Course video

Ensure the success of your plans by applying actor and strategy models to deliver effective action in stakeholder networks.

How do you deliver results in multi-stakeholder partnerships? How do you navigate through a political minefield? How do you make best use of your network?

This online course will equip you with a toolkit to enable informed decisions and smarter actions in dealing with others.

Through a clearer understanding of the network environment in which you operate, you will be able to design more effective strategies for dealing with the multiple stakeholders who are crucial to your organization's success. The result will be a significant reduction in the risk of delays, of cost overruns and failures, which will allow you to reap benefits from strategic partnerships.

The actor and strategy models that are taught in this course, enable you to assess the key issues at stake, and to develop strategic scenarios to anticipate opportunities and challenges in your stakeholder environment. They allow you to determine what network linkages are missing or need strengthening, to identify arguments that might convince others, and to think about credible threats and promises as part of a negotiation strategy.

You will apply a mix of tools and models to real-world problems, including your own case. Models covered are social network analysis, comparative cognitive mapping, cooperative and non-cooperative game theory. Feedback and advice will be provided by course instructors.

Practical applications

Models to predict plausible outcomes

Large cities need to expand, upgrade or rehabilitate their water and sewerage services. Privatization and public-private partnerships have been used worldwide resulting in both major successes and serious failures. The water privatization in Metro Manila in the Philippines, for instance, shows how two completely different outcomes can occur in the same case: one concessionaire operating successfully and another one filing for bankruptcy.

A game theory model can show that urban water privatization models typically have two plausible outcomes: the best possible one under optimal conditions, but also the worst in less-than-optimal conditions. Whilst private parties are often expected to operate more efficiently and contribute to the newest technologies and innovations, if those eager concessionaires overestimate their own capacities, huge failures will result. A few smart actions and conditions might help fix the incentives for prospective concessionaires and can make a world of difference.

Similar (actor) models applied to cases such as nature-based solutions for flood management, show that when the engineering potential seems highest, the collaboration – and therefore successful implementation – is in fact least likely to occur. With these insights, realistic strategies can be designed, instead of strategies based on naïve and wishful thinking.

After taking this course, you will be able to:

• Explain and anticipate actor strategies in complex environments based on a coherent conceptual framework
• Apply different actor and strategy models to sharpen your understanding of multi-stakeholder environments
• Develop strategies that increase the chances of success in building winning coalitions and effective partnerships.

Stories from Learners

"I notice that most people don't look beyond plan A. They seem to start with their plan A and then simply see what happens, but thinking through possible scenarios and developing back-up plans can really help to ensure you don't lose the momentum. This online course is an attractive way to learn about methods to better prepare your multi-stakeholder strategies." - Kirsten van Zalinge, Contract Manager at BAM Bouw & Techniek, formerly at Rijkswaterstaat, the Netherlands.

"Since following the course, I've had the opportunity to apply the models I've learned several times. Each model is a tool to analyze actor networks from different perspectives, each providing complementary insights. As such, the course is useful to any professional looking not only to better understand complex actor problems, but also to present them in a structured way." - Joao Gorenstein-Dedecca, Sustainable Energy Technologies and Strategies Researcher at IIT Comillas Madrid and TU Delft.

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