engagement plans for each group.

5 Revise periodically to reflect changes in stakeholder power and interest.

Key Considerations When Using Mendelow’s Matrix

1 Subjectivity: Mendelow’s Matrix is a subjective technique. Stakeholder power and interest levels are based on perception, which may vary among team members. To ensure a well-rounded assessment, involve other project members in discussions to gather diverse perspectives.

2 Snapshot in Time: The matrix provides a snapshot of stakeholders’ power and interest as they currently stand. However, these levels can change over time due to evolving project dynamics. Periodically revisit and update the matrix to reflect shifting stakeholder positions and maintain relevance. This is reflected in step 5 in the application process.

3 Sensitivity of Information: Stakeholder classifications can sometimes differ from the stakeholders’ own perspectives. Revealing their placement on the matrix may lead to unproductive discussions or conflict. Many projects opt to keep the matrix internal and confidential to avoid these situations.

4 Stakeholder Attitude: Mendelow’s Matrix focuses on power and interest but does not reflect the attitude stakeholders have toward the project. A stakeholder with high power and high interest can either be supportive or obstructive. To address this, some projects add + or – signs to indicate whether a stakeholder’s attitude is positive or negative towards the project. This additional layer of analysis can help shape more nuanced engagement strategies.

Conclusions

Stay tuned for our next post, where we’ll present other stakeholder analysis techniques. If you missed our previous articles on stakeholder identification, you can read it here.

References

Exploring Strategy: Text and Cases 9th edition by G. Johnson, R. Whittington, K.Scholes

IIBA Guide to Business Analysis Body of Knowledge

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