Stakeholder Communication Strategies for Effective Engagement and Information Management

Strategic stakeholder engagement and effective information management are cornerstones of successful project outcomes. Understanding the following stakeholder communication strategies will help to optimize your engagement and manage the important data you collect. 

Compelling stakeholder engagement follows a strategy that targets the right people and groups, involves participants in a meaningful way, and makes use of the information collected to inform next steps.

• Seek to identify a stakeholder’s views and how this perception changes over time, equipping you to anticipate issues and develop ways of addressing them. Ultimately, it will help develop trust and generate solutions with your stakeholders and rights-holders.
• Continuously use findings to review strategies and methods of stakeholder engagement throughout the lifecycle of your project. Doing so will maximize improvements to stakeholder engagement and increase project support.

Prioritizing ongoing, two-way communication with stakeholders increases understanding, clarifies preferences and values, and helps you to understand how views can and should lead policy decisions.

• Organizations often struggle with communication with their stakeholders. But good communication channels that are prioritized between an organization and stakeholders can result in the strengthening of relationships between parties, and provide essential insights into current and future challenges.
• It is easier to maintain good relationships with stakeholders when people feel they are being heard and their input is valued. So, diligence is needed in the assessment of an issue’s intensity and the prioritization of a response. Provide feedback to stakeholders on how their interests and issues are addressed and resolved.

Keep a careful record of all aspects of stakeholder communications that occur over time. Track commitments made to them and ensure project team members coordinate consultation events, share information, and assign tasks and follow-up actions.

• Misunderstandings and delays can be prevented if you can easily demonstrate the history of all aspects of communication with your stakeholders – which is especially challenging with multi-year projects where representatives change over time and there is huge amounts of data to keep track of. This includes meetings, phone calls, emails, and commitments made.
• Protocol documentation ensures that all team members understand and use exactly the same data collection parameters, formats and meta data when using your information management software. This allows you to generate consistent reports that meet industry standards and expectations – even many years later.

The value of information, and how it’s tracked and reported, is of paramount importance during the lifespan of your project. Effective management of communications, stakeholder engagement and information management is essential to prevent a project from going sideways at any point. 

At SustaiNet, we offer full after-sale support. From answering a quick question to coaching and technical support, our customer service team is passionate about supporting our clients so you will be sure to receive a consistent, high quality support experience every time you contact us. 

Learn how our stakeholder information management software can help your organization effectively connect and communicate with important audiences across the communities in which you operate. Request a StakeTracker Demo.