Managing stakeholder relationships

In my last post, I wrote about building stakeholder relationships and the importance of having a strong foundation. Without creating a basis for the relationship, there is nothing to manage. Now that we have considered the foundation let's start to develop the relationship further.

Understanding one another

You may have taken that first step to reach out and connect with a new collaborator or industry stakeholder, but now you need to spend some time getting to know one another. Let's face it, you don't want a shotgun wedding! Now is the time to nurture this new found collaboration by learning about each other. Forget your own agenda, take the time to discover what the stakeholder needs or wants and work out if it aligns with the work you do, or are planning to do. It may turn out that your interests don't match, that's ok, nothing is ever a waste of time, they may be able to refer you to someone else needing your expertise, or you may help you understand the industry needs a little better in the process. It is better to determine each parties intentions early in the relationship; honesty is your friend here.

Acknowledge their knowledge

Many times when researchers are developing partnerships with industry or non-academic collaborators there can be some misguidance around knowledge and expertise. As researchers, we have disciplinary experience and skills in our field and consider ourselves as experts. However, it is vital to step outside the ivory tower to see things through a different lens. Both knowledge and expertise come from learning, understanding, experiencing and doing. According to research, there are five forms of knowledge that are all equally valuable. They are:  

• Research knowledge – held by researchers
• Practice knowledge – held by practitioners 
• Experiential knowledge – held by parents and communities
• Organisational knowledge – held by service system organisers
• Policy knowledge – held by policy makers 

Share and inform

No one likes to be left in the dark and feel like they are not part of the process. But it's all too easy to neglect communication when we get caught up in the day to day operations and activities of our jobs and roles. When managing a relationship, you need to build in some processes to ensure that you maintain the connection, share information, and ensure that everyone knows their roles. Relationships take time to build, if they were easy everyone would be doing it. How can you build in processes for regular sharing? This is best discussed and agreed with all the involved parties, but some ideas may be to hold regular brainstorming or think tank sessions to share and learn, meetings are the most common of ways to do this, but be warned meetings have become a dirty word. Share information, updates, roles, work together to build the best solution, and be willing to build capacity.

Be adaptable and flexible

To work successfully with non-academic stakeholders it is useful to embed yourself within their environment where you can experience the day to day workings and business context of their operations. When working in a corporate environment it is helpful to consider how you might adapt to that environment for the purpose of strengthening the relationship. Examples of this may include; acknowledging working hours, appropriate attire, adapting to corporate culture, and importantly asking for help and being a team player. As researchers, we are often used to working on our own and in isolation. If all else fails, remember to ask questions, we don't always have to be right!

What are you doing to manage your relationships?

• Tamika Heiden is the Founder and Principal of Knowledge Translation Australia – a service that facilitates the movement of research knowledge into life. She works with researchers and research stakeholders to ensure their work is relevant, useful and useable so that it provides benefit and value to society.
• If enjoyed this article, please head on over to www.ktaustralia.com or join our mailing list.