The results of your stakeholder meetings and analysis will help you to determine your communication approach and to craft a concrete plan for communication and engagement over the entire project life cycle. This plan—your communication plan—will include not only the general communication needs of a project, but also the specific preferences of each stakeholder (i.e., whether they prefer written communication or verbal communication, etc.).
A typical communications plan includes the following attributes:
The communication plan should be reviewed and signed by all stakeholders and by you, the project leader. It should be followed as closely as possible during the project and referred to if any ambiguities regarding stakeholder engagement arise.
While a thoughtful communication plan is important, the primary output from engagement and communication with stakeholders is, first and foremost, improved stakeholder relationships. As you work to build trust, you can solicit feedback from the stakeholders in an effort to improve practices now and on future projects.