Twenty years ago, an organisation's stakeholders were an easy list: employees, shareholders, the people who used internal services, and outside partners like customers, suppliers and contractors. That list doesn't hold up anymore. Companies, governments and third-sector organisations now collaborate across sectors in ways that make stakeholder relationships far more complex — and responsible organisations are expected to understand their obligations to the communities and environments they operate within.

Because stakeholders play such a direct role in whether an organisation succeeds, this course from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy focuses on how to engage them properly: reading their expectations accurately, valuing their contributions, and responding to their needs in a structured, sustainable way rather than reacting case by case.

Who Should Attend?

• Managers responsible for customer service (internal or external), contracts, procurement, HR and finance.
• Heads of business units or executive departments, and managers designing internal market frameworks.
• Executives responsible for sustainability or corporate social responsibility.

Course Objectives

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

• Apply tools and techniques for managing and evaluating stakeholders.
• Test and verify the basic principles that shape how their department serves stakeholders.
• Understand the operating landscape and local environment stakeholders work within.
• Identify the external factors that affect how their organisation operates.
• Systematically assess key stakeholders' needs and expectations, and engage them fully.
• Manage stakeholder relationships effectively, and understand the essentials of becoming - and managing - a valued service provider.

Module 1: What "Stakeholder" Really Means

• Theoretical definitions of stakeholders, including the US and UK project-management institutes' definitions.
• The external factors that affect how organisations operate and, in turn, their stakeholders.
• Tools and techniques for managing and evaluating stakeholders systematically.

Module 2: Leading Stakeholders Without Always Having Authority

• The leadership role of project managers in relation to stakeholders.
• Guidelines for leading stakeholders, and the leadership matrix built around time and capability.
• Choosing the right leadership style, including leading without direct authority, and adapting style to the situation.

Module 3: Negotiating With Stakeholders

• Types of negotiation and the mindsets that shape it, along with core negotiation principles.
• The traits of successful negotiators and how negotiation is used to build alliances.
• The stages of negotiation, effective strategies, and the practices that separate good negotiation from bad.

Module 4: Reading and Responding to Stakeholder Needs

• Systematic methods for assessing stakeholders' needs and expectations.
• Engaging stakeholders fully rather than selectively.
• Managing stakeholder relationships on an ongoing basis, and what it takes to become - and remain - a valued service provider.

Delivery & Notes

• Delivered in-house, one-to-one, in groups, or through hands-on practical sessions — whichever suits your team best.
• Timing and location can be arranged to fit your schedule, and the programme can be delivered to a premium standard for senior participants; contact the Academy's team for details.