Stakeholder Engagement - Cranfield School of Management ...

4
Recommendations Towards Meaningful Engagement
4.10 Recommendations Towards
Meaningful Engagement
In summary, we list below a number of considerations upon
which you and your organisation should reflect.The
considerations either outline strategies to be implemented or
items to be addressed, as a means to maximise the impact and
success of meaningful stakeholder relations.The
recommendations are classified according to their relevance to
organisational culture, organisational structure, organisational
human resources, and organisational learning.
Organisational Culture
❖ Ensure that successful stakeholder engagement behaviour is
embedded throughout all layers of the organisation and is
reflected and supported by organisational culture.Take steps
to modify and adapt the organisation culture if necessary.
❖ Staff should be encouraged to understand and develop their
thinking regarding the motivation for conducting stakeholder
engagement, i.e. why an organisation is doing this and what
value is being created.
❖ Appropriate leadership from the very top of the
organisation is needed to demonstrate real commitment to
these issues, not only through words and declarations, but
also through deeds; staff should be able see senior
management of the organisation actively employed in
stakeholder engagement at the highest levels, on a regular
basis.
❖ Organisation policy must critically be reflected in
organisation practice; otherwise, internal and external
stakeholders will not regard the process as being valid,
legitimate or believable.
❖ Stakeholder engagement should be reflected in the actions
and intentions of both business operations and CR staff, and
efforts should be made to ensure that staff across different
departments are able to recognise the value created for the
organisation as a whole, otherwise potential conflict may
arise.
❖ Provide managers who establish and develop stakeholder
relations with a degree of freedom and autonomy so that
they can ‘take risks’ and ‘surprise’ stakeholder organisations
who may have ‘set’ views of business.
❖ To encourage this, CEOs must show leadership, publicly
support these managers and, where appropriate, be seen to
be taking risks themselves. CEOs should work to make the
engagement process credible to other, more traditional
stakeholders.
42
❖ Recognise that the central focus of this task needs to be the
building of trust even before any concrete programmes, or
partnerships can be considered.This may involve the
organisation revisiting its preconceptions regarding
stakeholder organisations and vice versa, and may involve
examining long-standing embedded practices.
❖ ‘Do not just talk to those with whom you agree’; it is
important for managers to maintain a dialogue with those
with whom they disagree and maintain a position of active
negotiation with them i.e. be willing to concede on issues as
a way of making progress.
❖ Senior management should get involved in the wider debate
about how society builds strong institutions and overcomes
challenges as a way of demonstrating commitment.
Organisational Structure
❖ The senior management of an organisation should clearly
demonstrate that stakeholder engagement is regarded as a
strong facilitator of business success.They should ‘own’ the
concept so that when it is delegated to operational level
staff a clear message is given that the work is valuable and
necessary. As discussed earlier, engagement should be
embedded within the organisation, with nominated
individuals who can transmit the appropriate skills and
knowledge to those who need them.
❖ Consideration should be given as to whether this task should
report directly to the CEO, rather than be located in
corporate affairs; successful stakeholder engagement is a
strategic function and not a communications function as it
provides value for, and feeds into, all business areas of the
organisation.
❖ Those responsible should promote excellence in stakeholder
engagement across the organisation, ensuring that staff in
critical positions (such as country managers) have the
necessary support and tools to carry out this role. A variety
of staff from across different departments, different functions
and different levels in the organisation should be encouraged
to engage with stakeholders in a strategic manner.
❖ The organisation should promote the understanding of the
importance for – and support of – the creation of relations
between the organisation’s staff and stakeholders, recognising
that such relations can bring unique, difficult to replicate and
immense value to the organisation.
❖ Build the capacity of the organisation to better empathise
with stakeholders; this will help to grow the appreciation for
stakeholder motivations and objectives.