A practical step-by-step guide

Do you need to develop a stakeholder engagement strategy and implementation plan for your organisation? Are you not sure where to start? In this brief guide, we share a practical guide and logical process to follow, which will ensure the buy-in and participation of your stakeholders. Ultimately, stakeholder engagement aims to foster long-lasting relationships, build trust, and enhance collaboration and partnerships for your organisation, now and into the future.

The organisational strategy is the starting point. 

Stakeholder engagement has its roots in communications theory, where the engagement objectives are crafted to achieve the organisation’s strategic objectives. The key messages, target audiences, and desired responses are developed on this. Similarly, all stakeholder engagement activities must be aligned to the organisational strategy and designed to achieve these strategic objectives. 

A systematic approach to stakeholder management

There are no shortcuts to proper stakeholder engagement. History is replete with examples of good projects and organisations that collapsed due to a lack of commitment to engaging their stakeholders. The process flow diagram below depicts an easy-to-follow process to systematically analyse our stakeholders and plan our engagement deliverables. 

Steps 1 to 4 will typically form part of a strategic analysis and planning process, while the rest of the steps are included in operational planning. These steps are as follows:

1. Stakeholder Mapping: Determine Type of Linkage 

Using this effective stakeholder mapping model below, it is valuable to group different categories of stakeholders into the following four quadrants, which clearly describe the nature or type of relationship they have with your organisation and why you need to engage with them. 

2. List Stakeholder Groups

Next is to list each stakeholder group in the four blocks above.

3. Determine Stakeholder Perceptions & Attitudes 

It is essential to understand each stakeholder group’s different attitudes and perceptions. Interviews and stakeholder surveys can do this.

There are various models you can use to analyse stakeholder attitudes. We like the stakeholder cube model depicted here because it provides a logical framework for analysing power, attitude and interest and shows how engagement can move a stakeholder group from a negative attitude to a positive one.

4. List Issues Raised

In this process step, we list the issues each stakeholder group has raised or which are important to them.

5. Determine Engagement Objectives / Outcomes

Now that you understand the type of linkage or relationship you have with each stakeholder group and the issues they have raised, you can determine what objectives or outcomes you want to achieve from engaging this stakeholder group. These objectives can be further drilled into short, medium and long-term goals, with key performance indicators (KPIs) attached to each engagement objective.

6. Tailor-make Key Messages for Each Stakeholder Group

The engagement outcomes will guide the messages you develop for each stakeholder group and engagement activity. It is essential to brief both your leadership team and your customer-facing employees on these key messages so individuals in the organisation do not contradict each other. You never know which important stakeholder an employee will meet at church or at a school parents meeting.

7. Decide on Engagement Activities

Depending on your budget and how serious the issues raised are, you can now plan various stakeholder engagement activities, which will be suitable for each group. There is no one size fit all, as different stakeholder groups will have different conditions and requirements.   

8. Choose the Best Channels for Each Stakeholder Group

Choose the right channel for each stakeholder group. Here again each group is different and there is no one size fits all. The most recent socio-economic research in each country, will guide the best channels to use for different stakeholder groups.

9. Develop implementation plan, capacity requirements and budget 

Finally, you are able to capture all the details of your stakeholder engagement operational plan, and work out the capacity and resource requirements for your organisation.  

In these difficult economic times, stakeholder engagement professionals have to motivate really hard for their operational budgets. Having a well-developed stakeholder engagement strategy and implementation plan will go a long way to inspiring the confidence of your leadership team and hopefully the budget and resources you need. Good luck!

Follow our weekly newsletter for future practical guides on:

• How to analyse your stakeholders using the linkages map.
• How to analyse stakeholder attitudes using the stakeholder cube model.
• A practical guide to developing your stakeholder engagement strategy.
• A useful tool for detailing your stakeholder engagement implementation plan. 

By Cassandra Gabriel

Director of the Institute for Stakeholder Relations Southern Africa

Managing Director of Gabriel and Associates