The Stakeholder Engagement Manual Volume 2 - AccountAbility

Take action and review the engagement
P16: CREATING A PLAN FOR ACTION
SMART Targets
S Specifi c – state what exactly is to be achieved.
M Measurable – so that it is possible to determine whether or how far it has
been achieved.
A Achievable – realistic given the circumstances and resources.
R Relevant – to the overall objective/strategy, to the stakeholders, and to the
people responsible for achieving them.
T Time-specifi c - realistic time-frames for achievement.
SMART targets set out what’s going to happen, who’s going to do it, when it’s going to be
done by, and how achievement will be measured.
Key to setting smart targets is ownership. As the targets are intended to assure stakeholders
of your business responsiveness, you should try and seek their consent to them. This may
sometimes, but not always, be possible during the engagement process. Sometimes people
who need to have a say on the targets are not directly involved in the engagement process.
In this case, make sure you report and feedback decisions on your targets (see following
section on reporting).
SUGGESTED METHODOLOGY M16:
CREATING A PLAN FOR ACTION
Th e purpose of this activity is to develop a plan for translating insights, information and
agreements into action, and to ensure that this is monitored and can be reported on.
Use the Template T16 to capture the results of this process.
• Put together a group of internal participants who have been involved in the
engagement process, and who are able to either take decisions on next steps,
or have access to those that make these decisions. Revisit the outcomes of the
engagement in a team meeting or workshop, and collate an overview of them.
In doing this, ask yourself the following question:
Considering our strategic objectives for the engagement (see engagement plan),
what outcomes have we achieved?
• Identify which operational and strategic implications this potentially has, and
assign responsibilities for follow-up on this output.
• Identify the next step(s), which may already have been agreed with stakeholders,
and decide when these are to be delivered.
• Identify any remaining questions or resulting issues that need to be addressed in
subsequent engagement processes. Again, decide who is responsible for taking
this further.
• If there are actions which you and your business needs to deliver on, set
SMART targets.
• Assign responsibilities for implementing and monitoring the follow-up
activities.
• Make sure that information which could be of value to others within your
organisation is communicated to them in an appropriate manner.
• Communicate back to stakeholders appropriately.