Stakeholder Strategy



The first, identify your company's stake-holder groups. Usually they are customers, employees, partners, shareholders, suppliers and society. In the case of the first, explain who you are specifically targeting - who ideally you would like to work with. With society, clarify the way you define it.
Next, generate a value proposition for each stake-holder group. This ought to be specific to the sub-group you are targeting and will detail the way you will generate value for that group. Usually there's dimensions of value - financial (cost, volume, margin, ROI, etc.); functional (increasing stakeholder's productivity, providing choice or flexibility, being simple and convenient to do business with, and delivering fast service) and emotional (providing security to generate trust and stimulating a feel-good factor). All of these can be offered in some form to each group.
This value creation for each stake-holder group needs to be balanced by what the business will gain in return - the worth it will extract from the relationship. Select what you are seeking from each stake-holder group, both financially and operationally (e.g. in terms of loyalty, referrals, prioritization, etc.).
Knowing what value you need to offer, and what you hope to get in return, will let you identify what stakeholder-facing capabilities you need in order to execute. Compare the capabilities you need with those that you already must highlight any gaps. You'll must fill those gaps in through organizational re-design, training, process development, systems implementation and cultural alter.
Track the costs and benefits associated with each value proposition, including the investment necessary to complete the initiatives necessary to fill the capability gaps you have identified. Use this knowledge to generate a profit model to manage the inevitable trade-offs among your stake-holder groups. You may not be able to afford all the things you would like to do, but the profit model becomes the means for managing competing interests and the returns provided to each stake-holder group - the output being your financial returns (which are central to the worth proposition to shareholders).
Finally, you need to select a set of key performance indicators. These ought to track how effectively your business is generating value for each stake-holder group and how well you are capturing value in return. This will enable you to create a stake-holder scorecard that provides a 360° view of performance.
Defining the worth created for and from each stake-holder group adds point of view, ensuring that you look at your business from all angles. And by focusing on value creation for all of your different stakeholders, you will be a making a business that is more sustainable - in all senses of the word