To ensure effective stakeholder communication, you must take the time to understand your stakeholders and adapt your corporate engagement strategies to suit each of your stakeholder group’s needs. Here are some practical steps to improve your stakeholder communication:
- Identify Stakeholders and Segment Them:
Begin by mapping out all relevant stakeholders and categorising them based on their roles, interests, and levels of influence. Tools like stakeholder matrices can help to prioritise your communication efforts. - Understand Their Perspectives:
Conduct surveys, interviews, or workshops to uncover the specific concerns, priorities, and expectations of your different stakeholder groups. Empathy is key to building a strong connection in stakeholder communication. - Customise Messaging:
Develop messaging that aligns with the needs of each stakeholder group. For example, use data-driven reports for investors, consumer-friendly language for customers, and compliance-focused updates for regulators. - Use Appropriate Channels:
Different stakeholders prefer different communication channels. While your employees may value face-to-face meetings or internal newsletters and videos, your customers might prefer email updates or social media posts. - Maintain Two-Way Communication:
Communication shouldn’t be a one-way street. Encourage feedback and input from your stakeholders, showing that their voices are heard and valued. - Regularly Reassess and Adapt:
Your stakeholders’ needs and expectations can change over time. Regularly review your stakeholder communication strategies to ensure they remain relevant and effective.
Identifying Stakeholder Types
It may help to apply three key attributes to help you identify and prioritise your stakeholder groups.
Mitchell, Agle and Wood’s (1997), Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of Who and What Really Counts did some great work in identifying stakeholder attributes:
• Power: In a position to carry out actions despite resistance.
• Legitimacy: A perception that the actions are desirable, proper and appropriate.
• Urgency: A call for immediate action, either due to time sensitivity or the critical nature of the issue.
These attributes can be used to identify and prioritise stakeholder groups for the stakeholder mapping template and stakeholder engagement plan.
From these three attributes, you can identify seven stakeholder classes under three broad categories of latent, expectant and definitive.
Latent stakeholders
Latent stakeholders possess only one of the three key attributes and do not have strong influence on the organisation. Three stakeholder classes form the latent category:
- Dormant stakeholders have the power to impose their views on the organisation but lack the legitimacy or urgency to do so, so their power remains unused.
- Discretionary stakeholders possess legitimacy, but lack the power and urgent claim to influence the organisation.
- Demanding stakeholders are those with urgent claims but lack the power and legitimacy to attract the attention of managers or decision-makers.
Expectant stakeholders
Expectant stakeholders possess two of the three key attributes and require increased responsiveness from the organisation toward their interests or views. It is possible for latent stakeholders to acquire one of the remaining attributes and become part of the expectant stakeholder category. Three classes of stakeholder make up this category:
- Dominant stakeholders are both powerful and legitimate, and typically have views that matter to organisations.
- Dangerous stakeholders have the power and urgency but lack legitimacy, and are in a position to have a negative impact on the organisation.
- Dependent stakeholders have urgent claims and legitimate views but often rely on other stakeholders to carry out their will to compensate for a lack of power to influence the organisation.
Definitive stakeholders
Definitive stakeholders are a class and category unto themselves. They possess all three attributes and should be given the most attention. Organisations must engage this group and maintain strong relationships during the project or change event.
Definitive stakeholders should have the opportunity to provide input into major decisions and feedback on current progress. These stakeholders may differ depending on the nature of the change and can evolve between project phases.
Other groups
This model assumes that groups or individuals not falling within these three categories are non-stakeholders and are of least concern during a change project. Remember that the stakeholder environment is often dynamic, so put appropriate strategies in place to address any changes in stakeholder priorities.
Stakeholder Communication Must Be Audience First
Stakeholders are not a monolithic group, and treating them as such is a mistake that can have far-reaching consequences, not least on an organisation’s reputation management.
Effective, strategic stakeholder communication is not just about delivering information but ensuring that the message resonates with your specific audience.
By recognising the diversity of your stakeholders and tailoring communication strategies to meet their unique needs, your organisation can foster trust, build stronger relationships, and achieve better outcomes.
The key is to prioritise empathy, clarity, and adaptability—because when your stakeholders feel understood and valued, they’re more likely to support and contribute to your success.
