Peter Paul Van De Wijs

Over the past 5 weeks I have made the case that in today’s interconnected world of well-informed individuals not engaging with stakeholders is costing companies money and can potentially even threaten their existence. In this last post of the series, I want to discuss some practical reasons why stakeholder engagement, despite all the best intentions, still often fails. These reasons can be traced back to ill-defined strategies, underestimated organisational barriers or external developments.

Strategic stakeholder engagement as a concept is not new but its success has been varied as companies have ignored the basic principles that underpin it. Reality is that despite its clear benefits, engaging with stakeholders comes with its own set of challenges, which will need to be managed. The most obvious one is that a company sets unrealistic expectations with the stakeholder regarding either the potential outcomes or the level of influence these groups can have. The best mitigation...

According to Sir Richard Branson succeeding in business is all about making connections. Trust is the foundation of successful long-term connections and relations. Yet, as for example independent research consultancy GlobeScan’s long-term trust data shows, companies have systematically ignored this. Or, more precisely, they have taken a very limited view of the need to build lasting relations, and the trust those require.

Obviously the majority of companies underestimate the importance of...

Stakeholder engagement is based on mutual respect and understanding. The strongest forms of engagement are those where there are clear, identifiable benefits for both company and stakeholders. However, this does not mean that stakeholder engagement is only useful if there is an opportunity to create shared value. Nor does this imply agreement on all topics nor should that ever be the objective of engagement. After all, both the company and the stakeholders have their own responsibilities and...

In today’s interconnected world of well-informed individuals not engaging with stakeholders is costing companies money and can potentially even threaten their existence. In a series of five blogs I will take a closer look at strategic stakeholder engagement and how companies can optimally use it. This first blog lays out the business case, blog #2 dives into the relation between the stakeholders, blog #3 takes a closer look at the benefits and the last two blogs examine barriers to success...