Number 2 in our series of TBL-CBA traps.

2. Forgetting Certain (Increasingly Vocal) Stakeholders

When conducting a Triple Bottom Line – Cost Benefit Analysis (TBL-CBA), a common trap is thinking too narrowly about the project. By definition, a triple bottom line approach avoids thinking only in financial terms – the narrowest thinking of all. Assigning a dollar value to environmental or social metrics that lack a simple market price is the big step that helps to broaden the view.

Broadening the view, however, does not mean losing the perspective of each project stakeholder. Infrastructure and building projects have always been complex to manage, but now project managers are being asked to manage an even wider scope of concerns because project footprints have grown and project stakeholders have become more sensitive and sophisticated about the direct and spill-over effects for them. This is where Multiple Account CBA comes to the rescue – it breaks out negative and positive impacts by stakeholder group, from neighbors to local governments to those downstream. It goes a long way towards countering NIMBYism and avoiding project delays.

Click here if you would like an infographic of the Top Ten TBL-CBA Traps.

Recap: Trap #1 – Re-inventing the wheel