Institutional credibility depends on certain individuals within particular contexts. This map illustrates your stakeholder landscape across two axes: their influence on your reputation and how well they align with your institutional narrative. Your narrative strategy should target the area where influence is high but alignment is low.
Complete Part 1 first. Then plot each stakeholder in the matrix in Part 2. Use Part 3 to define your engagement priorities.
| Organisation | Date | Completed by |
|---|---|---|
Part 1 — Stakeholder Inventory
List up to 12 stakeholders or groups. Rate their influence over your reputation (1–5) and their current alignment with your narrative (1–5). Use these scores to plot them in Part 2.
| Stakeholder / group | Influence (1–5) | Alignment (1–5) | Key concern or interest |
|---|---|---|---|
Part 2 — Influence Map
Plot each stakeholder from Part 1 into the relevant quadrant using their Influence and Alignment scores. Write their name or reference number in the box. The top-left quadrant is your highest-priority narrative target.
| Quadrant | Action |
|---|---|
| High Influence · Low Alignment → Narrative Priority | Your most urgent engagement target. Write stakeholder names here. |
| High Influence · High Alignment → Amplify & Protect | Activate as advocates. Protect these relationships. Write stakeholder names here. |
| Low Influence · Low Alignment → Monitor | Not urgent. Review annually. Write stakeholder names here. |
| Low Influence · High Alignment → Maintain Relationship | Nurture — influence may grow. Write stakeholder names here. |
Part 3 — Narrative Engagement Strategy
For each stakeholder in the top-left quadrant (high influence, low alignment), define your narrative engagement approach.
| Stakeholder | Current perception | Target perception | Key message | Channel / action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
What To Do Next
| Pattern | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| Mostly top-left | Your narrative is not reaching the people with the most influence over your reputation. The priority is targeted engagement with specific high-influence stakeholders who do not yet understand or trust your story. |
| Mostly top-right | Your most influential stakeholders are aligned. The risk is complacency — protect these relationships actively and ensure your narrative continues to evolve with their expectations. |
| Scattered across all | Your stakeholder landscape is complex. Consider sequencing; which audience, if moved to alignment, would have the greatest downstream effect on the others? |