Developing an Awareness of Stakeholders

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Categorize people, groups, and institutions connected to a public issue into four distinct operational roles.

Use it when: Use when a civic group or community team needs to identify who is impacted by an issue before designing outreach, policy, or public discussions.

Skip it when: Skip when the group is addressing an internal technical problem that has no broader public impact or external community constituencies.

Group arrangement: Small groups of 3 to 4 participants. When total counts do not divide evenly, form groups of 4 and 3 first; if an extra person remains, expand groups to 5 rather than creating isolated singletons. A pair of 2 is allowed only when total attendance is 5 (split into 2 and 3) or when 2 participants prefer working as a pair.

Timing: Source specifies a 50-minute total runtime broken into 15, 5, 20, and 10-minute segments.

Materials and tools

• One printed Identifying Stakeholders Worksheet per small group
• One pen or pencil per participant
• One pad of sticky notes per small group (optional aid for brainstorming)
• Flipchart easel, paper, and marker for full-group debrief notes
• Timer for the facilitator

Before participants arrive

1. Select a single civic topic for the whole room, or select up to three distinct community topics if comparing issues across groups.
2. Print copies of the Identifying Stakeholders Worksheet for each small group.
3. Set out pens and sticky note pads at each table.
4. Set up a central flipchart visible to all tables.

Say this to open

Public challenges affect many people whose perspectives never make it into regular meetings. Today we categorize everyone connected to our issue into four groups: those directly affected, helpers providing support, influencers shaping the debate, and decision-makers holding policy authority. Your goal is to map specific actors across all four areas on your worksheet.

How to run it

1. Introduce stakeholder categories 15 minutes

   Explain that an issue touches people in different ways. Define the four roles using a neutral example like local public bus route reductions: 1) Affected: people whose daily lives change, such as riders without personal cars; 2) Helpers: groups offering direct support, such as volunteer ride programs or community centers; 3) Influencers: people shaping public debate, such as transit advocacy organizers or local reporters; 4) Decision-makers: officials with formal authority to change policy, such as the regional transit authority board or city council budget committee. Answer clarifying questions.

2. Introduce the issue 5 minutes

   Announce the civic issue. If using a single room-wide issue, define its scope so everyone works from the same boundary. If assigning two to three separate topics, assign one topic to each table and clarify that each group will run the process for their designated issue.

3. Map stakeholders in small groups 20 minutes

   Form groups of 3 to 4 people using the remainder rule. Hand out worksheets. Groups list specific individuals, neighborhood groups, agencies, or organizations in each of the four categories. Prompt groups to complete an initial pass, then look for non-obvious, indirect, or marginalized actors. Participants may write directly on the worksheet, write on sticky notes first, or share ideas aloud for a peer to write down.

4. Debrief as a full group 10 minutes

   Reconvene the full group. Invite one spokesperson from each small group to share one unexpected stakeholder they discovered. Record these additions onto the central flipchart divided into four quadrants. Facilitate whole-room reflection on reaching groups who are hard to hear from.

Debrief questions

• Which stakeholders on your chart were non-obvious or easily missed on your first pass?
• What practical steps can your group take to hear from people in the Affected category who do not attend public hearings?
• When might a very long stakeholder list slow down action, and how do you decide where to focus first?

Finished output: A completed four-category stakeholder chart listing specific individuals, community groups, helpers, influencers, and decision-makers for the selected issue.

Remote

Form breakout rooms of 3 to 4 participants. Share a digital copy of the four-quadrant worksheet via a shared whiteboard or slide deck with one slide per breakout room. Groups type their ideas into the four boxes. For debrief, display the main board and have each group spokesperson read one unexpected stakeholder aloud while the facilitator records it on the shared master board.

Hybrid

Keep in-person participants in small table groups and remote participants in online breakout rooms. Both settings use a linked digital worksheet to write entries. Display the digital master chart on the in-room projector and share screen with online participants so all attendees view the same debrief board during the full-group discussion.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may record ideas by writing on the worksheet, posting sticky notes, or speaking aloud to a peer scribe.
• Any participant may pass on speaking during the small group or full-room debrief without explanation.

If the session gets stuck

Groups list vague categories like 'the community' or 'politicians' instead of concrete actors.

Ask groups to name a specific population, neighborhood, city department, or governing board.

Participants disagree on whether a person belongs under Influencer or Decision-Maker.

Explain that some actors straddle categories. Place the name on the boundary between the two boxes and keep going.

Terms used here

• Stakeholder: Any individual, group, or institution with a direct interest, involvement, or impact connected to a civic topic.