Stakeholder mapping

This guidance includes reasons and processes for mapping stakeholders for stakeholder engagement.

This stakeholder mapping guidance is provided by the External Affairs team at the Office for National Statistics. If you would like further resources, information or support after reading this guidance, please contact External.Affairs@ons.gov.uk. The available resources include:

• a short presentation about stakeholder mapping
• guidance documents for stakeholder mapping
• tools for stakeholder mapping

There are resources linked throughout this guidance, and definitions of frequently used words can be found at the end of the guidance.

For more guidance on ensuring effective stakeholder engagement and developing effective stakeholder communications plans, see the Government Communication Service’s guidance.

Policy details

What stakeholder mapping is

A stakeholder map is a tool which will help you to create an engagement plan based on audience insight. In a stakeholder map, each of the stakeholders related to your work or project are listed alongside a contact level, based on the level of power and interest they have. The stakeholder map will inform your decision making around what engagement is needed to support your work and when.

Why stakeholder mapping is important

Engaging the right stakeholders at the right time is essential for building transparency, strengthening trust, and ensuring your organisation is understood and perceived positively.

Effective stakeholder mapping helps you identify who needs to be involved, when, and why. It supports more informed decision‑making and reduces risks caused by ill-suited communication. By tailoring engagement to stakeholders’ levels of power and interest, you create clearer, more open interactions that foster confidence in your work.

Communicating with stakeholders in this structured and intentional way increases the likelihood that project objectives will be met and outcomes received positively. It’s good practice to map your stakeholders at the beginning of a new project or programme, but also to map stakeholders as part of your organisation’s broader engagement strategy.

By creating and regularly updating a stakeholder map you will understand:

• who the stakeholders are for your organisation or project
• what role each stakeholder has in your organisation or project
• what type of involvement the stakeholder should have
• how much the stakeholder should be contacted

You will use this information to write a stakeholder engagement plan, which might describe:

• how a stakeholder will be contacted, by whom, and how often
• when a stakeholder should be contacted, for example for any organisational updates, or only for specific developments

When to map stakeholders

For a project, stakeholder mapping should always take place at the start of a project, once the objectives have been set. It will provide audience insight for the engagement plan, which should be written after completing the stakeholder map. After you have written the engagement plan, you should review the stakeholder map regularly to make sure it is still accurate.

For your overall organisational engagement strategy, you should map your stakeholders on a regular basis, depending on how often your organisation’s priorities or programmes of work evolve. This might be every quarter, every six months or every year, depending on what is sustainable for your team.

Which stakeholders to map

The word ‘stakeholder’ refers to those you work with or those who may be affected by or involved in your project or organisation: for example, Government Statistical Service (GSS) organisations, individual professionals, and other users of statistics. It is essential that you identify who your stakeholders are. We recommend that you discuss this with colleagues in your organisation who might be engaging with stakeholders already and take a three-step approach.

Step 1: Define what the word ‘stakeholder’ means for your project.

For example, consider whether you will:

• map internal or external stakeholders
• map organisations or individuals
• include current stakeholders, or potential stakeholders
• have a minimum level of interest or involvement for stakeholders to be mapped

Step 2: Define how you will group your stakeholders

You may wish to define the groups, sectors or themes that stakeholders fit into.

Grouping stakeholders will make it easier to:

• list stakeholders systematically, so that you do not miss any
• view stakeholders in a colour-coded map or create lists of stakeholder groups to consider separately when writing an engagement plan
• target stakeholders in the engagement plan based on the context of their involvement with the project or your organisation

An example of defining stakeholders by sector can be seen in the stakeholder definitions template (ODT, 11.3KB).

When defining groups, use clear criteria (for example, shared needs, roles, or behaviours) so that each stakeholder fits naturally into a single group. Groupings often align with needs, and getting this right will help you tailor channel, content, and timing later in your engagement plan.

Step 3: List each stakeholder

Once your team have defined which stakeholders will be mapped, work together to list each stakeholder in the stakeholder recording template (ODS, 3.5KB).

How to map stakeholders

Once you have listed the stakeholders for your project, you will add them to a stakeholder map. This will show the amount of contact each stakeholder needs. Stakeholders’ positioning will be based on scores that your team allocate for their level of power and interest.

 

The diagram shows the stakeholder mapping matrix. A four quadrant graph with “impact” on the y-axis and influence or interest on the x-axis. The top of the scale for each axis is labelled “high”, and the bottom is labelled “low”. The top left quadrant is “consult with”, the top right is “manage closely”, the bottom right is “keep satisfied” and the bottom left is “keep informed”.

Assessing power and interest

You will assign scores to stakeholders based on two categories:

• power or influence (a stakeholder’s ability to affect outcomes)
• interest or motivation (a stakeholder’s level of concern or involvement)

What we mean by power and interest

Power

Power (sometimes referred to as influence) describes a stakeholder’s ability to affect decisions, outcomes, or delivery of a project, programme, or organisation’s work.

When assessing power or influence, consider whether the stakeholder:

• can directly affect decisions, priorities, or delivery
• has formal authority, governance responsibility, or decision‑making power
• can influence senior leaders, ministers, boards, or delivery partners
• has the ability to enable, block, delay, or significantly shape outcomes
• can affect public, political, or professional perception of the work

Power relates to what a stakeholder can do, rather than how interested they are.

Interest

Interest (sometimes referred to as motivation) describes the level of concern, involvement, or personal relevance a stakeholder has in your work.

When assessing interest or motivation, consider whether the stakeholder:

• is directly affected by the outcomes of the work
• relies on the outputs for their own objectives or activities
• has a strong professional, reputational, or organisational stake
• actively seeks information, engagement, or involvement
• is motivated to influence, comment on, or respond to developments

Interest relates to how much the stakeholder cares, rather than how much power they hold.

How power and interest are used together

Stakeholders are mapped using a power–interest matrix, which combines these two characteristics to determine:

• how critical the stakeholder is to success
• the level of engagement required
• the most appropriate communication approach

This approach reflects the Boston Matrix used in GCS guidance, resulting in four contact levels:

• “manage closely” – high power, high interest
• “keep satisfied” – high power, low interest
• “consult with” – low power, high interest
• “keep informed” – low power, low interest

Stakeholders’ positions on the matrix should be reviewed regularly, as power and interest may change over time.

Scoring stakeholders

There are two methods that we suggest for scoring your stakeholders. You should select the method which makes sense for how much time you have, and the approach you would like to take. Both methods will allocate a contact level for each stakeholder on your stakeholder map.

Scaled stakeholder scoring

Using the scaled stakeholder scoring method will provide you with a set of averaged scores for more objective decision making. The final scores will become co-ordinates for the stakeholder mapping matrix to create a map of stakeholders with assigned contact levels.

Scores range from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest.

“0” is present for scale, but stakeholders without any power or interest should not be added to the map. “10” would indicate a substantial level of power or interest, so is unlikely to occur often. Most scores will be between 1 and 9.

The scaled scoring process steps:

1. Appoint three scorers to provide scores for each stakeholder.
2. Provide scores from 1 to 10 for power and interest.
3. Average each stakeholder’s scores for power and interest.
4. Use the average scores as stakeholder co-ordinates for the stakeholder map.
5. Create the stakeholder map using the stakeholder mapping tool.

The following resources can help with the scaled stakeholder scoring method:

• stakeholder recording template (ODS, 3.5KB)
• stakeholder scoring template (ODS, 4.7KB)
• stakeholder mapping tool — please email External.Affairs@ons.gov.uk for access to this tool

Descriptive stakeholder scoring

Using the descriptive stakeholder scoring method will assign stakeholders a level of contact based on how many statements they meet in each category. You will select the contact level in which stakeholders meet the most statements. This is because too much contact presents less of a risk than too little contact.

The descriptive stakeholder scoring steps:

1. Highlight all statements that apply to the stakeholder for either power or interest, with a different colour for each.
2. Count the highlighted statements in each contact level.
3. Assign the contact level with the most statements highlighted.
4. Set a date to review the contact level after engagement has started.
5. Manually add the stakeholder into the correct section of the stakeholder map.

You can download the descriptive stakeholder scoring statements document (ODT, 51.2KB), which contains an example of completed scoring, and the scoring sheet template.

The following resources can help with the descriptive stakeholder scoring method:

• stakeholder recording template (ODS, 3.5KB)
• descriptive stakeholder scoring statements (ODT, 51.2KB)
• blank stakeholder map (ODT, 7.5KB)

Contact levels for stakeholders

Once you have scored stakeholders, the stakeholder map will indicate their contact level. You should review the stakeholders’ positioning as a project team and decide if the contact levels are suitable. Adjust stakeholders’ positioning if you need to, then record your reason in the stakeholder recording template.

Manage closely

These stakeholders have high power and high interest.

A stakeholder in this category:

• should be engaged closely and actively influenced – their opinion is considered valuable
• will have a high level of interest in your work, or a high level of responsibility or knowledge within the topic area
• may have mutual contacts whose agreement is vital to your work or project
• may be a partner
• may be advising you or acting as a consultant
• may have the same governance as you, or work on the same topic
• may have work or reputation with a risk of notable impact from work outcomes

Managing closely might look like:

• joint planning
• joint campaigning and press activities
• memorandums of understanding or partnership agreements
• secondment opportunities between staff
• joint research
• shared governance

Consult with

These stakeholders have low power and high interest.

A stakeholder in this category:

• should be adequately informed and listened to – they are an important sounding board
• will have a high level of interest or motivation, or a high level of responsibility in their area
• may have mutual contacts whose agreement is vital to your work or a specific project
• may be affected by the outcome of organisational decisions or a project
• may be able to influence the reputation or reception of your organisation’s work or a specific project

Consulting with might look like engaging with stakeholders through:

• open forums or round table discussions
• advisory or working groups
• seminars
• user panels
• conferences
• social media for listening, feedback, and inclusion
• StatsUserNetwork

Keep satisfied

These stakeholders have high power and low interest.

A stakeholder in this category:

• should be kept updated but not pushed or overwhelmed
• will be part of similar workstreams or working groups or have subject expertise
• will have knowledge on aspects of your organisation’s work or project area which they can share
• may only become actively interested if risks, reputational issues, or impacts emerge
• may be in contact with your organisation or discussing your organisation
• expects reassurance that the work is being managed appropriately

Keeping stakeholders satisfied might look like:

• inviting them to focus or task groups
• stakeholder visits
• engaging through deliberative meetings
• social media for visibility and reassurance without burden

Keep informed

These stakeholders have low power and low interest.

A stakeholder in this category:

• should be informed where appropriate or necessary
• sometimes engages with your organisation’s outputs
• may subscribe to related newsletters
• may subscribe to news updates on your organisation or team’s work
• may comment on or question the organisation’s work from time-to-time
• may work in an area related to your project or work
• may be interested in the future of your organisation and specific projects or topic area

Keeping stakeholders informed might be through these channels or methods:

• newsletters
• websites
• speeches
• press
• mailings
• social media for awareness and transparency at scale

The headings included in this guide are used by the Government Communication Service (GCS). The terms used in other maps that you view may vary depending on the profession the creators belong to, but stakeholders’ position on the map should indicate the same level of contact. A more detailed description of what each contact level means is available in the stakeholder contact levels document.

Explaining your decisions

You should record the reason for each stakeholder’s score in the stakeholder recording template, with the moderator’s name and the date the decision was made. This should be a concise sentence.

For example, you could write: “Company has multiple projects which use our output of statistics, and they contact our organisation monthly with queries on methodology. Joe Bloggs, 12/11/2023.”

Recording the reason for your decision will help make the mapping process transparent, justifiable, and traceable. This is important if the stakeholder map is passed on to another team, or the team members on the project change.

If you are sharing your map with other people, you should create an accessible scored stakeholder list to go with it. If you need a template for this, you can contact the External Affairs team at External.Affairs@ons.gov.uk.

Freedom of information requests

You should consider that correspondence and tools used in the scoring process may be shared if the stakeholder submits a relevant freedom of information request (FOI). You should carefully consider the words you use when you discuss stakeholders. For example, you should avoid using words like ‘not important’ or ‘irrelevant’, as these may appear negative to readers.

You can find out more about Freedom of Information requests on the Information Commissioner’s Office website.

Next steps

Once you have completed the stakeholder map, you should:

• share it with relevant teams in your organisation and review each stakeholder’s position
• change the position of stakeholders on the map as needed, recording your reasoning
• use the stakeholder map to create an engagement plan
• review and refresh the stakeholder map regularly throughout your project

Additional resources

Stakeholder mapping and engagement plans

The “Ensuring Effective Stakeholder Engagement” guide on the Government Communication Service website may help you to further develop your knowledge of stakeholder mapping and engagement planning.

If you would like guidance or support with how to create a stakeholder map or an engagement plan, please contact External.Affairs@ons.gov.uk.

Glossary of terms

Engagement

Engagement includes any communication that you have with your stakeholders. This may be completed over a range of different communication points and channels across the timeline of your project. For example, you may send out information in an email or newsletter, meet with stakeholders, run a consultation, hold events, or advertise on social media. All these different types of communication are classed as engagement.

Map

When we refer to a map, we are talking about a stakeholder engagement matrix. You can see an example of this in the “how to map stakeholders” section of this guidance. This is a four-quadrant plot which shows four different levels of communication. You will place your stakeholders onto one of the four quadrants, and contact them based on the heading of that quadrant: manage closely, consult with, keep satisfied, keep informed.

Scores

In this document, ‘scores’ are how stakeholders’ positioning on the map is decided. Scoring systems rank stakeholders’ potential involvement in a project based on their levels of power and interest. Within this document, scores are added using a scale from 1 to 10, and by meeting multiple criteria from written statements.

Stakeholder

A stakeholder is anyone that you work with, or anyone that works with your product. That includes producers and users of statistics from all backgrounds. When planning communication with stakeholders, you should focus on the stakeholders who fit onto the stakeholder map. This will be based on their level of power and interest.

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