Effective stakeholder engagement contributes both directly and indirectly to the bottom line. This post provides a sample of some proven benefits of stakeholder engagement for the major stakeholder groups. What is exciting, is that the generic communication skills at the heart of engagement are effective in diverse stakeholder settings. Surely engagement capability has to beContinue reading “Stakeholder engagement pays – a silver bullet?”
Category Archives: Stakeholder engagement
Engagement and change: part 2 – lean thinking
This post by guest blogger Alex Twigg is the second part of a two-part post. Much of the change in workplaces over the last few decades has been predicated on notions of economic efficiency and have been known variously as “downsizing”, “rightsizing”, “outsourcing” and more recently as “mergers and acquisitions” – and as the KotterContinue reading “Engagement and change: part 2 – lean thinking”
Employee engagement and change – part one
When thinking about employee engagement I am struck by the how similar the employee engagement scores are from around the English speaking world. The results are all similarly low – around the 25 – 30 % mark. And it seems little really changes year after year. The costs of low engagement and ineffective change management David McLeod,Continue reading “Employee engagement and change – part one”
Engaging a nation: lessons from the Rugby World Cup
In 2005, when New Zealand won hosting rights for the 2011 Rugby World Cup the negotiators had promised the event would be supported by a stadium of 4½ million – New Zealand’s population. They were confident – rugby is embedded into New Zealand culture and for many New Zealanders it is an integral part ofContinue reading “Engaging a nation: lessons from the Rugby World Cup”
Engagement and the value chain
A quiet revolution is underway that is transforming business practice. For years we talked about the supply chain. Companies can do good and enhance profitability by converting their supply chains to value chains. To keep it really simple, I believe the key difference between these chains is that various parts of the supply chain seekContinue reading “Engagement and the value chain”
Staff engagement and the failure of HR
The Human Resource (HR) function has a fatal flaw in its very conception. It is a flaw that limits the ability of HR to foster better staff engagement. It is the inherently schizophrenic nature of the role – in that it has two typically contradictory functions, controlling the employment contract on the one hand, andContinue reading “Staff engagement and the failure of HR”
Engaging stories: Fairtrade cotton
I mostly drink Fairtrade coffee, sometimes eat Fairtrade chocolate, but must confess, I don’t wear Fairtrade cotton. That will change now that I am reading Harriet Lamb’s Fighting the Banana Wars and Other Fairtrade Battles. Struggling to stay above the poverty line Harriet Lamb tells of cotton grower’s subsistence existence in Africa, where cotton supportsContinue reading “Engaging stories: Fairtrade cotton”
Engagement explosion
If you consider the relatively recent development of stakeholder engagement, its fair to say that there has been an engagement explosion. Edward Freeman first articulated stakeholder theory in his 1984 book Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. It took a decade or so to emerge from obscurity and the concept had to survive criticism from thoseContinue reading “Engagement explosion”
Staff engagement – more evidence
The evidence for the vital role of staff engagement continues to mount. The July/August 2011 Harvard Business Review includes a series of articles on collaboration. Yochai Benkler’s article The Unselfish Gene explores the fundamentals of human nature, challenging concepts of rational self-interest promulgated for so long. Scientists, psychologists and economists are now stating that peopleContinue reading “Staff engagement – more evidence”
Stakeholder engagement drivers – Part 5: altruism
In earlier blogs in this series we looked at self-interest and enlightened self-interest as sustainability and stakeholder engagement drivers. This post explores altruism as a driver. It seems natural that business leaders who prosper seek ways to give back to the community. The survival imperative driving the earlier days of their careers may have promptedContinue reading “Stakeholder engagement drivers – Part 5: altruism”
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