Stop shying away from stakeholders

While many governments and organisations might espouse the idea of stakeholder engagement, in reality, it’s generally considered an arduous, angst-fuelled exercise which reeks of effort and returns minimal value. 

Shying away from engaging stakeholders seems to be fuelled mostly by fear – ‘what if they tell us something we don’t want to hear’, closely followed by egos – the ‘we know best’ ethos. And yet, as we continue to face insurmountable global challenges – to which governments are struggling to adequately respond, or even choosing to ignore – it is the community who are stepping up to take action, demonstrating not only a collective will but also a collective capability. Solving complex problems requires the involvement of many people across multiple organisations and sectors. This means facing fears, shedding egos and extending an invitation for external input. Many hands may make light work, but many hearts and brains can make change. 

Solving complex problems requires the involvement of many people across multiple organisations and sectors.

Meaningful stakeholder engagement has huge potential. Open innovation and participatory design approaches can enable meaningful stakeholder engagement. They also provide opportunities to integrate social and environmental outcomes as part of an organisation’s core business rather than just one-off corporate social responsibility initiatives. Having delivered many change and innovation projects – particularly geared at tackling social challenges – I can attest to the opportunities for more community participation, not to mention higher rates of innovation and progress.

This blog post originally appeared in https://www.getfrank.design/discover/stop-shying-away-from-stakeholders