Let's start with the basics! We discuss the importance of having a stakeholder engagement strategy and staying on top of stakeholder engagement trends, but what is stakeholder engagement?
Stakeholder engagement is an essential part of your project's success. It is an inclusive process by which an organization interacts with its stakeholders.
Please read our blog to learn about the 10 reasons why effective stakeholder engagement is crucial to your project's success and your organization's reputation.
But, if stakeholder engagement is an inclusive process, how do we know who we must include?
According to the IFC, "Stakeholders are persons or groups who are directly or indirectly affected by a project, as well as those who may have interests in a project and/or the ability to influence its outcome, either positively or negatively."¹
Compiling your list of stakeholders is called stakeholder identification and is an essential step in your stakeholder engagement journey.
En el proceso de identificación de las partes interesadas es donde determinamos:
El siguiente paso en el proceso de implicación de las partes interesadas consiste en organizarlas en grupos apropiados, basándose enen las siguientes clasificaciones:
Based on Mendelow's Power-Interest Matrix, this matrix helps you identify your "key players" and decide which tactics are best for engaging with each category of stakeholders.
Once you've identified, mapped, and classified your stakeholders, the next step in the stakeholder analysis process is choosing the engagement level for each category.
The Spectrum of Public Participation, developed by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2), is an excellent tool for identifying the best level of engagement (or participation) for your stakeholder categories.
El espectro del PAI2 identifica cinco niveles diferentes de participación: informar, consultar, implicar, colaborar y capacitar.
Por ejemplo, es poco probable que una parte interesada con poco poder o poco interés influya en el proyecto o se preocupe por él, y puede que sólo necesite que se le informe (a menudo con una comunicación unidireccional).
Your "" ey player" stakeholders (high power/ high interest) have a much greater potential to impact your project and, based on the IAP2 levels of engagement, may need to be consulted, involved, collaborated with, and/or empowered, depending on the circumstance or your organization's vision for engagement.
Once you decide on your level of engagement, you're ready to choose your specific engagement tactics.
Your tactics are simply your chosen method of engagement (e.g., emailing stakeholders can be a great two-way communication method).
Si es la primera vez que se involucra con las partes interesadas, esta guía práctica es el punto de partida perfecto. Descárgatela gratis a continuación.
Why go through all this trouble for stakeholder engagement, especially if it's not mandated?
Las partes interesadas tienen el poder de influir positiva o negativamente en su organización, por lo que debe asegurarse de que se comprometen con sus proyectos.
A thoroughly researched and well-designed stakeholder engagement strategy can help your organization mitigate any potential negative impacts, which is vital for the success of your projects, your strategy (like your ESG strategy), and your overall organization.
But stakeholder engagement is not just about risk management and building your reputation; it's also about building relationships.
Stakeholder relationships are not "one and done." You could quickly reencounter the same stakeholders in the future, so building a good relationship with them early on can help to ensure the success of your current and future projects.
Your engagement needs to be meaningful to ensure you're building strong relationships with your stakeholders. Check out our blog where we share tips you can easily implement into your strategy to make your stakeholder engagement more meaningful.
The foundation to successful relationships is trust, and to build confidence, stakeholders need to feel like their issues and concerns are valued and heard.
For stakeholders to feel valued and heard, you need to remember what has been said previously and what has been promised in the future.
Keeping a record of your stakeholder interactions, your stakeholder issues and stakeholder commitments can help ensure this is possible and, in turn, allows stakeholders to build trust in your organization.
However, trusting relationships cannot be maintained if there is no way to ensure everyone is on the same page. Trust is essential for managing stakeholder engagement.
Using cloud-based software to manage stakeholder engagement throughout the project's lifetime keeps all information in one easy-to-find place, which helps you maintain trust and build long-term, meaningful relationships with your stakeholders.
While using spreadsheets or a CRM to manage your stakeholder information might seem practical, these options aren't sustainable if you want to build future-focused, long-term stakeholder relationships.
Developing a repeatable and scalable process for stakeholder engagement management is essential for building strong stakeholder relationships.
This process needs to include a collaborative database of stakeholder contact details and your interactions with these stakeholders. Choosing to create this database with a stakeholder engagement software is an easy and effective way to compile and store vital information like:
Stakeholder engagement software allows you to report on any of this information quickly. It enables you to share it with your internal or external stakeholders, which is a time-saver and a business best practice.
Many stakeholder engagement management options are available today, but software explicitly made for stakeholder engagement is best if you're looking for something straightforward and reliable.
Jambo is the fastest and easiest stakeholder engagement software on the market today. Created with input from private companies, governments, NGOs, and engagement consultants, it is solution-focused and designed to meet your needs.
If you're ready to take the next step towards excellent stakeholder engagement, book a 15-minute discovery call with a Jambo expert!
¹Stakeholder Engagement: A Good Practice Handbook for Companies Doing Business (Pg. 20). Retrieved from https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/topics_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/sustainability-at-ifc/publications/publications_handbook_stakeholderengagement__wci__1319577185063