Stakeholders are individuals and groups who will be affected by the policy. Understanding stakeholders is central to being able to establish a shared view and purpose across the organization, provide reassurance and clarity, achieve the policy’s aims, and save time and resources.

Stakeholder Identification

Answer these questions briefly:

1. Who is directly affected?
2. Who is tangentially affected?
3. Who has the power to help, facilitate, and champion the policy?
4. Who/what could hinder or create barriers to the policy (individual, operational, external, political, cultural)?

• Use this list of groups involved in healthcare to bring potential stakeholders to mind.
• Click here for information to help encourage vaccination among groups with lower uptake, with resources around pregnancy and lactation; diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as vaccine uptake dashboards and messaging strategies.

Stakeholder Interviews

The purpose of this activity is to reveal ways to achieve a “win-win,” wherein each party is satisfied with the outcome.

Motivational interviews help a team learn about stakeholders’ interests, which may differ from their stated positions or demands.

The relationship between interests and positions/demands commonly is illustrated by the story of two chefs (sometimes, two sisters) who each want to use the one orange they have in the kitchen. Each chef demands the whole orange, not realizing that one of them needs it for the zest, and the other one needs it for its juice. Eventually their core interests (zest vs. juice) are revealed. Once the chefs convey their interests to each other, their demand for sole access to the orange becomes irrelevant. This story shows how by understanding another party’s interests, rather than listening for and reacting to their positions/demands, can reveal the pathway to a “win-win.” Positions that may appear to be in conflict may in fact be based on compatible interests.

Motivational interviewing can be used early on in the policy’s planning stages, when or if the policy is enacted and meets unexpected resistance, and at other times during the planning and implementation process when a team would benefit from insight into a stakeholders’ demands or reactions.

1. Develop an open-ended question for stakeholder groups that
   1. Requires more than a yes/no answer. E.g. “Tell me about…”, “How do you feel about…”
   2. Has consensus from the team about its wording and the information being sought.
2. Establish how the interviewer will capture the information. The columns below should represent primary stakeholders. Only 3 are included in this worksheet; you may need to add columns as needed.
3. Communicate norms and expectations to the interviewer. The goal is to listen, not convince:
   1. Set aside your perspectives and opinions.
   2. Listen with a beginner’s mindset.
   3. Be open to whatever you hear.
   4. Don’t ignore seemingly “unimportant” details.
   5. Listen to what is said, and what is not being said. Try to hear “WHY” the stakeholder wants something, rather than what the stakeholder says they want.
   6. Role model the norms agreed upon by the team.
4. Enter verbatim responses (what the stakeholder actually says, e.g. quotes) during the interview.

5. Enter impressions and take-aways after the interview ends.

6. Consider what may help stakeholders commit to the policy (how to achieve a win-by trying to meet their core interests).

Download Stakeholder Interviewing and Analysis Form (docx)

Last updated August 10, 2021