3 Engaging Stakeholders
This guide will be going into detail on how you can identify and engage stakeholders in any project you are hoping to pursue! Stakeholders can range from subject-matter experts to community members you would like to interview. The steps are outlined below, and follow the process of identification, outreach, a stakeholder interview (or some form of contact), and finally how to sustain this stakeholder relationship with short and long-term engagement. At MacChangers, we primarily engage with stakeholders as part of our problem scoping process. Check out our guide on problem scoping for more information.
Step 1: Stakeholder Identification
The first step in engaging stakeholders relies on your ability to accurately identify them. To begin, first, create a “profile” for your ideal stakeholder. This may be difficult in the beginning, especially when you don’t know who an ideal stakeholder for your project may be, so alternatively, you may create a guide for different qualities, backgrounds, experiences, and knowledge you hope your stakeholder will have and be able to share with you.
To help with this, lay out a general foundation for your project so that you can not only formulate a list of potential stakeholders to engage with, but so that you can also have guiding materials to propose to your stakeholder during the outreach process. During this process of identification, use any means and networks available to you, your contacts, or even your contact’s contacts. These networks can range anywhere from your work and volunteer experiences, colleagues, social media and LinkedIn contacts, and provide for a higher rate of engagement success as you are already being connected. If none of these options yield results for potential stakeholders, begin to look beyond these and be prepared to cold call/email individuals outside your network.
Step 2: Stakeholder Outreach
The stakeholder outreach process is one of the longest and most strenuous ones, as it relies on the stakeholder’s response, which could take days, weeks or even months to receive. Depending on who your stakeholder is you should pick a contact method most attuned to them to receive the earliest response. For example, if this stakeholder actively engages within LinkedIn, that may be a good platform to try to reach them through. Since this stakeholder response has an unforeseen time period, it is important to initiate first contact with your stakeholders as soon as possible.
In this initial contact, it is important to keep your message short, concise, direct, and tailored to your stakeholder’s interests. If reaching out to more high-profile stakeholders, who comparatively have less time to attend to messages, try to conduct some preliminary research on their work, interests and goals, and attempt to align these with your own project inquiries when requesting an interview. In other words, clearly outline why the project would benefit from the stakeholder’s input, and how the completion of the project itself will benefit the stakeholder and their aspirations. It is important to make this connection as it allows the stakeholder to see an active need for their support in the work you are proposing.
However, it is also important to keep in mind that the response rate, especially for cold calls/emails, can often be lower than 50%. For this reason, your initial stakeholder outreach should prioritize quantity over quality and simply aim to get the stakeholder involved in some form of conversation with you. To help improve the quantity of your outreach, consider creating a general outline that you can use for each stakeholder email. Make sure to keep this outline professional and consistent, introduce yourself, your project, your reason for contacting the stakeholder, why you are interested in having an interview with them, and what they will benefit from by getting involved with your project. You can see an example of such an outline in Appendix A.
Step 3: Stakeholder Meeting
During the stakeholder interview, similar to the outreach email, do a recap of yourself, your role and your project. Thank the stakeholder for their time, and give them the opportunity to introduce themselves. Prior to the interview, formulate 7-8 questions to ask them (with some as leading questions, and others as back-ups if the stakeholder does not seem to engage with the others). Also aim to get a notetaker for the interview process, as this allows for someone to be actively recording the responses, allowing you to remain engaged in a conversation with the stakeholder. This method greatly improves the flow of conversation, and gives you the comfort of turning to another person if any technical difficulties arise (in online interviews), or to clarify anything the stakeholders have mentioned and gain a better overview of the interviews’ insights.
Aim to make the interview short and concise, and respect the stakeholder’s time. If you find that the interview is going overtime, ask the stakeholder if they would be willing to do a follow-up interview at a later time. This allows for prolonged stakeholder engagement and more focused conversations. After the interview process, be sure to send a follow-up stakeholder email with recaps of the conversation, a thank you note, as well as any resources and next steps. This keeps the stakeholder in the loop, and informs them about what you will be doing with any knowledge you gleaned from their conversation. This is also an opportunity to possibly send any lingering questions from the interview that you may still have or want resources for to gain further clarification. Finally, the most important thing to keep in mind with stakeholders is not the information you are hoping to receive from one conversation, but how you will connect with them, to allow for long-term engagement. This means finding a point of similarity between yourself and the stakeholder, or any other form of connection between your work, ideologies, interests, etc. It is also a great method to end every stakeholder interview by asking them if they have any stakeholders from their contacts/networks in mind that would be interested in further engaging with your project (and if they would be willing to personally introduce you to their contact). By doing so, you can receive access to new stakeholders, and establish new points of communication and collaboration.
Step 4: Stakeholder Engagement
The final step in the stakeholder engagement process involves short and long term engagement.
Short-term
Short-term engagement with your stakeholder can involve the length of time that your ongoing project (which involved their input), is running. In others, their active engagement until the completion of your project. This can be done by actively engaging the stakeholder in conversations/interviews and updating them on the process and progress of your project.
Long-term
Long-term engagement with your stakeholder focuses on how to engage with your stakeholder after the completion of your project. It is important to maintain stakeholder networks/connections even after the end of a pending project, as if these individuals are engaged, they are more likely to remain involved with your organization (or whatever role you are representing), and any future endeavors/projects you take on. This can be done by monthly emails if you are representing an organization, that updates the stakeholder on your current work and how their previous engagement has benefited the project (and future projects). Depending on the type of stakeholder you are engaging with, this method can be altered to suit their needs. Refer to Figure 1 in Appendix B for a comprehensive stakeholder map, that demonstrates the needs of your stakeholders based on their interest and influence.
Appendix A: Email Outline
Request for Stakeholder Interview
Dear _____ ,
My name is _____ and I am (list program, job, or any other affiliation to give context to your request). In this paragraph provide an overview of anything that may be relevant to your program or position that will help the stakeholder understand how they can support/benefit your project.
Right now, I’m putting together______. Provide any background information on your specific project. Seeing that you have amazing expertise in____, I would love to capture your insights on your work and how you believe _______. Create a connection between your stakeholder’s work and aspirations and your own. In this paragraph, you may also expand on any research/work of theirs that you wish to inquire about in the interview process. I would love to speak to you and get a better understanding of _____. Would you have some time this week or the following week for a short discussion? If you have any questions about _____, please let me know, and I would be happy to discuss specifics with you.
Kind Regards,
________
Appendix B: Comprehensive Stakeholder Map
References
Taylor, A., Bancilhon, C., Oger, C., & Morris, J. (n.d.). Five-step approach to stakeholder engagement: Reports. BSR. Retrieved November 23, 2021, from https://www.bsr.org/en/our-insights/report-view/stakeholder-engagement-five-step-approach-toolkit.