Stakeholder Analysis Template and Grid (With Example)
The project is going well. Then, two weeks before launch, a senior finance leader you’ve barely spoken to asks, “Who approved this budget?” Suddenly your quiet stakeholder is the loudest voice in the room, and nobody saw it coming.
A stakeholder analysis stops that surprise. In this guide you’ll get a simple stakeholder analysis template, a power and interest grid, and a worked IT example you can copy. If you’d rather not draw it by hand, the free Stakeholder Analysis Grid lets you place people on the grid and download the result as a PDF.
What Is a Stakeholder Analysis?
A stakeholder is anyone who can affect your project or is affected by it. That includes your sponsor, your team, your users, and also people who rarely show up in meetings, such as finance, legal or support.
A stakeholder analysis is a short exercise where you list these people, judge how much influence and interest each one has, and decide how you will work with them.
You can’t manage everyone the same way. A stakeholder analysis tells you who needs a call, who needs an email, and who needs a seat at the table.
The Power and Interest Grid
The most popular way to sort stakeholders is a grid with two questions. How much power does this person have over the project? How much interest do they have in it? Each answer is high or low, which gives four boxes.
| Low interest | High interest | |
|---|---|---|
| High power | Keep satisfied | Manage closely |
| Low power | Monitor | Keep informed |
- Manage closely (high power, high interest): involve them in decisions and talk often.
- Keep satisfied (high power, low interest): give short, clear updates and don’t overload them. Make sure they never get surprised.
- Keep informed (low power, high interest): share progress regularly and listen to their feedback. They are often your best early warning.
- Monitor (low power, low interest): light-touch updates. Watch for changes.
A Stakeholder Analysis Template You Can Copy
You only need a handful of columns. Add more only if you’ll actually use them.
| Column | What to write |
|---|---|
| Name and role | Who they are |
| What they care about | Their goal, worry or success measure |
| Power (1 to 5) | How much they can help or block the project |
| Interest (1 to 5) | How much the project matters to them |
| Current attitude | Supportive, neutral or resistant |
| Strategy | Manage closely, keep satisfied, keep informed or monitor |
| How and how often | For example: weekly 15-minute call, monthly email |
| Owner | Who on your team manages this relationship |
A Worked Example: Customer Portal Project
Your team is building a customer portal for a company. Here is what a realistic analysis could look like. Power and interest are scored 1 to 5, and anything 4 or above counts as high.
| Stakeholder | Cares about | Power | Interest | Attitude | Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Executive sponsor | Launch date and business case | 5 | 5 | Supportive | Manage closely |
| Finance director | Budget not growing | 5 | 2 | Neutral | Keep satisfied |
| Security officer | Data protection and audit | 4 | 3 | Neutral | Keep satisfied |
| Support team lead | Fewer customer calls after launch | 2 | 5 | Supportive | Keep informed |
| Customer panel | An easy-to-use portal | 2 | 4 | Neutral | Keep informed |
| Facilities manager | Nothing in particular | 1 | 1 | Neutral | Monitor |
Now look at what the grid tells you. The finance director has high power but low interest. That’s the person from the opening story. A short monthly budget note, sent before they ask, keeps them satisfied. The support team lead has little power but great interest, so a weekly demo gives you honest feedback and a friendly ally.
How to Do a Stakeholder Analysis in 6 Steps
- List everyone. Ask your team “Who else might care about this?” until the answers dry up.
- Score power and interest. Use the 1 to 5 scale and agree on the numbers together.
- Plot them on the grid. Four boxes, one for each strategy.
- Note their attitude. A powerful person who is resistant needs your attention first.
- Decide how you will engage each one. Write the method and the frequency.
- Review it. People change roles and priorities. Look again at every milestone.
Stakeholder work pairs well with your risk list. A resistant, high-power stakeholder is usually a risk worth writing down, and our risk register example shows how. If you want to be seen and heard by the right people at work, this guide on building visibility and influencing decisions goes deeper on the people side.
What Engagement Looks Like in Practice
A strategy only helps if it turns into a habit. Here is how each box could look in a normal week.
- Manage closely: a short weekly catch-up with your sponsor, and their name on every major decision.
- Keep satisfied: a one-page monthly summary to the finance director, with budget, risks and next steps. Send it before they ask.
- Keep informed: a Friday demo or update for the support lead and the customer panel, with a quick question: “What would confuse a user here?”
- Monitor: a line in the monthly newsletter. Check each quarter that nothing has changed.
Notice that none of this takes much time. The skill is in choosing the right amount of attention for each person, not in giving everyone the most.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Leaving people out. Quiet groups such as finance, legal, security and support often carry the most surprise.
- Doing it once. A grid from kickoff is stale by month three.
- Treating the grid as a secret weapon. It’s a planning tool. Be careful where you store it, because it contains honest opinions about people.
- Ignoring attitude. Two people with the same power and interest may need very different conversations.
- Only talking to friendly people. Your resistant stakeholders need the most attention.
Simple Action Plan
- Open the free Stakeholder Analysis Grid.
- List 8 to 12 stakeholders on your current project.
- Score power and interest and look at which box each person lands in.
- Pick the two people you’ve been neglecting and book a short conversation this week.
Conclusion
Projects rarely fail because of one big mistake. They slip because someone important wasn’t kept in the loop.
A stakeholder analysis takes under an hour. It tells you who to talk to, how often, and in what way. That’s a small price for a launch without surprises.
Try It Yourself
Open the Stakeholder Analysis Grid, add the six example stakeholders above, and see how they land. You’ll find more tools on the Free Tools page.
FAQs
What is a stakeholder analysis in simple words?
It’s a list of the people who care about or can affect your project, with a score for their power and interest and a plan for how you’ll work with each one.
What is the power and interest grid?
It’s a four-box grid. One axis shows how much power a person has over the project and the other shows how interested they are. The box they land in tells you how to engage them.
How many stakeholders should I include?
Most projects need 8 to 15. Fewer than that and you’ve probably missed a group. Many more and the list becomes hard to act on.
When should I do a stakeholder analysis?
Do it early, ideally at kickoff, and review it at each milestone. Do it again whenever the scope, sponsor or team changes.
What is the difference between a stakeholder analysis and a communication plan?
The analysis tells you who matters and why. A communication plan turns that into messages, channels and dates. The analysis comes first.
Can I use Excel for a stakeholder analysis?
Yes, a simple spreadsheet works well. Our free Stakeholder Analysis Grid does the plotting for you and exports a PDF.
Atul Sharma PMP
IT professional with 20+ years of experience and author of books on communication, AI and career growth for testers, project managers and IT professionals.
