Stakeholder engagement: take advantage of online opportunities
Stakeholder engagement is now a key part of many public and private sector projects, particularly around the issue of sustainable development. The past few years have seen a huge shift in corporate communications as the competitive advantages of two-way dialogue between companies and their stakeholders are being recognized and exploited. Despite the importance of engaging stakeholders from initial project development stages and the significant benefits of the Internet in providing an accessible and flexible platform for such dialogue, many companies are still overlooking the opportunities of online stakeholder engagement. This article explores the effectiveness of the web in designing such consultation in progressing towards corporate sustainability goals.
A Changing Climate for Corporations
The past few years have seen sustainability climb the business and political agenda, while the public, communities, e/NGOs and First Nations increase the pressure and participate in leading the charge in encouraging socially responsible corporate behaviour. Where the issue of corporate responsibility was once an add-on to business-as-usual, allowing companies to generate goodwill towards brands, it is now a matter of legal and social obligation for many companies including those in the oil, gas, mining and minerals, forestry and construction sectors.
The introduction of the UK’s CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM) Sustainable Development Framework and the UN Global Compact principles along with voluntary projects such as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Frac Focus are changing the way that companies measure and report their activities, bringing sustainable development to the fore. It is no longer enough for companies to include sustainability as part of their activities; it must be woven into the fabric of the organization from top tier strategies.
Many companies submit to third party sustainability ratings schemes as a way of reporting progress and benchmarking against peers. Yet, these schemes are frequently based on the quality, clarity and transparency of information submitted rather than evidence of actual performance. Hence, clear communication of corporations' views, strategies and actions on sustainable development, and evidence that they have engaged with and understand the concerns and priorities of their stakeholders, can be the most important factor in determining companies' final scores and positions.
Given the blend of certainty (that there are risks and opportunities associated with sustainable development) and uncertainty (about their nature, timing and scope), engaging the relevant communities of interest, or stakeholders, is often considered as a key to success.
An important way to build sustainability into corporate thinking and practice is through stakeholder engagement. The significance of consulting with key stakeholders at various points throughout project development is certainly not a new concept, but with the growing demands on companies around accountability and transparency, companies wanting to attain and maintain social license and stay ahead of competitors need to change their approach to stakeholder communication. Online communication utilizes the web as a platform for such two-way stakeholder dialogue.
Why Engage and Communicate?
Communicating how a company is managing sustainable development -- how risks are minimized, opportunities exploited and solutions developed -- is a crucial element of creation. Communicating its approach to sustainable development can help distinguish a company from the competition and offers opportunities to gain competitive advantage.
Stakeholders bring different perspectives, values and expectations that can help a company build a better understanding of the nature and scope of the sustainable development risks and opportunities, and how best to approach them. Ensuring that a broad range of perspectives is considered increases the likely acceptability, as well as the effectiveness, of any proposed actions.
Consequently, stakeholder engagement and communications are becoming a critical element of how companies approach sustainable development.
Why Online ?
Online stakeholder engagement is becoming increasingly attractive to companies, as a way of complementing traditional face-to-face dialogue, opening up new possibilities for all involved. Companies are no longer limited to providing static snapshots of their actions and achievements in relation to sustainability matters such as carbon management and climate change, and are starting to develop more dynamic and responsive ways of disseminating information.
Emerging web technologies like social media and crowdsourcing are starting to be understood as realistic means of inviting mass collaboration from a large (often undefined) community of stakeholders.
For stakeholders, online engagement means that they can communicate when it is convenient or appropriate for them, making the process of consultation simpler, cheaper and more accessible. It ultimately opens the way for genuine two-way engagement, where responses to issues like sustainable development and climate change can evolve as an outcome from discussion between companies and their stakeholders.
Online Potential
Oil, gas, mining, forestry and construction companies have traditionally been criticized for their approach to the Internet. Where other companies have welcomed the opportunities offered by the web, these industries have been slower to realize its potential.
The developments taking place in online communications have changed the way companies are able to interact with their key stakeholders. Online stakeholder engagement is now a crucial mechanism for those wanting to build long-term, dynamic relationships with stakeholders, allowing them to move beyond the limitations of offline consultation.
Online engagement, unlike its offline counterpart, offers continuously accessible communication channels. The web is available anytime from anywhere, overcoming the limitations of time and distance that may otherwise deter participation in engagement. It also provides stakeholders with a level platform from which to partake in dialogue. This is particularly useful in allowing for anonymity which may encourage greater stakeholder involvement.
Targeted communications
Most companies will have particular activities and actions associated with sustainable development that they are proud of, but not all of them necessarily communicate this effectively to their stakeholders. Reporting best practice is particularly powerful for companies that are project-based, as it allows successful aspects of different projects to be showcased.
Companies are no longer restricted to mass communication campaigns; online stakeholder engagement tools enable businesses to present vast amounts of information in an easily searchable format, allowing individuals to find the information most relevant to them. Tools such as online evidence databases present key stakeholders with a searchable database of case studies, providing well-targeted, interactive information that is useful to stakeholders. Establishing a central set of online case studies, that can be searched and downloaded by employees and external stakeholders alike, is a relatively straightforward but effective way of demonstrating real evidence of progress made addressing sustainable development.
Behavioural change
Perhaps the ultimate goal for any company who wants to take a real lead on sustainable development issues is to become established as thought leader that can effect wider behaviour change. Online stakeholder engagement is a powerful tool for facilitating how a company is perceived by the market and by society as a whole.
It can be used as a means to publicize policy initiatives, such as a requirement for suppliers to commit publicly to a particular climate change pledge or agreement. Alternatively, it might be through a wider online campaign or manifesto that aims to both promote the efforts of a company while challenging competitors or the public to make similar changes.
Multi-stakeholder dialogue
Businesses now also have opportunities to create communication networks that support two-way dialogue with multiple stakeholders. The web enables messages to be targeted at and delivered to various stakeholders with differing interests who are then able to give instant feedback. The ability of the web to measure and evaluate both quantitative and qualitative information enables businesses to not only collect stakeholder opinions, but to effectively engage with them in decision making and problem solving.
Multi-stakeholder dialogue can be developed using online tools such as engagement blogs, hubs or portals. Hubs and portals are important tools in a project to engage with local communities, the public and First Nations in managing the effects of a project. A hub or portal works as a focal point for the provision of information such as fact sheets, video clips and technical reports, communication from the project team and feedback from local communities through forums and online surveys. The outputs of the project will be the production of reports identifying short- to long-term options for how environmental change can be managed. While offline stakeholder engagement in such a project is important, online communication tools enhance the effectiveness of offline two-way dialogue with multiple stakeholders.
Improve transparency and accountability
If you use an online collaboration toolkits, hubs and platforms to engage stakeholders, you have a full audit trail of all activity, and can easily publish documents and responses for any audience of stakeholders. An audit trail can also make responses to Freedom of Information requests cheaper and simpler to fulfill, every item of information regarding a project is kept within one workspace. This, combined with widened participation, increases both transparency and accountability.
Meet stakeholders’ expectations
Growing numbers of stakeholders now expect corporations to engage with them digitally — sending them blanket emails, or simply providing an email address or feedback form isn’t enough. It’s your responsibility to make it easy for stakeholders to have their say about issues they care about, and providing proper online platforms for engagement speaks volumes about your company and your brand values — it sends a clear signal that you truly value stakeholder involvement and are engaging because you want to, not because you have to.
Putting engagement & communication at the center of the process
The challenges created by sustainable development are complex and wide-ranging, and the processes for dealing with them efficiently are still evolving. It is inevitable that companies do not have all the right answers (no-one does), and only by trying different approaches -- and crucially asking and sharing what is important, what worked and what didn't -- can they develop robust solutions.
For this, engagement and communication is essential; not only to share good practice and showcase successes, but also to understand priorities and shortcomings, and to explore what lessons can be learnt from them.
Stakeholder engagement and communication are increasingly central to effective management of risks such as climate change, yet from my experience, are still commonly perceived as "optional extras" or "bolt-ons." In some cases, after spending considerable time and resources developing strategies and solutions for sustainable development, companies then communicate them poorly to their stakeholders.
In others, the strategies and solutions may themselves have been improved had stakeholder engagement occurred earlier in the process. Instead, engagement and communication need to be viewed as an important part of the process; sharing and improving companies' sustainable development intentions, actions and outcomes. Online stakeholder engagement represents a relatively straightforward way in which this can be achieved.
The best overall engagement strategy leverages the unique strengths of both face-to-face and online engagement.
The future of successful communication
As the web becomes increasingly sophisticated, providing companies with an abundance of communication tools, the challenge for extractive natural resources and construction companies is to reap the benefits in exploiting these opportunities. Creating ongoing dynamic relationships with key stakeholders, using the web will help minimize risks associated with First Nations, community and public rejection, build trust in the company and improve the quality of decision making, leading the way to innovation.
Digital channels bring major benefits to stakeholder engagement, allowing companies to inform, consult, collaborate and engage in a wide range of ways. Using them also brings major cost, efficiency and opportunity benefits to the stakeholder engagement process.
The competitive advantages gained by companies already building long-term online engagement with stakeholders demonstrate that the web is the most effective way forward for successful corporate communication. As the pressure for accountability and transparency in key industry sectors increases and public demand for sustainable business practices grows, companies that do not embrace the opportunities of online stakeholder engagement will be left behind in the march towards sustainability.
Companies should look at the evolution of the Internet and communication technologies as an opportunity to connect with stakeholders. With the ability to more easily and effectively organize, manage, and report on stakeholder communications, the path to stakeholder engagement and trust building is only a few clicks away.
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