Managing stakeholder commitments becomes far more effective when supported by the right stakeholder management software. Instead of relying on scattered notes and manual follow-ups, teams gain a single source of truth to track promises, deadlines, and accountability. With clear visibility into who committed to what and when, organizations can build trust, reduce risk, and ensure commitments are consistently met. This post explains how SRM software can help manage stakeholder commitments.
What are stakeholder commitments?
A stakeholder commitment is a promise made to a stakeholder. These commitments can take many forms; they can be general (such as a policy change or an action that needs to be taken), involve a financial element (such as a donation or sponsorship), or represent a financial equivalent (such as goods or services provided or exchanged).
Common pain points for organizations with commitments
- Forgetting about commitments (especially commitments that can't be fulfilled until far into the future)
- Lack of commitment ownership (who is responsible for ensuring the commitment gets addressed and fulfilled?)
- When staff leave, commitment information can leave with them
- Difficulty tracking the status of commitments (e.g. not knowing how many are active and still need to be fulfilled)
- Not being aware of or understanding current project liabilities when making commitments
- Not understanding how the commitment connects to other project information (e.g. what stakeholder, organization or community is a part of the commitment, what communications have been made to stakeholders regarding the commitment to date, what issues are associated with the commitment, etc.)
Benefits of using Stakeholder Relationship Management software for commitments management
There are numerous benefits to utilizing an SRM to effectively manage your organization's commitments. With the ability to quickly log all your stakeholder information into a centralized system, you can focus on engaging with stakeholders, building relationships, and working towards achieving your project goals. With an SRM, you can:
1. Quickly access your stakeholder information
Depending on the SRM you choose, you should be able to view commitments associated with one or all your projects, helping you build a comprehensive understanding.
When you record all your information, you always know where commitments originate (i.e., which communication record or issue the commitment is associated with). When you understand how your data is linked together, it helps you build a comprehensive understanding of your stakeholders and projects.
2. Report on the whole history of engagement
An SRM helps teams organize their commitments in a searchable and understandable way, making it easy to stay on top of them so you never forget another commitment again.
Communication records associated with the commitment will be easily accessible as part of the overall commitment profile. This audit trail of information is essential because, for example, if you encounter a situation where there is a discrepancy over how a commitment was handled, you can quickly retrieve all the necessary information to demonstrate the exact communication that occurred.
3. Build stakeholder relationships
Being able to access commitment information helps you understand how and why it was promised, which in turn enables you to better understand your stakeholders' wants and expectations. Knowing what commitments exist and whether they've been fulfilled will help ensure you are never blindsided again in a meeting with a stakeholder.
This understanding also helps you and your team communicate more consistently with stakeholders, prepare for stakeholder meetings and manage to fulfill commitments in collaboration with other staff, contractors or business lines. This clarity will help your stakeholders to see you as more engaged, knowledgeable and reliable, which contributes to building meaningful relationships.
Learn more about building stakeholder relationships →
4. Understand and limit risk
With your information tracked, organized, and accessible in an SRM, you can better prepare for and mitigate risks, keeping your projects on schedule and your organization better protected.
5. Track all information
Many organizations continue to use spreadsheets to manage their stakeholder engagement efforts. Spreadsheets may or may not be up-to-date and can be hard to search and understand.
With multiple spreadsheets, it's challenging, if not impossible, to keep track of important information, such as commitments and deadlines. If you're unsure when the spreadsheet was last updated, it can be hard to track the status of commitments.
This lack of understanding of commitment history leaves you open to a variety of risks.
With a cloud-based SRM, your commitment information is centralized, allowing you to view the last time it was updated easily and ensuring you're always looking at the latest version. If your SRM has user-based permission, you can also control who can access commitment information, which is beneficial depending on the role of staff or contractors in your project.
6. Manage organizational reputation
Positive perceptions help build your organization's reputation, which speaks volumes in support. Your willingness to consistently engage and be transparent, while also ensuring that you fulfill all your commitments, will impact how people perceive your projects and your organization.
An SRM helps manage reputation by allowing you and your team to stay consistent in your messaging, as you always know what has been said by whom. It also gives you the ability to organize commitments according to priority and due date, meaning you always know which commitments still need to be fulfilled.
7. Fulfill future commitments
Speaking of commitment fulfillment, inevitably, some won't be able to be fulfilled until years into the future, and it's hard to remember a promise made five years ago (especially one that pre-dates your time on a team)!
With an SRM, your information is tracked, organized, and accessible, enabling you to quickly review commitments and understand what was agreed upon, including any associated liabilities. This helps support your team's accountability in ensuring commitments are always fulfilled, regardless of when they were made.
Learn more about how an SRM enables you to manage your stakeholder commitments →
8. Easily compile helpful reports
As an SRM is built for managing stakeholders, the unique workflows can help you gain rich insights into your stakeholder engagement projects and allow you to create valuable reports easily.
These insights and reporting capabilities are essential for the effective management of your stakeholder information, enabling you to understand how all the pieces connect.
Some SRMs will allow you to run reports on commitments by status, helping you keep track of important information, such as which commitments are currently high-priority or overdue and require your immediate attention. These reports can help to improve accountability and ensure compliance.
Learn more about how SRM reports will help your stakeholder engagement →
How do you choose an SRM?
Now that you understand the benefits of using an SRM, it's time to choose one! It's essential to note that not every SRM is designed or supported in the same way. Software that works for one organization might not be the right option for another, so take the time to review and select the best SRM for your organization.
Turn stakeholder commitments into action with Jambo SRM
Take control of stakeholder commitments with Jambo SRM. Track agreements, assign ownership, and follow up with confidence, all in one intuitive platform. Jambo helps you turn stakeholder promises into measurable progress. You can request a demo and see the features we offer in action.
