The benefits of engaging with your stakeholders and community are well-documented, but getting it right isn’t always easy. NAB’s Janette O’Neill gives some advice on how to navigate the speedbumps.
The benefits of engaging with your stakeholders and community are well-documented, but getting it right isn’t always easy. NAB’s Janette O’Neill gives some advice on how to navigate the speedbumps.
Brokerages need to engage with the communities in which they operate to demonstrate that they are not 'one-dimensional', says O'Neill.
This depth of relationship helps to create advocates in the community for your company, engages your employees and fosters innovation, she says - but there are often a few hiccups along the way.
- Finding the balance
Defining your stakeholder group is generally straightforward, says O’Neill: Identify what your business stands for, and what areas of society it reaches, and build relationships based on this.
The difficulties arise, she says, when you’re forced to decide, as time goes on and new opportunities emerge, who you can continue working with and who you have to say no to.
“In some ways it’s better to have the same group of people each year that are familiar with what you’re trying to do and can really push you, but then you need to balance that with the need to hear new voices.”
O’Neill suggests balancing new and old faces by putting stakeholders on a rotation of two or three-year cycles can allow for innovation while not impeding progress.
- Managing expectations
While regular discussions with stakeholders around the issues of highest importance to them are crucial to effective engagement, they can also create issues around expectation management, warns O’Neill.
“[Stakeholders] might feel that they’ve voiced an opinion and that we’re going to act on it, whereas we might feel that, while it’s been useful to hear, it’s not strategic and it’s not what we’re going to do.”
Being clear from the outset what discussions will lead to direct action and which are simply being noted is crucial to building a mutually beneficial relationship, says O’Neill.
- Creating meaningful connections
O’Neill describes situations in the early stages of NAB’s stakeholder engagement strategy whereby groups would arrive at stakeholder workshops and be only aware of a small portion of NAB’s work.
This highlighted for NAB missed opportunities for greater collaboration and innovation through getting stakeholders involved in issues outside of their direct engagement with NAB.
“The more holistic you are the deeper the relationship and that builds sustainability in the relationship and builds greater trust. By not being one-dimensional you do create advocates out there in society for the company.
"The other good things is that by having a really constructive dialogues you do understand their business and their expectations better, thinking about what risks are associated with that and then what we can learn from that, how we can be innovative."
It’s crucial that brokerages realise that engaging the community is not just about charity or ‘doing the right thing’ but is also a sound and strategic business investment, she says.
“Stakeholder engagement really is a critical part of creating value for the organisation because it gives you access to new information and new ideas and helps you to build more sustainable relationships. It’s an essential part of doing business.”
For more essential thought leadership from the big names in the industry, look out for MPA’s forthcoming Business Strategy special report for your complete guide to business success.
