Stakeholder Management

The environment in which both public and private bodies function is subject to on-going change. This is thanks, in many cases, to the shifts that can occur in attitudes and concerns of the stakeholders of the organisation. In some cases such stakeholders (such as staff, key investors, the management team) may be internal to the organisation, or may be external to the organisation. This might include clients, customers, neighbours or others impacted directly or even, at times, indirectly, by the operations of the organisation. Under such conditions any organisation that fails to actively manage both internal and external stakeholders is going to, at some point, meet considerable resistance to something it might wish to undertake.

Consultation will be a feature of stakeholder management but it does not stop there. Such management should be seen as a normal, on-going, feature of the operations of both public and private bodies. In essence, stakeholder management is about building relationships over time and through which confidence in the organisation can be built to ensure that the organisation does not fall into the trap of thinking that it knows best and will do everything it can to defend even the indefensible.

Poor stakeholder management or the lack of it will invariably result in added costs, delays in delivery of projects and policy implementation. It might also create a situation where concerns that are not an immediate responsibility of the organisation become external drivers of organisation direction. Such instances invariably cause far greater costs to occur than those associated with being active and engaged with your stakeholders.

Communication strategies for stakeholders

Stakeholder management is not just about monthly reports or organisation of annual general meetings. Active stakeholder management requires on-going communication of your message in a way that can be appreciated and followed by your stakeholders, internal and external. This means having strategies in place where your message gets over to your stakeholders and you can be in a position of informing your stakeholders rather than having it done outside of your control. O’Riordain and Associates can facilitate you to prepare your communication strategies to have this on-going engagement with your stakeholders.

Facilitation of stakeholder engagement

O’Riordain and Associates can act as an independent facilitator when your organisation needs to have a different voice or ears in an engagement with your stakeholders. We have considerable experience of working with different groups and perspectives to bring them to a shared perspective on plans and strategies and specific issues which arise from time to time for clients.

For more information, take a look at this case study.