Stakeholders can make or break a project, but they’re not always easy to track.
Some need regular updates, others just want the result, and a few might surprise you with last-minute input that sends everything sideways.
Things can get messy without a clear way to see who’s involved and how much influence they have.
A stakeholder mapping template helps you organize key players, understand their expectations, and tailor your communication so no one’s left out of the loop.
Let’s explore 14 free stakeholder mapping templates to help you get started. 🧰
Free Stakeholder Mapping Templates to Streamline Project Planning
What Is Stakeholder Mapping, and Why Is It Important?
Stakeholder mapping is a strategic process for identifying, categorizing, and prioritizing individuals or groups with a stake in a project, business, or initiative. It shows who holds influence, who needs attention, and how to engage each group meaningfully.
Project stakeholders might include customers, employees, investors, suppliers, regulators, or community representatives.
The mapping process allows teams to tailor their communication and engagement strategies based on each stakeholder’s interest and influence.
Here’s why stakeholder mapping matters:
- Building alignment from the start: Ensures clarity around roles, expectations, and interests
- Improving communication efforts: Shapes messaging based on what different groups need to hear
- Minimizing resistance: Helps teams anticipate pushback and prepare appropriate responses
- Supporting smarter decisions: Brings stakeholder priorities into strategic planning for decision-making
- Strengthening long-term relationships: Encourages thoughtful, consistent engagement throughout the project lifecycle
How to Create a Stakeholder Map
Creating a stakeholder map helps identify stakeholders who matter most and how to keep them engaged throughout your project. Use the steps below to build a map that supports decision-making. 🗺️
- List all relevant internal or external stakeholders: Identify every person, team, or group connected to your project. Consider internal departments, customers, suppliers, partners, regulators, and community groups
- Classify them based on power and interest: Plot each stakeholder on a power-interest grid to understand who has the most influence and cares about the outcome. This gives you a transparent sense of priorities
- Prioritize engagement efforts: Each quadrant calls for a different strategy. Focus more time and resources on high-power, high-interest stakeholders. Offer regular updates to other stakeholders based on their position on the grid
- Create tailored communication plans: Match each stakeholder to the correct type of communication—project meetings, emails, reports, or informal updates. Adjust frequency and tone to suit their preferences and involvement level
- Review and adjust regularly: Stakeholder priorities can shift fast. Schedule reviews to keep your map updated and your engagement efforts aligned with current realities
🔍 Did You Know? The interactive whiteboard market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.9%, reaching $9.9 billion by 2034. The growth is attributed to a growing focus on enhancing presentation with interactive features.
14 Stakeholder Mapping Templates
Managing stakeholders gets easier when you have the right tools. , the everything app for work, gives you flexible, ready-to-use templates that help you map out stakeholder relationships without starting from scratch.
Let’s explore some templates this stakeholder management software offers. 📝
1. Stakeholder Map Template
The Stakeholder Map Template helps you visualize stakeholder relationships to highlight influence, interest, and alignment across your project. It moves beyond static grids and clarifies the often messy network of people involved in your work. Its layout makes it easy to spot who influences what, where communication gaps exist, and which roles need attention.
Instead of managing stakeholders in isolation, the template helps you understand how they relate to one another and to your broader goals.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Interactive whiteboard view for real-time stakeholder mapping and collaboration
- Drag-and-drop interface to reposition stakeholders as influence or interest changes
- Color-coded categories for instant visual clarity on roles and priorities
- Built-in comment threads for contextual discussions on each stakeholder
- Customizable fields for influence, interest, and alignment metrics
📌 Ideal for: Teams seeking a visual and strategic approach to mapping stakeholder influence, alignment, and communication flows.
2. Stakeholder List Template
Turn to the Stakeholder List Template to monitor every relationship that impacts your project. It helps you track key stakeholder information in one organized, visual workspace. You can quickly spot your high-priority contacts or check who needs a follow-up.
With this stakeholder mapping template, you get Custom Fields to record each person’s email address, role, influence level, expectations, and even their profile. These fields help you understand where each stakeholder stands and what communication they need.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Custom Fields for storing emails, roles, influence levels, and expectations
- Multiple List views: Stakeholders, By Influence, and Contact Information
- Filter and sort stakeholders by any attribute for quick access
- Bulk editing to update multiple stakeholder records at once
- Integration with Automations for reminders and follow-ups
📌 Ideal for: Project leads needing a centralized, organized record of stakeholder roles, contact details, and engagement levels.
💡 Pro Tip: Use models like the Stakeholder Engagement Assessment Matrix to track who’s already on board and who needs a nudge. It helps you move the right people closer to support, and fast. Or invest in a contextual AI that can help you find information easily.
3. Stakeholder Analysis Matrix Template
The Stakeholder Analysis Matrix Template lets you map, evaluate, and sort stakeholders based on their influence, interest, and impact on your project. The built-in ‘Stakeholder Analysis View’ visualizes influence and interest levels so you can prioritize feedback and respond to concerns and conflicts before they slow down progress.
Categorize each stakeholder using Custom Fields, assign roles, and track their status through every stage. And because it’s built inside , you can immediately tap into tools like custom statuses, filtered views, and real-time updates. This keeps everyone aligned and ensures stakeholder relationships stay active.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Matrix view to plot stakeholders by influence and interest
- Custom statuses to track engagement stage (e.g., Identified, Engaged, Monitored)
- Visual dashboards for at-a-glance analysis of stakeholder priorities
- Role assignment for team accountability on stakeholder management
- Real-time updates and notifications for changes in stakeholder status
📌 Ideal for: Teams managing complex initiatives who require a clear framework to evaluate influence, prioritize needs, and allocate resources effectively.
4. Stakeholder Analysis Template
The Stakeholder Analysis Template gives you a strategic system for identifying who’s involved in your project, assessing their impact, and planning how to keep each stakeholder engaged. It evaluates influence levels, anticipates risks, and tailors workplace communication based on each stakeholder’s position.
The template includes multiple ready-to-use views that sort stakeholders based on specific traits.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Pre-built views for segmenting stakeholders by influence, action, and support
- Risk assessment fields to flag potential blockers or advocates
- Automated scoring system for influence and support levels
- Task linking to connect stakeholder actions with project deliverables
- Exportable reports for sharing analysis with external partners
📌 Ideal for: Organizations aiming to segment stakeholders based on contribution, involvement, and support to refine communication and decision-making.
5. Communication Matrix Report Template
The Communication Matrix Report Template maps who talks to whom, how often they connect, and where communication gaps might slow your project down. It’s a valuable tool for stakeholder mapping, showing how information flows between people, not just where influence or responsibility sits.
The template’s visual layout makes it easy to track communication patterns and adjust them when priorities shift. You’ll spot missing links, clarify responsibilities, and build communication plans that keep everyone in the loop.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Visual matrix to map communication frequency and channels between stakeholders
- Customizable communication types (email, meeting, report, etc.)
- Gap analysis tools to identify missing or weak communication links
- Timeline view to track communication cadence over the project lifecycle
- Permission controls for sensitive stakeholder communication data
📌 Ideal for: Managers wanting to visualize internal and external communication paths and identify potential stakeholder communication gaps across teams and stakeholder groups.
6. Communications Plan Template
The Communication Plan Template gives you a structured way to plan, manage, and track all communication efforts across your project. It turns communication into a trackable workflow, so nothing gets missed, and everyone stays aligned. Use this template to define your communication goals, assign responsibilities, and choose the right channels.
What makes this template stand out is its focus on action. Create tasks tied to communication milestones, use Docs to document your plan, and apply automations to reduce manual follow-ups. It’s flexible enough to manage small team updates or large-scale rollout communications for effortless project execution.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Structured workflow for planning, executing, and tracking communications
- Task templates for recurring communication milestones
- Docs integration for centralized documentation of communication plans
- Automated reminders for scheduled updates and follow-ups
- Channel-specific fields to tailor messaging for different audiences
📌 Ideal for: Project coordinators responsible for aligning messaging across departments, clients, and contributors within a structured workflow.
7. Executive Project Status Template
The Executive Project Status Report Template helps you deliver high-level updates that matter to decision-makers and stakeholders alike. It visualizes progress, flags issues, and keeps everyone aligned without digging through spreadsheets or scattered reports.
Focusing on executive-level visibility, this template allows you to track progress against deadlines, monitor budget health, and forecast outcomes based on real-time data. It also highlights risks, spots roadblocks early, and identifies areas for process improvement.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Executive dashboard with high-level KPIs, timelines, and risk indicators
- Automated progress tracking against project milestones
- Customizable summary sections for budget, timeline, and deliverables
- Real-time data sync with project tasks and dependencies
- Export-ready status reports for stakeholder presentations
📌 Ideal for: Teams presenting updates to executive stakeholders who require a high-level summary of progress, timelines, risks, and outcomes.
8. Pert Chart Template
The PERT Chart Template breaks your project timeline into actionable steps. It complements stakeholder mapping, showing how tasks connect, who’s responsible, and where potential delays might occur to help you communicate expectations.
Visualize project dependencies, estimate activity durations, and track progress against milestones. The chart layout makes it easy to spot scheduling conflicts before they affect delivery, keeping your timeline realistic and your team accountable.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Visual PERT chart for mapping project tasks, dependencies, and milestones
- Time estimation fields for each activity node
- Critical path highlighting to identify bottlenecks
- Integration with ’s time tracking and workload management
- Drag-and-drop editing for dynamic project planning
📌 Ideal for: Project managers coordinating time-sensitive deliverables who need clarity on task dependencies, scheduling, and stakeholder accountability.
💡 Pro Tip: Instead of guessing what stakeholders care about, talk to them. Quick surveys or stakeholder interviews can reveal motivations and concerns that no diagram ever could. Bonus: it builds trust early on.
9. Project Charter Template
The Project Charter Template is the perfect starting point for launching your project with purpose and clarity. It aligns everyone around shared objectives, responsibilities, and deliverables right from the beginning.
You can also organize essential elements like project scope, goals, roles, and milestones into an accessible and collaborative format.
This project charter template outlines project goals, documents key details, and delegates tasks across your team. It’s an integrated checklist that helps you track progress and ensure nothing gets missed.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Pre-built sections for scope, objectives, roles, and deliverables
- Checklist integration for tracking charter approval steps
- Customizable fields for project sponsors, timelines, and resources
- Collaborative editing for team alignment from day one
- Linked tasks and milestones for seamless project kickoff
📌 Ideal for: Leaders establishing new projects who want to define scope, assign responsibilities, and ensure a better understanding from day one.
10. RACI Planning Template
The RACI Planning Template offers a straightforward structure to define who’s doing what and who needs to stay in the loop. It maps out roles using the RACI model: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed, bringing visibility to responsibilities, streamlining collaboration, and reducing confusion around project ownership.
Assign each task based on team member roles and track progress using built-in views like Gantt, Calendar, List, and Workload. You can manage project goals using tags, comment threads, and automated workflows while keeping stakeholders informed with real-time updates.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- RACI matrix view to assign Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed roles
- Role-based filtering for quick clarity on team responsibilities
- Gantt, Calendar, and Workload views for visualizing assignments
- Automated notifications for role changes or task updates
- Commenting and tagging for transparent collaboration
📌 Ideal for: Cross-functional teams working on shared objectives who require defined roles and responsibilities to streamline collaboration.
11. Project Closure Template
The Project Closure Template gives you a defined process for finalizing your work, confirming project deliverables, and confidently handing everything off. With this tool, you can ensure sign-offs are documented, expectations are met, and no detail gets lost in the final stretch.
The template also includes a completion checklist that walks you through key closure tasks—confirming approvals, submitting final reports, organizing documentation, and reallocating team resources. You get a reliable structure that keeps the wrap-up phase smooth and professional.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Completion checklist to ensure all closure tasks are addressed
- Fields for documenting approvals, lessons learned, and final deliverables
- Automated reminders for sign-off and documentation deadlines
- Archiving tools for storing project records securely
- Handover task templates for a smooth transition to operations or clients
📌 Ideal for: Teams finalizing projects who need a reliable framework to confirm deliverables, document outcomes, and ensure stakeholder sign-off.
12. Professional Services Project Update Template
The Professional Services Project Update Template helps you deliver structured, accurate updates to clients without scrambling for status reports or chasing down details. It connects stakeholder mapping with project visibility, ensuring everyone stays informed, aligned, and confident in the progress.
Break down tasks, set milestones, highlight roadblocks, and outline next steps—all while maintaining a professional presentation. The template focuses on accountability and clarity.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Client-facing update templates for structured, repeatable reporting
- Milestone tracking with visual progress bars
- Custom Fields for deliverables, blockers, and next steps
- Automated status update reminders for ongoing projects
- Exportable summary reports for client distribution
📌 Ideal for: Client-facing teams delivering ongoing services who must communicate project updates, track deliverables, and maintain transparency.
13. Prioritization Matrix Template
The Priority Matrix Template brings the Eisenhower Matrix to life inside your workspace, helping you sort tasks based on urgency and importance in real time. It plays a valuable role in stakeholder mapping by keeping team efforts focused on what matters most, so high-priority items don’t get buried in the shuffle.
The matrix is split into four interactive quadrants: Urgent and Important, Not Urgent and Important, Urgent and Not Important, and Not Urgent and Not Important.
You can drag and drop tasks between these sections as priorities change, giving your team flexibility without losing clarity. You get the Eisenhower Matrix’s strategic insight and ’s collaborative features.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Interactive Eisenhower Matrix with drag-and-drop task sorting
- Quadrant-based filtering for urgent/important task management
- Real-time updates as priorities shift
- Customizable labels and color codes for each quadrant
- Integration with ’s task dependencies and reminders
📌 Ideal for: Teams managing a high volume of tasks who need to align stakeholder demands with urgency and strategic importance.
14. Excel Stakeholder Map Template by Project Manager
The Project Manager’s Excel Stakeholder Map Template is a great way to plot stakeholder relationships based on their influence and interest. Designed for project managers who prefer a familiar spreadsheet format, this template structures engagement strategies during planning, proposal writing, and risk analysis.
Its visual setup helps clarify how to engage each group and ensures communication plans are tailored accordingly.
🌼 Why you’ll love this template
- Familiar spreadsheet format for easy adoption and editing
- Pre-built quadrants for Manage Closely, Keep Satisfied, Keep Informed, Monitor
- Editable columns for stakeholder names, roles, influence, and communication plans
- Conditional formatting for visual prioritization
- Simple export and sharing options for cross-team collaboration
📌 Ideal for: Project managers seeking a simple, spreadsheet-based tool to organize stakeholder information and support basic communication planning.
🤝 Friendly Reminder: Your stakeholder map shouldn’t live in a vacuum. Use it to shape your communication strategy, identify key players and champions, and flag potential blockers.
Stakeholder Map Examples
Different stakeholder maps offer distinct advantages, depending on what the project needs. Your chosen format should clarify relationships, highlight priorities, and guide your engagement strategy.
Here are five practical stakeholder map types you can use. 💁
- Power-interest grid: Identify who to engage closely (high power + interest) and who to monitor lightly (low power + interest). Use this for prioritizing attention
- Influence-impact matrix: Spot stakeholders who can affect outcomes, even if they’re inactive. This is great for flagging hidden influencers and managing change
- Salience model: Rank stakeholders by power, legitimacy, and urgency. This helps you focus on where the pressure is highest and resources are limited
- Onion diagram: Map stakeholders by proximity to the project. The core team goes in the center, while external players like media or regulators stay on the periphery
- Role-based mapping: Group stakeholders by role: approvers, contributors, informers, or blockers. This streamlines responsibilities and stakeholder communication
What Makes a Good Stakeholder Map Template?
A good stakeholder map template creates structure without overcomplicating the process. It helps teams identify, categorize, and manage stakeholders based on clearly defined criteria.
Key features include:
- Defined axes or categories: Uses specific variables such as power, interest, influence, or urgency to position stakeholders
- Flexible layout options: Supports grids, diagrams, or tables to suit different project needs and stakeholder volumes
- Visual clarity: Keeps design readable and straightforward, using color-coding or labels to reduce confusion during stakeholder analysis
- Editable fields: Allows easy updates as stakeholder relationships evolve or project dynamics shift
- Role-specific sections: Differentiates between internal and external stakeholders or assigns roles such as approver, contributor, or observer
- Communication planning space: Includes areas for mapping preferred engagement methods or communication frequency
- Prioritization tools: Highlights key stakeholders based on defined levels of impact or importance
Time to and Close the Loop
Effective stakeholder engagement demands structure, clarity, and a visual representation of all project stakeholders to transform information into informed action. Without the right tools, priorities may blur, potential conflicts may get missed, communication becomes inconsistent, and critical relationships risk being mismanaged.
, the everything app for work, provides a unified platform to streamline this process. Its stakeholder mapping templates enable tasks to manage day-to-day operations, real-time collaboration, open channels, role clarity, and precise stakeholder impact planning across every project stage.
Equip your project teams with the right tools for stakeholder management. Sign up for today! ✅
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