Should all stakeholders be considered equal?

It’s easy to neglect a stakeholder group, particularly if that stakeholder group isn’t one that you have frequent direct interaction with, or they don’t play a direct role in a particular project or transaction that you’re working on.

But every stakeholder has a role to play

According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, it argues that executives should engage with their stakeholders to help drive strategy development. The theory being that stakeholders are often on the outside looking in and can be good at providing ideas by telling you what it is that is important to them.

Take your customers for example – they are the ones buying your products and/or services. By listening to what is important to them you may be able to sell more products and services to them, and other potential new customers like them.

Clearly an invitation for strategic input from each and every one of your stakeholders is a pathway to a disastrous strategy and its highly unlikely you’ll end up with anything resembling a strategy.  However, the point is that it can be invaluable to take the first step to understand what is driving your customer’s behaviour and what are their pain points, what your employees like and dislike about working at your company or what about your processes are frustrating to your suppliers. Only then can you have a fully informed strategy.

And it’s not just in strategy development that stakeholders should be front of mind. Major projects, asset disposals, mergers and acquisitions can all have a significant impact on stakeholders and they also each have a role to play along the way.

The impact for each stakeholder group should be a key consideration in any comms plan from the outset

While each stakeholder plays a different role at different stages, the impact for each stakeholder group should be a key consideration in any comms plan from the outset.

The messaging for each group will differ and there will be nuances, but no stakeholder group should be neglected.

For example, with the sale or acquisition of a business, it is the customers that are often one of the most valuable assets to the business. They are often the last group of stakeholders to find out (as unlike investors, employees or partners they often do not have an active role in the project) but the communications preparation to this group shouldn’t be neglected until the last minute.

You often need to work with multiple parties internally and externally to get them across the messaging and information available before a customer even calls to ask a question. Keeping customers happy will ensure that the value of an asset is not eroded.  

Another example may be a major technology project that will result in a significant change in processes for employees. Unless they are working on the project, they are not likely to be across the detail and what the change entails, yet they are key in the project’s success. Without their understanding of the rationale for the change and their support, the project roll-out becomes far more challenging, resulting in disgruntled employees and disruption because people have missed key pieces of information, or not have been told at all.

Always begin with all stakeholders in mind

In any project or transaction that is likely to have an impact on stakeholders at some stage, the communications plan should be considered early on. This may not be with the immediate goal of setting out to tell all your stakeholders simultaneously but begins with them in mind.

When amaysim sold its energy business to AGL and its Mobile business to Optus, we had extensive communication plans that addressed the key messages for all stakeholders groups including employees (across all locations), investors, media, suppliers & partners and customers and the key questions and answers that would arise across each group.

It is important to understand the impact that it will have on each stakeholder group and what the key benefits (or disadvantages) may be. Only by taking these into consideration can a business successfully communicate and provide the right information to support all stakeholders in managing the change.

More often than not, the first question for any stakeholder will be “what does this mean for me?” If you can begin by answering this, you will have a good starting point for your comms plan.