On how businesses can communicate effectively with their stakeholders (2)

Identify stakeholders’ and their needs

First thing first: the better a business knows its stakeholders, the more effectively it will be able to communicate with them. A business should be empathetic and ask the following questions:

• What type of communication do the stakeholders need? 
• How often might they want to hear from the business? 
• What are their goals?
• What issues do they care about? 
• What do they expect from the business in which they are stakeholders?
• What is relevant to them?

By only sharing relevant information, it is more likely that business stakeholders will pay attention when they hear from them – and equally, more likely that they will respond to their communication. If they have not already, now is a good time to conduct a stakeholder analysis and note down any relevant findings, such as the issues that each stakeholder is concerned about and any specific expectations they may have.

Choose the right channels

You cannot talk about stakeholder communication without addressing the elephant in the room. These days, there are an ever-growing number of channels available for communicating with stakeholders. Most organisations do not have the resources to communicate and manage responses on every channel. So, it is important to be selective and choose the right channels. During a business stakeholder analysis, where stakeholders prefer to receive communication should be noted, as well as what type of communication they expect to receive on different channels, and how often they would like to hear from business. For instance, these communication channels are suitable for the following types of communication:

• Email – Longer-form, regular updates about the project to interested stakeholders who are subscribed to receive updates. 
• SMS – Short updates about an immediate or last-minute event that impacts stakeholders.
• Phone calls – Personalised meetings (as required) to discuss developments with key stakeholders.
• Social media content – Short updates or news with information that is relevant and engaging for a broad range of interested stakeholders.
• Meetings or events – Presentations with information for key impacted/interested stakeholders, and opportunities to chat and ask questions one-on-one (typically held early on in the project).
• Direct message (e.g. Slack) – Sharing discussions and updates (as things happen) with internal staff and contractors who are involved in or have an influence on the project. In a business stakeholder communication plan, businesses should note the channels they plan to use and how they plan to use them.

Encourage feedback

Businesses stakeholder communication should leave plenty of room for feedback from stakeholders. This means providing multiple ways for stakeholders to get in contact (phone, email, face-to-face, messaging, press button machine, comment note or questionnaire etc.), along with opportunities to participate in the project or engagement process. It could be as simple as sending out stakeholder surveys to get feedback on business plans or they may host meetings, focus groups, and events where stakeholders can contribute their ideas and perspectives. 

Stakeholder feedback will help them gain valuable insights into their stakeholders and project – as well as insights into how they can improve the engagement as they go (or in future). Business stakeholders are likely to be busy people, without much time to spare. So businesses should encourage them to leave feedback by:

• Managers and senior members of staff engaging in conversation with stakeholders.
• Responding to their questions and comments.
• Reporting back on the stakeholder feedback businesses have received.
• Demonstrating how it has influenced businesses decision-making.

Establish a cadence (rhythm)

Consistency is key and businesses’ communication with stakeholders should be regular and predictable. This is important to ensure their stakeholders receive timely updates about the project – and to build confidence that they will continue to show up. When they are planning their stakeholder communication, they should note down how often they plan to communicate via specific channels. It will depend on the channels they choose and how they use them, but as a general rule, the following cadence is typical for these channels:

• SMS – As needed for timely notifications or events.
• Email – Weekly, fortnightly, or monthly updates.
• Letters – Monthly or quarterly updates (or one-off updates).
• Events – Typically concentrated early on in the process, or at major milestones, say yearly.
• Social media – Aim for status updates every day or several times per week.
• Phone calls or messages – Typically on an individual and as-needed basis.

Once businesses establish a cadence for each channel, they must try to stick to it for the duration of the project.

Track all communication

Businesses should be tracking all their stakeholder communication in their stakeholder system. Depending on the business organisation and kind of business, this may be a requirement for compliance, demonstrating that they have genuinely engaged with stakeholders. But tracking all the communication that goes out (and the responses businesses get from stakeholders) is also important to ensure they and their team have context for future stakeholder conversations and engagements, without having to rely on memory.

Having easy access to this past information (and referencing it) will:

• Demonstrate that businesses are paying attention to their stakeholders.
• Help businesses keep their communication relevant.
• Show that businesses genuinely care about their stakeholders.
• Reduce the likelihood of repeating the same information/question twice.
• Help businesses to build stronger relationships with stakeholders.

There are stakeholder relationship management software that can be used for business stakeholders management. It is important that businesses keep an up-to-date record of all emails, messages, and conversation notes. It makes communication easier as these records are easy templates to communicate.

Monitor and evaluate engagement

Finally, it is important that a business regularly analyse its stakeholder communication strategies so that it can refine its approach, focus its time on the most effective channels and messages, and apply its learning to future engagements. It is important to note that communication strategies for different classes of customers may be different. In most cases, customers’ response to business communication will determine the means of communication they prefer. The methods of monitoring stakeholders’ reaction to communication include looking at the level of engagement/shares on social media, email opens/replies, changes in sentiment over time, sales turnover/complaints and more. 

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