You need to keep your stakeholders engaged. How can you develop a strategy that works?

IN my experience, if one can talk to each of stakeholder set in their language i.e. explaining how outcome will contribute to their objectives, that will increase interest , engagement and the initiative can cut through clutter of multiple initiatives where the same teams are stakeholders

When it comes to keeping stakeholders engaged, trust and execution are critical. - Trust forms the foundation of effective stakeholder engagement. Be transparent, and consistent in your interactions and deliver on your commitments. By building trust, you create a conducive environment for collaboration and open communication. - By demonstrating a relentless focus on execution, you create a sense of urgency and commitment among stakeholders. Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your stakeholder engagement strategy by collecting feedback and measuring engagement levels. Identify areas for improvement and adapt accordingly. Trust is earned through consistent actions over time, and execution sets the stage for tangible results.

Storytelling and selling the vision are essential. The proof points are in delivering incremental, short-cycle wins that can demonstrate the validity of the strategy and commercial opportunity.

Start by identifying all the stakeholders involved in your project or initiative. This includes internal stakeholders such as team members, managers, and executives, as well as external stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, and partners. Understanding their interests, concerns, and expectations is key to keeping them engaged.

Address Concerns: Actively listen to any concerns or feedback from stakeholders and take appropriate action to address them. This demonstrates that their input is valued and can help build trust.

Clearly define the objectives of your engagement strategy. What do you want to achieve by keeping stakeholders engaged? Your objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

The ESG 2.0 initiative, led by Caixin Insight, UNIDO, and APEC in 2021, introduced the "4A" Framework to define ESG data standards. The framework consists of four principles: Available, Accountable, Accessible, and Appetible. I believe that the engagement process is essentially a data collection and verification process, which should also adhere to these 4A principles. Additionally, it is important to define what this data represents. The goal should be to create a comprehensive dataset that reflects stakeholders' utility curves, as this provides a more accurate and tangible objective. Otherwise, the objectives may be overly subjective and vague.

This step is often overlooked in the stakeholder engagement process. We must always define the ‘what’ & ‘how’ of stakeholder engagement activities in programs.

Aligning on the problem statement and what you want to achieve in short & long term along with your stakeholder is another critical element in ensure stakeholder engagement

Where possible, collate all existing information/content and have it available for perusal before the workshop. Be considerate of mixed knowledge/experience participants... make sure definitions are given, avoid acronyms etc. Make sure the 'exam question' is clear and break that down into a number of smaller contributing objectives for the day. Use break out groups where possible to focus on multiple areas at once, switch people around, rotate group leaders etc to ensure people remain useful and engaged.

In my view, mutual interest lies at the heart of any successful engagement. By comprehending the areas of interest that resonate with our stakeholders and tailoring our activities accordingly, we can create mutually beneficial experiences that deeply engage them. From my own experiences, I've found that workshops, leadership development programs, and certifications tend to energize stakeholders. These initiatives often tackle underlying challenges, resolve conflicts, foster robust relationships, and offer valuable insights that stakeholders can share on social media platforms, enhancing their visibility and earning them recognition.

Generally, this involves building some level of cadence through workshops (or other relevant forms) to gain critical insights on the key activities or drivers to deliver the relevant piece of work. Ensure they are not too frequent such that nothing new to discuss- and not too far spaced out which can lead to lack of clarity on interdependencies / strategic interplay and connectivity wrt delivery. Always get as many varied stakeholder feedback as possible and give them good time to come back on any asks to ensure they are well thought through.

In my experience, keeping stakeholders engaged in forward thinking activities have given best results. To achieve this objective, utmost clarity on entire plan is vital following which viable actions can be derived and relevant questions can be asked. In the process of answering questions, stakeholders feel their importance and contribute more than expected thus leading to greater achievements and engagement.

Once you've identified your stakeholders and defined your objectives, plan your engagement activities accordingly. This may include regular meetings, updates, newsletters, surveys, workshops, or events. Tailor your activities to meet the needs and preferences of your stakeholders.

The governance database contains a wealth of structured data that can reflect the engagement process between a company and its stakeholders. I believe that if this process can be structured to such an extent, it can also be decoded to understand how engagement can be more effective. The entire process requires the gradual accumulation of various manuals, but it is equally important to establish a principle-based system to maintain flexibility in the communication process, rather than relying solely on case-by-case principles.

Implement your engagement strategy according to your plan. Ensure that communication is clear, timely, and relevant to your stakeholders. Be proactive in addressing any concerns or issues that arise and seek feedback to continuously improve your approach.

Consistent communication with your stakeholders is critical to maintaining engagement and enables you identify when priorities are shifting.

The best tool in stakeholder management is is feedback. The type of feedback gets the projects rolling to the desired level. Most times projects are at a standstill because of poor feed back given back to the stakeholders

Communication mechanisms is key to strong engagement. Ensure you set up mechanism like stand up, periodical flash update, retrospect, yearly workshop/summit to address various needs of the stakeholders throughout project lifecycle

In my experience communication plays a key role in keeping all the stakeholders engaged in the project. It should be clear, concise and on time. Feedback sessions need to be arranged on regular basis to understand if the project outcomes are as per the expectations of the stakeholders.

Foster an environment, where stakeholders feel heard and ensure you take inputs where relevant and demonstrate change quickly. Where you have disagreement, ensure you resolve them quickly as well. Unresolved queries/idea always hamper engagement levels.

Building rapport with stakeholders encourages trust which helps ease some of the barriers in engaging them in a project. It is important that it is established early on to avoid delays in a project. When stakeholders trust their leader to get things done in an effective way that yields results they are able to collaborate and ensure the project comes to fruition. There is also long term relationships built which helps in advocating on your behalf.

Building strong relationships with your stakeholders is key to keeping them engaged. Foster open and transparent communication, listen to their feedback, and show genuine interest in their concerns and perspectives. This will help build trust and credibility over time.

Stakeholders like to be listened to. Use your RAID log and meeting minutes to acknowledge their contributions. Get to know your stakeholders on a human level first and their job title last. This will help establish trust. Under promise and over deliver to reinforce your value.

Change is about putting people at the centre of the transformation. Just sending out a monthly progress email, won’t engage people. Use a variety of communication channels: emails, newsletters, posters, town halls, and face-to-face meetings, to engage with stakeholders where they operate and the way they like to be engaged. Can’t emphasis enough the importance of meeting with key stakeholders regularly in person as relationships are vital to success. Consider the use of key influencers within an organisation, ie. those who people go to for advice and listen to, independent of their title, and try to make them an integral part of design, which leads them to naturally become the champions of the change going forward.

Not every stakeholder is comfortable with every communication or engagement approach. Be prepared to learn about each stakeholder's style and adapt accordingly. After all, you are holding the pen in piecing the work together; and having a critical voice / input absent, could impact the overall credibility of the deliverable(s).

When executing an engagement strategy, an agile mindset is crucial to navigate inevitable uncertainties, challenges, and changes. Being flexible and adaptable allows for quick adjustments in response to evolving stakeholder needs and expectations. Developing personal and organisational resilience will ensure you bounce back stronger from setbacks. Continuously refining and improving your strategy will demonstrate a commitment to excellence, which will in turn enhance stakeholder confidence and foster trust in the leadership's ability to achieve the desired outcomes.

Stakeholder engagement is an ongoing process that requires resilience. There may be challenges and setbacks along the way, but it's important to stay focused on your objectives and adapt your approach as needed. Learn from both successes and failures to continuously improve your engagement strategy.

With demands being changed at a very fast pace, it is important that we are well equipped to meet those changing needs in a timely manner. Having a strong relationship with the key stakeholders will enable you to proactively identify the changes in requirements and adjust your approach accordingly. This is where being Agile & flexible in your approach and ways of working is really important. This also means, having the ability to perform retrospection in order to identify the areas of improvements and close any necessary gaps for future.

Some additional considerations include leveraging technology to enhance engagement, seeking input from stakeholders in decision-making processes, and recognizing and rewarding stakeholders for their contributions and support.

To engage stakeholders effectively: 1. Identify key stakeholders and understand their interests. 2. Communicate regularly with transparency and clarity. 3. Involve them in decision-making processes. 4. Feedback loop: Seek their input and act on it. 5. Monitor engagement levels and adjust strategies accordingly. 6. Recognize their contributions to foster a sense of ownership. 7. Deliver on promises to build trust and credibility.

Stay away from one-size-fits-all approaches! I see this all the time, creating more damage and confusion than if you did nothing. Stakeholders want to feel respected and even special. They have diverse backgrounds, interests, and motivations. Failing to tailor your engagement strategy to meet the unique needs of different stakeholder groups can lead to disengagement or resistance. Ultimately you'll be leaving money on the table by treating them all the same.

Stakeholders are people. All people are different, so a 1 size fits all is a nonsense strategy. Be polite, make friends, remember they are your employer and regardless of their personal opinions about you even being there you have a Project Brief. Ride the waves and watch out for the rogues - not every stakeholder is a friend.

Effective communication is key to keep the stakeholders engaged. Quite often we find ourselves flooding the stakeholders with too much information, written in long essay format. Stakeholders don't have the time, energy or patience to read long messages or articles everyday. So extracting key information and presenting them in a bitesize format on regular and consistent basis tends to keep the stakeholders engaged. Stakeholders tends to prefer two-way live communication instead of writing an e-mail to a mailbox and waiting for days/weeks for a response. Keep the messages short, relevant with consistent frequency. Communicating in a live environment where everyone can engage on a discussion promotes transparency and builds trust.