Stakeholder mapping and communication plans for projects
For project coordinators, operations staff and team leads who run or support a project and need everyone it touches to know what's happening and have a say at the right time. No prerequisites. You'll identify stakeholders (including people affected who aren't involved), map them by influence and interest, write a communication plan with owners and feedback routes, choose measures that show whether it's working, and keep the map current without exposing sensitive notes about people. It draws on the UK government's project delivery and communication standards (GovS 002 and GovS 011) and the US 18F stakeholder mapping method, used here as good practice rather than as rules your organisation must follow. Announcing a single workplace change is covered in more depth by 'Planning change communication'.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 100 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Identify the stakeholders of a project, including people affected by it who aren't involved in the work
- Map stakeholders on an influence and interest grid and choose how to engage each group
- Write a communication plan that sets the purpose, audience, message, channel, timing, owner and feedback route for each group
- Choose measures of outputs, outtakes and outcomes that show whether communication is working
- Update the stakeholder map and communication plan as positions change, and limit who sees sensitive stakeholder notes
Course outline
- 1.Identifying a project's stakeholders, including people affected who aren't involvedLesson · 18 min
- 2.Mapping stakeholders on an influence and interest grid and choosing how to engage each groupLesson · 18 min
- 3.Writing a communication plan with purpose, audience, message, channel, timing, owner and feedback routeLesson · 20 min
- 4.Choosing measures of outputs, outtakes and outcomes that show whether communication is workingLesson · 16 min
- 5.Updating the stakeholder map and communication plan, and limiting who sees sensitive notesLesson · 14 min
- 6.Stakeholder mapping and communication plans for projects: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 14 questions
- 7.Stakeholder mapping and communication plans for projects: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- Government Functional Standard GovS 002: Project delivery, version 2.1 (1 September 2025), PDF
- GOV.UK: Project delivery functional standard (publication page)
- GOV.UK: Government Functional Standard GovS 011: Communications (version 2.1)
- 18F Methods: Stakeholder influence mapping (archived repository, CC0)
- 18F Methods: Stakeholder and user interviews (archived repository, CC0)
See it with your own jobs and topics
Tell us about your team and we'll walk you through setup, from choosing jobs to your first skills check.