Projects rarely fail because of the technical plan — they fail because someone with influence over the outcome was ignored, misread, or engaged too late. This course from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy is built around that reality: identifying who really matters to a project, understanding what they want, and building an engagement strategy that keeps them on side from start to finish.

Participants work through stakeholder communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution alongside influence mapping, risk management, and relationship-building over the life of a project. The course connects these skills to project execution directly — managing expectations and making strategic decisions so that projects reach completion without stakeholder relationships breaking down along the way.

Course Objectives

• Identify stakeholders and their roles, and analyse their interests and expectations.
• Build engagement strategies aligned with project objectives, using multiple communication channels.
• Resolve conflict through effective negotiation and manage stakeholder-related risk before it causes delays.
• Apply influence mapping to navigate power dynamics and build lasting stakeholder relationships.

Who Should Attend?

• Project managers and team leaders.
• Business analysts who manage project requirements.
• Stakeholder relationship managers and consultants working with project-based organisations.
• Executives and decision-makers involved in project governance.

How You Will Benefit

• Stronger alignment between stakeholders and project management around shared expectations.
• Better-managed conflict and negotiation, turning disagreements into constructive outcomes.
• Sharper decision-making using stakeholder insight and influence analysis.
• A hands-on foundation built through case studies and interactive exercises, not theory alone.

Module 1: Understanding Stakeholder Roles and Influence

• Why stakeholder roles and influence shape project outcomes.
• Techniques to identify key stakeholders and map them by influence and interest.

Module 2: Designing an Engagement and Communication Strategy

• Building a stakeholder communication plan aligned with project goals.
• Best practices for dialogue, trust-building, and strengthening long-term engagement.

Module 3: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

• Handling stakeholder conflict effectively as it arises.
• Negotiation strategies that produce win-win outcomes.

Module 4: Managing Stakeholder Risk and Influence

• Identifying and mitigating stakeholder-related risk before it disrupts the project.
• Using influence mapping and power-dynamics analysis to sharpen project decisions.

Module 5: Applying It in Practice: Case Studies

• Real-world examples of stakeholder management in action.
• Interactive exercises applying engagement strategies to realistic project scenarios.