The Stakeholder Engagement Manual Volume 2 - AccountAbility

STAGE 4
Outcomes and process planning:
What are the desired outcomes of the process, and how do they relate to your
strategic objectives? Is it a decision between several alternatives, a consensus, a
jointly agreed plan of action with individual commitments? Plan the agenda
to move participants towards this output. Involve stakeholders in planning the
process where appropriate, and certainly check your plans for your stakeholders’
approval.
Plan to use appropriate in-person or virtual tools for information sharing,
discussion, consensus building, decision making.
Ensure timing of engagement and decision-making fi t together; don’t discuss
questions that have already been decided, and don’t start a process whose
conclusion would take more time than there is to make the decision. Always
make sure that there is enough time for discussion and questions. Keep any
presentations short and to the point. Make space for informal discussions and
get-togethers.
Preparation:
Develop a communications strategy to target necessary stakeholders using
networks, relevant media, mailing lists or personal visits. Be aware of cultural
diff erences and customs when inviting people.
Who needs to be there – are there particular attendees with authority that need
to be there in order to be able to take decisions? You may need to organise the
engagement around their availability.
Ensure that pre-information gets to stakeholders in good time and takes into
account any relevant language, disability and literacy issues and covers relevant
substantive issues and practical information. Pay attention to presentations, but
beware - making it look too ‘slick’ can make people suspicious of ‘PR spin’.
Be careful not to underestimate the time that people require to read and digest
pre-information.
You may also need to prepare participants with pre-meetings, more informal
conversations or even training (see Stage 3).
THE PRACTITIONER'S HANDBOOK ON STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT | 111