Stakeholder Engagement

From Open Sustainability

Example internal and external stakeholders of a company

Activity: Stakeholder Engagement

Objective

The purpose of this activity is to interact with stakeholders in order to improve decision-making and accountability toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) and achieving the triple bottom line. Stakeholder engagement works to take into account the concerns and objectives of the organizations stakeholders in its decisions. Stakeholder engagement takes into account the varying perspectives, priorities, and limitations of different stakeholders. The groups consulted in stakeholder engagement are often suppliers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), labor organizations, trade and industry organizations, governments, and financial institutions.^[1]

Social media technologies provide a great opportunity to break down barriers and engage with stakeholders. Organizations that properly manage their online presence in sites such as Twitter and Facebook and will have an effective tool for engagement. Not just using these sites as another avenue for marketing, but instead gaining insights into what their customers truly want.

Major Deliverables

• Feedback reports
• Corrective Actions

Tasks

Consult with employees and contractors

Objective: Engaging with internal stakeholders is key in creating a workplace where people feel valued and free to express any concerns. When major changes are occuring whithin the organization ensure there is an avenue for employees and for external contractors to provide input. When engaging with internal stakeholders communications and support need to be in their first language.

Input:

• Activity 4.3 Review Current Practices
  • Task 4.3.2 Consult with internal stakeholders

Output:

• Final feedback reports from incremental engagement

Engage with external stakeholders

Objective: To improve decision-making and accountability towards people, planet and profit. The groups of stakeholders to engage with are suppliers, customers, industry trade, neigbors and the general public. This could be done using existing channels for feedback or through newly developed social media applications. Weighting of feedback may need to be given to 'affected' parties versus 'interested' parties. Creating a stakeholder matrix is a useful way to priortize your efforts, and also to summarize the current means of engagement within the organization. AccountAbility has developed a Stakeholder engagement manual accompanied by a number of MicroSoft Word and Excel templates. Completeing these templates in a tool like FISDev would be a better way to develop the Stakeholder Matrix and profiles. This would enable all people within the organization who interact with external stakeholders have the ability to influence the process.

Input:

• Activity 4.4 Consult Stakeholders, Peers, Industry bodies, Associations and NGOs
  • Task 4.4.1 Network with related trade and industry groups
  • Task 4.4.2 Work with NGO’s related to the issue

Output:

• Final feedback reports from incremental engagement

Core Supporting Assets

Yellow Flags

• An issue may arise from a stakeholder group that was deemed not relevant. The issue may gain greater visibility through the use of social media sites.
• Consideration needs to be given to how to deliver a response to the stakeholders after engagement that does not take into account their wishes.

Key Resource Requirements

• Human Resources
• Marketing
• Customer Relations

References

1. ↑ AccountAbility [http://www.accountability21.net/publications.aspx?id=904 The Stakeholder Engagement Manual