BC NA December 2020

“Stakeholder
engagement is –
and will remain –
a core element of
the sustainability
toolkit”
—
BSR
to sustainability will be limited by
an organisation’s self-interest and
inward focus.” While stakeholder
management is an essential part of an
organisation’s operations, engaging
with stakeholders is not an easy operation.
With this in mind, Business Chief
North America gains insight from BSR
on why adopting a strategy that creates
shared value and develops trust
is the best approach to drive effective
stakeholder engagement.
DEVELOPING AN
ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY
Prior to engaging in any form of strategy
development, it is important for organisations
to develop an understanding of
what stakeholder engagement means
to them, as well as what the desired
achievements are for the operations.
While often used to describe public
relations or reputation management,
it is also important for organisations
to understand that these types of
communication are not the same as
stakeholder engagement.
In order to be successful when it
comes to engaging with stakeholders,
BSR highlights that the corporate
mindset needs to shift from seeing
stakeholder concerns as external risks
to manage, to being serious topics that
require transparent dialogue and
a strategic response. “Stakeholders
that choose to engage with companies
generally expect this interaction to
generate change, which is why it is
a mistake to treat engagement as a
one-way information dissemination
process, rather than as a dialogue,”
adds BSR.
When done well, the value of stakeholder
engagement is expected to add
up over time, providing support during
times of difficulty, whether it be reputational
or economical. “Companies that
are more aware of stakeholder interests
are more likely to avoid crises because
they are better able to anticipate risks
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businesschief.com