Analysis on motivating factors
How do the parties in your network view the issue you are working on? What do they see as the problem? Do they have any solutions themselves? What are their positions? What are their interests and motives?
Tips
- Chose five key actors for this analysis – parties that are essential to the success of the project because they are powerful, for example, or because its impact on them is significant.
- Use information from (social) media analyses as well.
- Parties often have multiple interests, and sometimes those interests overlap. It can be useful to draw up a list of interests and to indicate in the matrix which interests are relevant to what parties (as in the example matrix here).
- Revisit this analysis regularly to see if the field has changed.
Understanding the results
- Are there any shared interests? Often, negotiating on the basis of positions leads to defensive behaviour; having a particular interest does not necessarily imply a particular position. More importantly, positions can change, whereas interests seldom do. Instead, they tend to grow. It is often possible to use a shared interest as a basis for dialogue.
- If you are able to draw a connection to what others experience as a problem, groups will realise your approach acknowledges their problems and see that you value their interests and motivations. Arguments will not get through to your dialogue partner unless they reflect what matters to them. This analysis is therefore extremely important for getting your core message across.
- If the other party doesn’t see any problem that needs to be fixed, it will be difficult to get them on your side. If the party in question is essential to the success of the project, you will have to decide whether to modify your goal or first put the issue on their agenda.