Key roles in stakeholder engagement, communication, and training

Across a technology implementation project, people professionals are called on to perform distinct roles that go beyond their everyday responsibilities. This video addresses three of those roles directly — stakeholder liaison, communicator, and trainer — situating each within the broader context of AC 2.2 from the FREE02 People Professional Technologies unit. The discussion draws on a realistic picture of who the relevant stakeholders are in a people technology implementation, including employees, line managers, senior sponsors, IT teams, trade unions, and external partners, and considers why people professionals are often best placed to manage those relationships.

The communication dimension of the video examines the principles that underpin effective change communication during a technology rollout, including timing, channel selection, consistency, and the emotional texture of messages directed at an anxious or sceptical workforce. Rather than treating communication as a single announcement or a project milestone, the video considers it as an ongoing activity that runs throughout implementation. The stakeholder liaison coverage similarly addresses how surface-level information sharing differs from active, sustained coalition-building, and why that distinction matters when employees fear closer monitoring or managers anticipate greater administrative burden.

On training, the video looks at what effective preparation for a new system actually involves, contrasting procedural instruction with the broader competence and confidence that employees need when things go wrong or processes are unfamiliar. Accessibility sits at the heart of this section, with attention to varying levels of digital confidence, employees whose first language is not English, and those with disabilities — concerns that connect directly to the people professional's role as a gatekeeper for fairness and inclusion. Together, the three roles discussed form a practical lens for understanding how people professionals contribute to sustainable technology adoption rather than surface-level compliance.