Stakeholder management for companies
The person who decides rarely sits where you expect.
Systematic identification, assessment and handling of the actors who co-decide a project.
What it is about
Stakeholder management does not begin with a contact list but with an honest answer to who could block your project and why they would have a point.
The usual failure is a map containing only supporters and formal decision-makers. The analysis becomes useful only when it also captures actors with no formal say who can generate public attention: citizen initiatives, professional bodies, newsrooms, individual members of parliament.
Then comes the uncomfortable work: for each group it has to be established what they actually need, not what they demand. That gap is where the win-win positions come from that make a project viable.
The points that decide
Mapping
Assess influence and exposure separately. The two often diverge.
Channels
The right route for each group, not the same newsletter for all.
Coalitions
Unexpected allies count for more than the obvious ones.
Monitoring
Positions shift. Yesterday’s map misleads.
How we work on it
Stakeholder & Network
Simply "knowing" people adds nothing. Robust relationships of trust with decision-makers do.
Professional Analysis & Monitoring
Curated monitoring of initiatives, draft legislation and public debate - assessed against your business goals.
High-Level Strategy & Campaigning
A business strategy becomes a communications programme that reaches its goals faster.
Frequently asked
How many stakeholders can realistically be handled?
Fewer than most lists suggest. In practice ten to fifteen actors decide whether a project succeeds. The rest is observation. A map with two hundred names usually signals that prioritisation is still missing.
What do you do about opponents?
First understand, then decide. Some opposition rests on a misunderstanding and can be cleared. Some is fundamental and stays. In the second case it is not about persuasion but about knowing the other side’s arguments before they are made in public.
Related focus areas
Alliances and association management
Building, leading and professionalising platforms, initiatives and associations, including running them.
Open pageGovernment relations
Building and maintaining dependable contacts in ministries, authorities, parliament and institutions, independent of day to day business.
Open pageIssue campaigning
Public campaigns on regulatory and location policy issues, from concept to delivery.
Open page
Facing an issue in this sector?
A first conversation usually settles quickly whether and how we can help.