SME Strategy is a strategy consulting company that specializes in aligning teams around their vision, mission, values, goals, and action plans. Learn more about how we can help you and your team create a strategic plan with our strategic planning and implementation services.
Recent shifts in global sentiments have ushered in a new wave of corporate management where communication is key, and the interests of individual stakeholders have been magnified.
A documented stakeholder management plan of action ensures your stakeholders' interests and expectations are understood so that you can properly manage them. A plan enables you to articulate to a project team how communication will work, including who will be told what and when.
In this blog, we discuss what you need to know before you create a stakeholder management plan and why it's important for the long-term success of your organization.
Don't forget: We also share regular insights about all things business strategy on our LinkedIn page.
ANTHONY'S PERSPECTIVE
Hi, it's Anthony here. I'm the CEO of SME Strategy. In this section of Leader's Digest, I'll give you my perspective on the topic at hand. I encourage you to watch my included video, which provides more detail.
Your organization is heading somewhere and it's probably headed in that direction with two general groups of people: your internal staff and your customers. Within each of these two categories are segments who have a vested interest in your organization: we call these people, "stakeholders". For example, these segments may include your Board of Directors, your senior management team, your front line workers, key suppliers, your clients, the general public, and so on.
Why is it important to differentiate between these stakeholder segments? Because you will engage and interact with each stakeholder segment differently. For example, it's unlikely that you will manage your key top clients in the same fashion as you manage your bottom 5% of customers.
There's a benefit to listing all of your organization's stakeholder segments and creating a communication structure to optimally communicate with each of them. That way, you can ensure that those segments that have the most interest in what your organization is doing receive the right amount of attention and information and those who have the most power and influence are getting the right amount of support, engagement, and communication.
If you don't create a list of stakeholder segments you risk under-communicating with some groups and over-communicating with others, which can result in missed opportunities and a waste of time and energy, respectively. A stakeholder engagement plan ensures that your team knows how to serve each segment in the right ways.
FURTHER INSIGHT
To gain a well-rounded perspective on the nature and importance of stakeholder engagement, we recommend taking a look at the following articles.
CONTRARIAN CORNER
In this segment of Leader's Digest, we highlight a new approach to dealing with the topic of discussion. This will identify alternative modern solutions for your consideration
Take a look at the following article, which applies a unique perspective on how to best engage stakeholders.
Shareholder cultivation in the age of stakeholder capitalism requires management to identify steward shareholders and then foster symbiotic relationships with them.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
Here are some of our actionable tips that you can use now to begin the process of developing your organization's stakeholder engagement plan.
WEIGH IN
You're invited to become a part of the conversation.
Participate in this poll question:
Does your organization have a stakeholder management plan?
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SME STRATEGY NEWS
There's always a lot going on at SME Strategy. Here's a snapshot of recent and newsworthy activity.
Strategy and Leadership Podcast, Episode #205
Click here to check out this episode.
Paul Magnone, Christopher Frank & Oded Netzer recently joined SME Strategy to discuss how their new book (Decisions Over Decimals) came about, making data driven decisions as a leader, the different ways data can by manipulated, why the perfect decision doesn't exist, and much more.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM STRATEGY FACILITATION - NEW BLOG POST!
In November, Our strategic planning facilitators conducted multiple strategic planning meetings (Offsite / Virtual) across USA and Canada.
In this new post, they highlight some of the most important leadership lessons they've learned about team alignment from facilitating strategy meetings.
Click here to check it out!
ABOUT SME STRATEGY
SME Strategy facilitates strategic planning and helps teams implement their plans through regular check-ins, executive coaching, and team development. We've successfully crafted hundreds of strategic plans for organizations active in more than 35 industries