When we think about stakeholder engagement, the first item that comes to mind is probably something along the lines of big corporations and their social responsibility. It’s a nice thought and all, but for small businesses, how does this really impact our day-to-day operations?
Stakeholder engagement is about creating a collaborative environment with all of your partners and stakeholders. Whether you work with vendors on a daily basis or have customers that are key to your business success, it’s important to establish trust, build relationships, and really listen to their needs so you can meet them.
Whether you work as an independent consultant or in an organization, stakeholder engagement is essential in order for your business to thrive and grow.
Here are some great tips on how you can improve your stakeholder engagement in your business.
For more information see https://www.prendo.com/
Know who your stakeholders are and why they’re important
Before you can start engaging with your stakeholders, you need to know who they are and how they can benefit your company. When it comes to vendors, for example, you will have regular communication with them for your inventory needs and shipping and know their importance to your success.
With your customers, on the other hand, you often have a much more direct relationship with them. Depending on the type of business you’re in, you may have both vendors and customers that are important to your operation. In many ways, vendors and suppliers are just as important as customers. After all, without them, you wouldn’t have what you need to fulfill orders and meet your customers’ expectations.
Set expectations from the beginning
As soon as you take on new partners and stakeholders, establish the expectations of how you want to work with them. Be sure to cover all the details, including how often you want to talk with them, what type of information you need to receive from them, and how quickly you want them to reply to your requests. We often overlook this part of the relationship, but it’s vital to building a sustainable partnership. If you have consistent and open communication with all your stakeholders, all parties will have a better understanding of what to expect from each other, which will go a good way in avoiding conflicts and misunderstandings.
For more information see https://www.prendo.com/
Host regularly agreed meetings
When dealing with multiple vendors, consider hosting regular meetings. These can range from weekly to monthly and vary depending on the level of partnership you have with each vendor. They are an effective way to stay in touch and be transparent with your stakeholders and are an important part of the whole process.
Hosting regular meetings is also a great way to stay connected with your partners, understand how they operate and what challenges they are facing, and share your progress and strategies.
You can also use these meetings as an opportunity to solicit feedback from all parties and gain important insights that will help to improve your own business.
Ask for feedback — and actually listen to it
Asking for feedback on a regular basis is another important part of stakeholder engagement. The best way to do this is to have a survey form, which you can send to your stakeholders, vendors and customers at regular intervals. Of course, it’s important to actually listen to what they have to say. This means you have to take time to reflect on their input and apply it to your business and the way you deal with your stakeholders, whether that requires making changes to your product or service, or correcting an internal systems.
Establish a culture of transparency
As you’re actively engaging with your stakeholders, you also want to make sure you’re creating a culture of transparency in your business. Transparency doesn’t just happen — it requires effort and intentionality on your part. In order to build transparency in your business, you need to be honest and upfront with your customers and all other stakeholders at all times.
This doesn’t mean you have to share confidential information that could put your business at risk, but it does mean you should stay away from any type of deceit or manipulation. When you’re truthful in your business relationships, you build trust, and your partners will want to actively engage with you. They’ll feel comfortable bringing up issues and concerns and feel like you’ll be receptive to their feedback.
For more information see https://www.prendo.com/
Finishing up
Stakeholder engagement is about creating a collaborative environment with all of your partners and stakeholders. Whether you work with them on a regular basis or have customers that are key to your business success, it’s important to establish trust, build relationships, and actively listen to their requirements so you can meet them.
Remember, whether you work as an independent consultant or in an organization, stakeholder engagement is essential if you want your business to improve.
To enhance your stakeholder engagement, you have to know who your stakeholders are and why they’re important, set expectations from the beginning, host regularly scheduled meetings, ask for feedback and most importantly actually listen to it.
Prendo, a company renowned for its business simulations offers another way of helping businesses improve stakeholder relationships, see prendo.com for more information.