3 WAYS TO ACHIEVE STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Measuring the success of effective communication can strengthen working relationships. Understanding this, evaluating stakeholder engagement, determining if it is effective, can be a difficult and takes time. However, if your goal is to positively connect with your stakeholder, it’s a very necessary process. Here are 3 methods you can use to spark open dialogue and boost engagement with your stakeholders.

1. Organize focus groups
   

   Use focus groups to encourage candid feedback. This intimate, and often times relaxed, setting can be the perfect place to gauge the temperament, and be informed on the opinions, of your stakeholders. One of the most appealing aspects of focus groups is their ability to provide the conductor with immediate and actionable feedback.

2. Conduct surveys

   Online surveys provide valuable data that can be quantified. They are relatively inexpensive and responses can be abundant and diverse. Flexible and dependable, surveys transfer control to you and allows for edits to be made quickly and within your time constraints. This flexibility and quantifiable data serves as an asset when evaluating the effectiveness of communication.

3. Individual stakeholder interviews
   

   Interviewing stakeholders individually encourages honest and direct feedback. While this method may prove to require additional time resources than the others, answers from questions posed to stakeholders will give direct insight into thoughts and opinions on the subject matter.

Use the above strategies individually, or in combination, to measure and increase stakeholder engagement. Doing so could may also reveal points of success or areas of  improvements.