Owing to its fast-paced nature, the end success of any project or business is not solely dependent on good planning but rather on how well one connects with people who may be in one way or another involved or affected by the work. Stakeholder engagement merits consideration. Whether the size of the project is a small community initiative or it is launching into a big business plan, stakeholder engagement can enhance ease and success. In this article, we will discuss stakeholder engagement: what it is, why it is important, and how to carry it out properly, all in clear terms.
What is a stakeholder engagement plan?
An SEP describes how much influence or involvement a stakeholder will have on the project. The SEP will also contain a stakeholder communication plan detailing when approaches will be made to each stakeholder, through which medium, and how much information will be given. Stakeholders can be from internal or external parties affected by your work. An example of internal stakeholders are project managers, operations teams, heads of departments, and board members. Some examples of external stakeholders are clients, customers, investors, suppliers, company partners, and shareholders. Because stakeholder communication occurs right from the project's onset, the engagement plan is created during the project planning phase. As soon as a project idea has formed, the identification of stakeholders and the determination of how involved each one needs to be in the process will take place. Moving on with the project, the SEP can be updated in accordance with the interests of the stakeholders.
Examples of Stakeholder Engagement Objectives
Strategically engaging stakeholders is what makes or breaks any project, engendering trust in the community and ensuring long-term sustainability. No matter if you are a project manager, team lead, or head of any organisation, understanding these objectives will reshape your approach in engaging the people who matter the most. Ready to take your stakeholder management skills to the next level? Join a Training Course in London and gain the practical tools you need to lead with confidence.
Reach and Engage More Stakeholders
Broadening outreach is a common goal of stakeholder engagement; to an extent each of these broader objectives plays into nearly every other goal. If you can reach more people (and more importantly, get their participation/trust/legitimacy), then more knowledge and know-how will come into play, and more people/groups will recognise the importance of your project (hopefully in turn engendering support for it).
Improve Sustainability
Several stakeholder engagements shape the varied dimensions of sustainability, social, economic, or environmental. An example could involve working with, consulting, and retaining many stakeholders to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, augmenting or diversifying the stakeholder engagement is an indication of moving closer to sustainability. On the other hand, if one has the data, sustainability measurement could be based on actual project results or impacts, for example, gender representation improvement, better access to education, or an increase in protected flora/fauna. The most appropriate key result or metrics would depend on your specific sustainability objectives.
Improve Community Wellbeing
Stakeholders and community members are becoming increasingly aware that organisations exist for purposes beyond profit-making; organizations should work for social-good causes. Therefore, one of the aims of your organization or project could be to impact its community or its stakeholders positively. For example, one way to uplift community wellbeing and resilience is through social capital-building within the community, thereby fostering more numerous and stronger connections between members. There are many ways to judge better the impacts made on community wellbeing and positive community impacts, including local jobs, satisfaction, involvement, etc.
Increase Accountability
Accountability can be a worthwhile goal for which to engage stakeholders because it enables better outcomes for all. It implies stakeholder consultation, whereby stakeholder input is used in decision-making progress. This requires organizations to prove accountability in stakeholder engagement by demonstrating evidence of participation and how it has affected outcomes.
Support Human Rights
Engagement with stakeholders on human rights can provide an extremely useful objective for these processes; not only are human rights an obligation or a responsibility, but organisations are increasingly being asked to demonstrate and provide verifiable evidence of what they've done. Thus, try and think about the human rights issues that fit your specific project or organisation and what the most appropriate indicators and methods of reporting might be in your case.
Increase Support
In the view of some, the fundamental goal of engaging with stakeholders and promoting decision-making transparency is to extract greater stakeholder input and securing even greater support on decisions. While we do not agree that this should be the foremost goal of stakeholder engagement, many organisations can enhance social acceptance and support through the process of engagement. Often, it is the engagement process itself that helps build support by improving relationships, fostering communication, nurturing mutual understanding, and providing opportunities for input (leading to buy-in).
Identify and Reduce Risk
It is possible to engage stakeholders and identify any risks at a much earlier stage than was previously possible, so that in some cases those risks can even be managed. This may involve better understanding stakeholder influences in the project or simply asking stakeholders for further information, which may include risks you were previously unaware of. In addition, better relationships with stakeholders might minimise any negative impact because they will be less reluctant or oppose the project.
What are the benefits of a stakeholder engagement plan?
Hence, an effective stakeholder engagement plan helps your team in informing and educating stakeholders. Some other perks of SEPS are:
Manages expectations: It makes all stakeholders aware of the project trajectory and what to expect through each phase of the project.Reduce project risks: It protects the project from unscheduled large shifts made by stakeholders, which would have harmed its prospects.Builds trust: It establishes a much stronger bond between the team members and the stakeholder through building stronger relationships.Improves decision making: It makes anticipations about stakeholders needs and wants easier by reading through the lines to define next steps.Promotes synergy: When teams communicate, they "speak the same language," and can collaborate more effectively and create better results.Invest in Stakeholder Engagement for Project Success
Engagement with stakeholders has evolved in today's fast-evolving project landscape from being a luxury to a necessity. From building trust and mitigating risks to working for sustainability and social impact purposes, stakeholder engagement provides a well-structured road to success that lasts. Only after aligning with stakeholder needs and engaging in unabated communication will teams be able to deliver truly inclusive, resilient, and impactful projects. Do not leave engagement to chances, plan for it.