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The Stakeholder Engagement Manual Volume 2 - AccountAbility

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Engage with your stakeholders in ways that work<br />

COMMON STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT APPROACHES<br />

Some of the most common stakeholder engagement approaches are outlined below,<br />

followed by an introduction to some of the interactive techniques and methods that<br />

can be used in small and larger group meetings. Th e following engagement<br />

approaches are described:<br />

• Inviting written responses from stakeholders, e.g. via reply slips in reports<br />

• Telephone hotlines<br />

• One-to-one meetings<br />

• Online engagement mechanisms<br />

• Involvement of stakeholders into the investigation of issues, reporting and<br />

policy development<br />

• Focus groups<br />

• Public-meetings<br />

• Surveys<br />

• <strong>Stakeholder</strong> advisory or assurance panels<br />

• Multi-stakeholder forums<br />

• Multi-stakeholder alliances, partnerships, voluntary initiatives and joint-projects<br />

• Overview of common facilitation techniques<br />

Inviting Written Responses from <strong>Stakeholder</strong> / Reply Slips<br />

Invite written responses to formal consultations or ongoing response slips to enable<br />

stakeholders receiving issue briefi ngs or sustainability reports to provide feedback.<br />

Key things to consider<br />

Generally low response rates, but provides an open mechanism for individual<br />

stakeholders to easily have their say without having to attend meetings.<br />

Helps to build mailing list of interested stakeholders for further engagement.<br />

Does not generate statistically valid result – can easily be skewed.<br />

Examples in action<br />

Shell invites the general public to “Tell Shell” any questions, comments or opinions<br />

through tear off postcards in its sustainability report, letters or email. <strong>The</strong>y commit to<br />

reply personally to all comments or questions received in this way.<br />

Telephone Hotlines<br />

Freephone hotlines for individual stakeholders to obtain information about an issue or<br />

project, to give feedback or to report problems.<br />

Key things to consider<br />

Telephone communication is accessible to many people and enables individual<br />

stakeholders to respond with minimum effort and at a time and place convenient<br />

for them.<br />

Does not allow for in-depth dialogue, but does allow for stakeholders to obtain<br />

information or respond rapidly, and to do this in confi dence or anonymously<br />

if necessary.<br />

Telephone hotlines can be answered in-house by a corporate ombudsman,<br />

compliance offi cer, lawyer or trained administrator. In-house hotlines are able to<br />

respond to calls quickly and to give appropriate advice and feedback to callers.<br />

However, stakeholders may not feel comfortable reporting sensitive issues.<br />

Independent outsiders can handle hotline calls on behalf of an organisation.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y are less able to give feedback, but can be more credible and approachable to<br />

stakeholders, and can also be integrated into an assurance process.

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