The past couple of weeks I have been working with a number of public sector organisations to deliver training for both the staff and the patient representatives on stakeholder engagement – what it is, why it is needed, and how to do it effectively. It has been a fantastic process that has seen huge benefits for both the staff and the representatives, and it will hopefully help them to achieve many long term objectives and sustainability.
The desire to involve your stakeholders may be driven by many things – corporate social responsibility, decision making processes, corporate strategy, and efficiency savings – but do organisations understand the value that it can bring to them, both internally and externally?
Those organisations that have set in motion a stakeholder engagement plan may well be on the right pathway to good engagement and may already be following some best practice principles. But those organisations that choose not to engage with their stakeholders may be missing out on some valuable feedback, ideas, solutions and support.
Well facilitated engagement will help your organisation to align its business practices with its societal needs and expectations. It will give all stakeholders the opportunity to introduce new topics and debate old ones, and to share in the vision and strategy of the organisation to result in the most fit-for-purpose service delivery possible. You will also be able to anticipate issues faster, plan for the unexpected, and drive forward change in a well-managed way.
If you would like to find out more about training on stakeholder engagement please get in touch with us as we will be able to provide you with the tools to develop a first-class engagement strategy.