Stakeholder Flagship Programme

Stakeholder Engagement, Facilitation and Influence

Plan engagement, facilitate discovery, manage conflict, build consensus and communicate analysis across diverse audiences.

Enquire About This Course Explore the Academy

Course overview

Build the relationships and conversations that make analysis effective.

Stakeholder Engagement, Facilitation and Influence develops the interpersonal and analytical capability required to work productively across different interests, roles, levels of authority and perspectives.

Participants learn to diagnose stakeholder conditions, design appropriate engagement, facilitate purposeful conversations and communicate analysis in ways that support understanding and decisions.

The programme treats influence as disciplined preparation, evidence, empathy and professional credibility—not manipulation or presentation technique alone.

Learning outcomes

What participants will be able to do.

By the end of the course, participants should be able to:

  • Identify stakeholders and analyse interests, influence, impact, relationships and engagement needs.
  • Develop a proportionate stakeholder-engagement and communication strategy.
  • Prepare purposeful interviews, workshops, reviews and decision sessions.
  • Use questioning, listening, observation and synthesis to improve shared understanding.
  • Facilitate participation, inclusion and psychological safety.
  • Recognise and manage conflict, resistance, power dynamics and difficult behaviour.
  • Use evidence, framing and professional credibility to influence decisions.
  • Communicate complex analysis clearly to different stakeholder audiences.
  • Capture decisions, actions, assumptions and unresolved issues.

Who should attend

Designed for professionals whose analysis depends on effective stakeholder participation.

  • Business analysts and senior analysts.
  • Project, programme, product and change professionals.
  • Process and transformation specialists.
  • Workshop facilitators and subject-matter experts.
  • Managers who lead cross-functional discovery and decision-making.
  • Professionals working in complex, political or high-conflict environments.

Prerequisites

Accessible, practical and professionally relevant.

  • Some experience of stakeholder meetings, analysis or change work is helpful.
  • No formal facilitation qualification is required.
  • Participants should be prepared to facilitate, give feedback and receive feedback.
  • Corporate cohorts may use realistic stakeholder situations while protecting confidentiality.

Course structure

Five modules from stakeholder diagnosis to influence and commitment.

The programme combines stakeholder analysis, engagement planning and repeated facilitation practice.

1

Module 1

Stakeholder context and relationship analysis

  • Stakeholders, roles, interests and perspectives.
  • Influence, impact, power, legitimacy and urgency.
  • Relationships, trust, history and organisational dynamics.
  • Engagement risks, readiness and participation barriers.
  • Stakeholder mapping and engagement objectives.
2

Module 2

Engagement strategy and communication

  • Selecting engagement methods and participation levels.
  • Tailoring messages, evidence and channels.
  • Communication planning and stakeholder journeys.
  • Expectations, commitments and feedback loops.
  • Ethics, transparency and professional boundaries.
3

Module 3

Facilitation design and discovery

  • Purpose, outcomes, participants, agenda and decision rules.
  • Questioning, listening, observation and summarising.
  • Inclusive participation and psychological safety.
  • Virtual and hybrid facilitation considerations.
  • Capturing findings, assumptions and open questions.
4

Module 4

Conflict, negotiation and consensus

  • Sources and patterns of stakeholder conflict.
  • Interests, positions, trade-offs and constraints.
  • Managing difficult behaviour and unequal participation.
  • Negotiation preparation and option development.
  • Consensus, escalation and decision ownership.
5

Module 5

Influence, communication and application

  • Influencing with evidence, framing and credibility.
  • Executive communication and decision briefings.
  • Communicating requirements, models and recommendations.
  • Documenting decisions, actions and unresolved issues.
  • Capstone facilitation simulation and action planning.

Learning experience

Apply ideas—not simply remember terminology.

Participants practise engagement and facilitation repeatedly, receive structured feedback and refine their approach.

Diagnose

Stakeholder case

Participants analyse interests, influence, impact, relationships and engagement risks.

Design

Engagement plan

Teams define objectives, methods, participants, messages and feedback loops.

Facilitate

Workshop simulations

Participants practise opening, questioning, participation, synthesis and closure.

Navigate

Conflict scenarios

Teams manage competing interests, resistance, power dynamics and escalation.

Influence

Decision briefings

Participants communicate evidence and recommendations to different audiences.

Reflect

Facilitation feedback

Structured peer and facilitator review strengthens professional self-awareness.

Course completion

Demonstrate participation, application and professional judgement.

  • Participate actively in stakeholder, facilitation and conflict simulations.
  • Prepare and facilitate an assigned discovery or decision session.
  • Demonstrate clear communication, synthesis and professional judgement.
  • Complete the stakeholder-engagement and workplace application plan.

Participant outputs

Typical course outputs include:

  • Stakeholder register and relationship map.
  • Engagement and communication strategy.
  • Interview or workshop plan.
  • Facilitation agenda and participation approach.
  • Conflict and influence preparation sheet.
  • Decision, action and issue record.
  • Personal facilitation-development plan.

Delivery options

Choose the format that fits your stakeholder and change environment.

Instructor-led

Live Classroom

Facilitated face-to-face learning with case work, practical exercises, discussion and immediate feedback.

Instructor-led

Live Virtual Classroom

Interactive online delivery with facilitated workshops, collaborative activities and real-time discussion.

Flexible

Blended Learning

A structured combination of preparation, live facilitation, assignments and follow-up workplace application.

Organisation-specific

Corporate and In-Company

Customised delivery using representative stakeholder cases, organisational communication practices, virtual tools and decision environments.

Frequently asked questions

Course information and participation.

Is this primarily a presentation-skills course?

No. Presentation is one element. The programme focuses on stakeholder diagnosis, engagement, facilitation, conflict, influence, synthesis and decision support.

Will participants practise facilitation?

Yes. Repeated simulations and structured feedback are central to the programme.

Does the course cover difficult stakeholders and conflict?

Yes. Participants practise working with competing interests, resistance, unequal power, difficult behaviour and escalation.

Can virtual facilitation be included?

Yes. Live virtual and corporate delivery can include online workshop design, digital collaboration and hybrid participation.

Can the programme use our stakeholder environment?

Yes. Corporate delivery can use anonymised organisational scenarios, decision forums and communication requirements.

Take the next step

Strengthen stakeholder trust, participation and decision quality.

Discuss public delivery, a corporate cohort or a tailored facilitation and influence programme.

Enquire About This Course Explore the Academy

INDENTRA may adapt sequencing, exercises and examples to suit the delivery format and participant profile while preserving the stated learning outcomes.