Stakeholder engagement: a quick guide for community boards

Carly West, Bindi Shah, Karess Dias and Aman Singh

When thinking about stakeholder engagement, are you able to identify the difference between the role of the board and that of management?

Do you have a board framework for thinking about stakeholder engagement in a strategic manner?

Are you able to ask the right questions in relation to stakeholder engagement?

Reams of paper have been dedicated to stakeholder engagement, however, a notable gap in the literature is the role of a community board director in the process. Our project ‘Stakeholder engagement: a quick guide for community boards’ is a quick and simple way of guiding community directors on the discussion of stakeholder engagement and the distinction between the role of a board director and executive management.

This quick and simple resource will guide community boards on their journey of understanding the importance of stakeholder engagement and the role they play.

Specifically outlined is:

• The definition of stakeholder engagement;
• Distinction between the role of the board v management;
• A four-step stakeholder engagement framework for the board;
• Guide for determining the type of stakeholder engagement strategy depending on the type of board;
• The 3 P’s for community board success in stakeholder engagement; and
• Sample questions to guide community boards on their stakeholder engagement journey.

This resource has been designed so that you can read it while you have your morning coffee or used as a refresher before your board meeting. It is quick, simple and practical.