Social Network Building in Project Management

The first step to social network building is identifying those stakeholders on whom the project depends for success. The project manager and his key assistants need to ask the following questions:

• Whose cooperation will we need?
• Whose agreement or approval will we need?
• Whose opposition would keep us from accomplishing the project?

It is always better to overestimate rather than underestimate dependencies. All too often, otherwise talented and successful project managers have been derailed because they were blindsided by someone whose position or power they had not anticipated. After identifying the stakeholders associated with your project, it is important to assess their significance. Those individuals with the most power over and interest in the project are the most significant stakeholders and deserve the greatest attention.

In particular, you need to "step into their shoes" and see the project from their perspective by asking the following questions:

• What differences exist between myself and the people on whom I depend (goals, values, pressures, working styles, risks)?
• How do these different people view the project ?
• What is the current status of the relationship I have with the people I depend on?
• What sources of influence do I have relative to those on whom I depend?

Once you start this analysis you can begin to appreciate what others value and what currencies you might have to offer as a basis on which to build a working relationship. You begin to realize where potential problems lierelationships in which you have a current debit or no convertible currency. Furthermore, diagnosing others' points of view as well as the basis for their positions will help you anticipate their reactions and feelings about your decisions and actions. This information is vital for selecting the appropriate influence strategy and tactics and producing win/win solutions.