Please note: a new version of this exercise is now available: Using the Spectrogram for Stakeholder Mapping and Power Analysis.
Step 2. The Half Wheel
See also: Step 1: Stake-holders or Step 3: The Pyramid
Next, the participants should take a big piece of paper and draw a half wheel on it, dividing it into three parts, for allies, neutral parties, and opponents.
Ask the participants to arrange the post-it notes on which they’ve noted the stakeholders in their campaign around the half-wheel according to these categories:
-
Allies are people who are already engaged and support the campaign.
-
Neutral Parties are people who neither oppose nor support the campaign
-
Opponents are people who actively oppose the campaign
Some of the stakeholders that they’ve listed may fall into more than one category according to circumstances – if so, place them on the border line between the two categories.
 |
|
- Allies are the people they need to mobilise.
- Neutral Parties are the people they need to educate (to transform them into Allies).
- Opponents are the people whose arguments and actions they need to counter.
Stakeholders who lie on the line between Neutral Parties and Allies are the people they need to motivate, to make them into Allies.
Those who are between Opponents and Neutral Parties are the people that they need to persuade to reconsider their positions.
Stakeholders and activities
Now engage the participants in a discussion about each type of stakeholder, and about activities that can be undertaken with each: this will help participants to identify the right tactic to use for each of their stakeholders.
Allies – Mobilise!
Call on them to attend a protest, rally or meeting
Get them to put information out through their own networks
Get them to engage Neutral Parties and Opponents
Neutral Parties – Educate
Give them the information they need. What are creative ways to get information out to Neutral Parties via mobile phones, for example?
Engage them in getting information that is needed for the campaign. Actively engaging neutral parties in data gathering is a great way of educating them and turning them into active Allies
Opponents – Counter
Engage Opponents in face-to-face meetings and Forums. Counter the arguments that they present in debate.
Use Allies to engage Opponents
Use Neutral Parties to educate and to engage Opponents.
Now, ask the participants to look at how they’ve organised their stakeholders, and annotate each post-it note accordingly, writing A for Allies, N for Neutral, and O for Opponents. For stakeholders who fall into more than one category, include them both (A/N; N/O).
Next – Step 3 – The Pyramid