How to engage stakeholders effectively

Learn about the five key stages for effective public participation that can be used when approaching any change.

While there are various stages and forms of participation, good public participation often involves five key stages, including early consultation, initial planning, developing the public participation program, implementing the program, and following up.

Early consultation

In the first stage of early consultation, we should identify the relevant stakeholders (for example, traditional owners, government agencies, environmental groups, environmental scientists, the public), consult with these stakeholders, and identify the issues as they are understood or experienced by those stakeholders.

Initial planning

The next stage is bringing all this information together to create an initial plan to determine what the public consultation process will be, what goals are we aiming for, when will it happen, how, and importantly, what level of participation is required from the public. Levels of participation can vary:

1. Information: The public is a recipient of information, but has no participatory role in the process.
2. Consultation: A two-way flow of information, which often occurs late in the process.
3. Participation: Decision-makers and communities or stakeholders solve problems together, which often occurs early in the process.
4. Direct involvement: Communities are directly involved in the decision-making process through all stages.

Developing the public participation program

Developing the public participation program itself also includes deciding on the participation methods or techniques required to achieve the right level of participation and committing the staff and resources to do so.

Techniques to inform can include factsheets, press releases, or websites. Techniques to consult can include inviting public comment on drafts, conducting surveys, or holding public meetings. Techniques to participate can include forming public based committees, workshops, or even ‘search conferences’ (a discussion technique often used in the initial or evaluation stages of a project, designed to allow participants to create a shared vision (Sarkissian et al. 2009)).

Review public participation guide and public participation toolkit to learn more about the tools and techniques used for engaging with the public.

Direct involvement is often used less than some of the previous levels of involvement, however decision-makers are now much more likely to engage and involve affected parties to ‘co-produce strategies to address common problems’ (Harding et al. 2009, p.170).

Implementing the program and following up

The final stages of public participation are of course then implementing the program, and following up, through assessing the outcomes, and identifying any changes that may be required.

Implementing the program involves putting the public participation plan into action, ensuring that all stakeholders are engaged through the chosen methods and that their input is being gathered effectively.

Following up is crucial to assess the impact of the participation, provide feedback to the community, and ensure that any commitments made during the process are being fulfilled.

Watch the video

Watch the following video for an example of direct public participation that led to positive outcomes for conservation and created a sustainable source of income for forest communities.

Engaging a wide range of stakeholders

While not every project will require a deep level of public consultation, it is important to remember that the public are indeed stakeholders in our business operations. We can use some of these steps in helping us to decide where, when, and how to engage the public, but also our other stakeholders such as contractors, staff, and investors, in our sustainability reporting initiatives.

Learn some stakeholder strategies from The Ashy Eco Hub!

What did you learn from Rachel and Barb at The Ashy Eco Hub about their strategies on stakeholder engagement and good stewardship. Feel free to share your reflections and any similar examples you can think of.

References

_{Harding, R, Hendriks, CM & Faruqi, M (2009) ‘Public participation’, Environmental decision-making: Exploring complexity and context, Federation Press, Leichhardt, NSW, pp. 167–92.}

_{Sarkissian, W & Bunjamin-Mau, KS (2009) SpeakOut: The step-by-step guide to speakouts and community workshops, Earthscan, London.}