Why Stakeholder Engagement is Vital to Maintaining Relationships

It never fails to surprise me how established organisations frequently fail to hit the mark when it comes to stakeholder engagement. This may emanate from 'a one-size fits all' approach to communications or a genuine lack of awareness, unwillingness or inability to consider the importance of its stakeholder groups and wider community.

Take for example, my own local council. Every year it stages an event for the Christmas lights switch on. As a town centre business, we get no notice of this. It comes with a level of inconvenience, accompanied by fun fair rides and attractions, placed right outside our entrance. The bright lights and the thrill of the fair may be a delight for many but it brings noise, smelly diesel generators and accessibility issues for us and our clients.

You could say that it comes with the territory, and it is possible to grin and bear this and the similar events which happen throughout the year, but how much better it would be if we were given due notice - the way smoothed by a timely communication which encouraged inclusivity as part of the town centre economy.

We share our premises with another business which sees more than 150 children arrive with their carers - some with prams and pushchairs, other with mobility issues. They arrived only to find the entrance to the building blocked by a vehicle belonging to one of the showman.

Issues such as these may have been addressed by a pre-event site inspection but effective communication is also key.

Stakeholder engagement is often kicked into the long-grass because it involves planning and consideration. The foundation for this is identifying and mapping out your stakeholders: organisations and individuals who have a vested interest in your organisation and its operations, and grouping them into audiences - based on locality, interests or activity around which target communications activity can be applied.

This is important for all commercial entities but particularly, public sector organisations, charities, community and social interest companies where reputations can be enhanced or broken without proper stakeholder engagement.

It is an investment worth undertaking as once established, communication channels can encourage a two-way dialogue. From this, ideas and inspiration can generate that invaluable asset: a willingness to engage and become part of a solution.

Even if stakeholder communication is not undertaken on a regular basis, it is an imperative for any change management process.

Take our local town centre for example, like many others it has suffered the effects of a changing retail landscape. The local council has announced plans to purchase two major redundant buildings - welcome news but dissemination needs to be carefully considered in relation to stakeholders.

A media announcement without stakeholder engagement is likely to prompt more questions than answers: what are the intended uses for the buildings, how will this affect my business, what is the timeline for building works, when will it start, what levels of noise and inconvenience might it involve?

The likelihood it that many of these things are unknown and will only be known in time, but the communication needs to begin at the start of the process. Identifying those individuals and groups most likely to be affected or with vested interest in the town centre economy is essential, as is the timing of stakeholder communication alongside other public announcements.

Failure to do so, can result in a communications vacuum - the lack of information from a credible source can result in a gap, a void filled by whispers, rumours and misinformation. This in turn, can make the process a bumpy road, leading to distrust and disengagement.

Sometimes, we must take matters into our own hands and seek out information for ourselves. We recently did just that and contacted a council leader, who we saw on a TV news report announcing one of these schemes.

He invited us in for a chat and we asked him for details on one of the major regeneration projects - the redundant building wraps around our business premises - and we were keen to know more. He was courteous and pleasant - an elected representative who is clearly keen to do his best for the town.

Did he have all the answers? Of course not, but the meeting opened a channel of communication and developed a relationship that would not have otherwise have existed.

When is comes to change, only one thing is certain - communication is an essential requirement that needs to be planned, timed and undertaken with diligence in order to make the process run smoothly.