Stakeholder Interview Template: Questions and Example

A stakeholder interview template for a consulting engagement has three parts: a list of who to interview, a question bank by theme (goals, current state, pains, constraints, success, and how decisions get made), and a one-page notes sheet you fill in during each 45-minute interview. Copy all three below, with a filled example and a way to synthesize them.

Recording is optional. We make an AI notetaker, and further down we say where ours fits and what it does not do. You do not need it to use this template.

At the start of an engagement, stakeholder interviews tell you how the client really works before you propose anything: what each leader wants, where the work breaks, what cannot change, and who will decide on your recommendation. They are not the sales call that won the work (that is a discovery call). They come after the contract, with the people your work will touch.

Agree the list with your sponsor in the kickoff. Most engagements need 8 to 15 interviews. Stop when new interviews stop adding new themes, and always ask "Who else should we talk to?" at the end.

Send a short invite that says why you are talking to them, how long it takes, how their words will be used, and whether you would like to record. For example:

You will not ask all of them. Pick two or three per theme for each person, and follow every answer with "Can you give me a recent example?"

• What is your role, and how does this project touch your work?
• What would change for your team if it succeeds?
• How were you involved in deciding to start it?

• In your words, what should this engagement achieve?
• If we could reach only one goal, which one?
• Why now, and not last year?

• Walk me through how [the process] works today, step by step.
• Where do the workarounds live: spreadsheets, side emails, one person who knows?
• Which numbers do you trust, and which do you not?

• What is the most frustrating part of this today?
• When did it last go wrong, and what did it cost: time, money, customers?
• What has been tried before, and why did it stall?

• What cannot change: systems, contracts, dates, rules?
• What else is competing for the same people this year?
• Is there a period when nothing can change, such as a year-end close or a peak season?

• A year from now, how would you know this worked?
• Which number would move, and from what to what?
• What would make you call it a failure even if we delivered everything?

• Who will decide on our recommendation, and how?
• Whose opinion carries weight with them?
• Who might lose something if this changes?
• Where do you and your peers disagree about this?
• What would make a recommendation hard to accept here?

One sheet per interview. Copy the table into Word, Google Docs or your notes app and replace each bracket with what you hear. Put direct quotes in quotation marks so you can tell them apart from your paraphrase later.

A consultant redesigning the order-to-cash process at a regional wholesale distributor. The client, the person and every number are invented.

The risk is the readout that only repeats what the sponsor said. A short method keeps you honest:

1. Build a grid: one row per person, one column per theme. Each cell holds a short paraphrase and where it came from.
2. Count before you conclude. "7 of 11 named promotions as the source of disputes" is a finding. "Pricing is a problem" is an impression.
3. Fill the "Differs" field for every theme. A finding with no dissent listed has not been checked.
4. Split by group instead of averaging. Leaders and front-line staff often describe different processes, and the gap is often the finding.
5. Quote only what you can trace to an interview, and replay the moment if you recorded.
6. Keep the attribution promise. If you agreed role only, a group of one (the only CFO) can still identify a person: merge groups or ask first.
7. Play the themes back to your sponsor before the readout, so no one meets a surprise in front of the steering committee.

A recording helps with quotes and with checking a theme against what people actually said. It also adds duties, so it is optional.

A recorder with no bot shows the other person nothing, so telling them is your job. Say it in the invite and again at the start: "I am recording this for my notes. Is that all right?" If anyone says no, stop and use the notes sheet by hand.

In California, recording a confidential conversation without the consent of all parties is an offense (Penal Code section 632). In Germany, recording someone's non-public spoken words without authorization is a criminal offense (section 201 of the Criminal Code). Under the GDPR, a recording needs a lawful basis, and people must be told the purpose and the legal basis when their data is collected from them (Articles 6 and 13). Some clients also rule out recording in their own policies or contracts. Rules differ by country and state, so check the rules where everyone in the interview is.

One more thing other templates skip: a role-only promise covers your readout, not the recording. The transcript still holds the voice and the name. Say who on your team can open it, and keep it to them.

Reline captures your microphone and the computer's audio locally on Mac, Windows, Linux (beta) or in the browser, and no bot joins. Transcription, AI and storage run in the cloud. Reline transcribes while it records, so it cannot transcribe a file from another recorder. The recording is kept, so you can press play on any transcript line before you quote it. Summaries cite nothing, so check them against the transcript.

For a set of interviews, give the client its own folder and put every interview of the engagement in it. Folder-scoped chat answers one question across all of them, such as "What did people say about disputes?", and the answer quotes transcript lines with timestamps you can play. That helps you fill the grid, including the people who disagree. Treat each answer as a pointer and check the line before it goes into a deck.

• Speakers: labels are Me vs Other, plus beta voice numbering you name yourself. Names are not automatic. In a room, everyone arrives through one microphone, so check who spoke before you quote anyone.
• Access: notes are private by default, and a workspace role alone grants nothing. Share the client folder only with the people on that engagement.
• Paperwork: a DPA is available. There is no SOC 2 report.
• Price: $15 per seat a month. Free is 10 hours of transcription and 1 hour per note.

The template works on paper. If you record, tell people first, keep the promise you made about names, and let the counts, not the loudest voice, decide your themes.