Stakeholder engagement principles

Finally – it is worth considering principles around how you engage. The following 7 are frequently recommended as Principles to consider and follow.

Principle 1

Managers should acknowledge and actively monitor the concerns of all legitimate stakeholders, and should take their interests appropriately into account in decision-making and operations.

Principle 2

Managers should listen to and openly communicate with stakeholders about their respective concerns and contributions, and about the risks that they assume because of their involvement with the corporation.

Principle 3

Managers should adopt processes and modes of behaviour that are sensitive to the concerns and capabilities of each stakeholder constituency.

Principle 4

Managers should recognise the interdependence of efforts and rewards among stakeholders, and should attempt to achieve a fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of corporate activity among them, taking into account their respective risks and vulnerabilities.

Principle 5

Managers should work cooperatively with other entities, both public and private, to ensure that risks and harms arising from corporate activities are minimised and, where they cannot be avoided, appropriately compensated.

Principle 6

Managers should avoid altogether activities that might jeopardise inalienable human rights (e.g., the right to life) or give rise to risks which, if clearly understood, would be patently unacceptable to relevant stakeholders.

Principle 7

Managers should acknowledge the potential conflicts between (a) their own role as corporate stakeholders, and (b) their legal and moral responsibilities for the interests of stakeholders, and should address such conflicts through open communication, appropriate reporting and incentive systems and, where necessary, third party review