(JZ) I realized as I looked at our topic for this interview that it could mean many things, so let’s begin by clarifying a bit. Or maybe I should just ask you to elaborate based on what you think the title means.
(MT) So when I think of learning stakeholders, I think of everyone who has any kind of interest or ownership of the project. Obviously there are varying levels of ownership, so the amount of time we take to make sure they’re engaged will depend on their level of investment in the project. As we continue to discuss this, I’ll try to clarify the various roles and how we tailor best practices to that role.
(JZ) As we dive into this subject, the obvious question is how do we identify the stakeholders? We often talk about the “secret” stakeholder, and how they can completely derail a project by inserting feedback at the end. Sometimes there is no way to avoid this, but tell us how we can identify most of our stakeholders at the beginning.
(MT) Stakeholders generally fall into four groups: the L&D project owners, subject-matter experts (SME), middle management and C-suite, and your learners (audience). I think it’s natural to just assume we know who the people involved are, but a good idea is to create a “map” or chart. Write names, show what group they fall into and even how they might be connected. I’d set up a preliminary meeting with this group and basically ask all of them, “Who else should be here?” Sometimes you’ll need an additional SME for certain content, or maybe financial approval because the project is over a certain amount, or compliance approval for legal content. Oh, and I run into this a lot, consider someone from the marketing team to give branding guidelines or approval depending on if the audience is internal or external.
(MT) The audience or learner piece is interesting too. Obviously you’re developing the training for them, but sometimes it makes sense to pull them in at the beginning to get feedback on the content and user experience. I think they often get overlooked. If you can get them involved at the beginning, your adoption rates greatly increase, and that’s what you’re looking for at the end of the day.
(JZ) Now that we’ve identified the key stakeholders, what would be the first best practice you suggest as we kick off a project?
(MT) The first best practice I suggest is to communicate early and often. This allows you to keep everyone regularly updated. It’s hard to stay engaged if there is no new information. Depending on the size of the project, I suggest having a preliminary meeting or two, maybe even a workshop. Communicate the vision for the project. Give a good overview to how the project will be run and most important, the value it brings to the organization.
Aside from these meetings, I would set up specific communication channels. Perhaps that’s standard at some organizations, but let the team know how to expect communication from you, how files will be shared and stored, and overall timelines. We’ll talk about timelines later, but a big part of keeping stakeholders engaged is communicating upfront the days/months they need to be available so they can plan ahead to clear their calendar.
(JZ) You already mentioned casting a vision, but is there more to it?
(MT) I mean, for some projects this probably seems silly or over the top, but I still think it’s important. It’s just the scale that you’ll want to adjust. Perhaps you don’t need to go all “Dead Poets Society” with an impassioned speech, but stakeholders need to know the importance of the project. You need to clearly define how this project is tied to organizational goals, directly provides value, and impacts the bottom line. Each stakeholder will perceive that value differently, and it’s important to make sure you’re unified in the value it’s bringing to the organization. I’m not speaking for other L&D professionals, but I know when I start a project, I’ve often been thinking about it for awhile and tend to jump right into the details and content. But this is new for your stakeholders. Take a step back and help them see the bigger picture. I guarantee they’ll be more engaged when they can clearly see how it impacts everyone in the organization.
I should add here, you may hear varying opinions, and this is a good place to stop and make sure you have consensus.
(JZ) So we have a unified vision and understand how the project is tied to the organization’s goals and objectives. What’s another good practice?
(MT) Clarifying roles and responsibilities is a critical next step. Most of the miscommunication comes around providing content and review. If you have a group of stakeholders new to the learning process, a good step is to define the role of the instructional designer and explain what they do. Then the instructional designers need to help the SMEs understand their role in providing content, what is expected in a review, and where those comments go. Another key is clearly defining the role of the leadership or C-Suite. When do they enter the review process? Experience teaches that they should be involved sooner than later. If everyone understands their role, they know where to place their energy and what lane to stay in. Sometimes projects suffer because everyone is “engaged” in each step of the process, creating conflict.
(JZ) We’re getting deep into details now, but how does a good process keep stakeholders engaged?
(MT) I’m so glad you brought that up. Being organized is key to keeping stakeholders engaged. Describing the process of project kick-off, analysis, writing or storyboarding, alpha/beta reviews,development, testing etc. helps each stakeholder know when they are expected to engage. The best practical tool for this is a dynamic timeline tool. Nothing demonstrates the impact on a project more than a timeline that is pushed back three weeks because reviewers can’t meet their due dates. A good visual timeline illustrates this clearly. If a team doesn’t use a tool like Smartsheet or other dynamic tools, it’s worth it to invest in one.
We already addressed these but sticking to file sharing, storage, and version control protocols is also important. Sending the wrong file or an old version that didn’t incorporate feedback from the team can be at a minimum, demotivating, and in some cases, cause a lot of conflict.
(JZ) We’ve already touched on this, but can you explain more clearly now the role of review and feedback?
(MT) This is a huge one! Reviewing the content and providing feedback is where most stakeholders are involved. Typically there are two times where review is most important. The first is in the Alpha review of the storyboard. The second is in the Alpha review of the developed module, or other learning asset. In both cases it’s important that all SMEs and any other content owner stakeholders review. Sometimes it’s hard for reviewers to visualize the finished product when reviewing the storyboard. A good way to explain this is to ask the SME to pretend they are reading a script or paper about the topic. Is the content written correctly, organized well, and are the main points on the screen? Rather than try to get them to visualize, it’s fine to acknowledge that this is hard to do and ask them to focus on the content. And if possible, include visual mock-ups of screens to help them visualize.
Another important best practice is to remind stakeholders to provide actionable feedback. Comments like “This is not clear” or “Say more here” doesn’t help the instructional designer improve it. Provide comments with clear actions that can be taken or topics of content that should be included. Last, and most important, regardless of how much feedback is given, one stakeholder should be the ultimate owner of the content. They will need to filter all the feedback and approve, remove, or combine all comments so it’s very clear to the learning team what the final feedback is. Stakeholders will often provide conflicting feedback, and nothing holds up a revision like having to sift through the various comments to determine what’s priority.
(JZ) I heard you mention the storyboard phase. While I know everyone designs their storyboard slightly differently, could you at least discuss the main points of a storyboard that stakeholders would need to better understand?
(MT) Storyboards are widely different depending on what kind of learning asset you’re creating. However, the most complicated ones to review are elearning (microlearning as well), video, or animation storyboards. Most of these storyboards contain at least three columns. The audio column contains the text that will be read by the voice over artist or AI generated audio. Another column is the on-screen text column which contains the actual words that will appear on the screen. The third column gives directions for how the on-screen visuals should be animated. Typically there is another column that includes required or suggested visuals. It is most important that a stakeholder engage with the audio column and on-screen text. If these contain incorrect information, audio has to be re-recorded or screens have to be re-designed. I think it’s easy for a stakeholder to get distracted by looking at potential visuals or layouts but those can all be reviewed in the Alpha phase of the development cycle. By simply using Word or Google doc reviewing tools, a stakeholder can provide careful review and feedback.
(JZ) Well, we’ve certainly packed a lot into this interview. In conclusion, how would you summarize keeping your stakeholders engaged in learning projects?
(MT) By involving the stakeholders from the beginning of the project to the final product, your odds of keeping the stakeholders involved is much higher. They understand the vision and have a say in the overall structure. And then, they get to see the finished product! Remember when I mentioned that it’s often hard for stakeholders to visualize from a storyboard? While that’s true, there is nothing more energizing than for them to see the final product. The only other suggestion I have here is to celebrate! Use your company intranet, email, or chat tools to acknowledge the team and showcase what they made. Make sure to include the link or attach the files. This also creates excitement for future projects and good momentum.
