How can you engage stakeholders on sustainability?

1 Identify your stakeholders

The first step is to identify who your stakeholders are and what they care about. Stakeholders are any individuals or groups that affect or are affected by your business activities, such as customers, employees, suppliers, communities, regulators, shareholders, and NGOs. You can use tools like stakeholder mapping or analysis to categorize them according to their power, influence, interest, and expectations. This will help you prioritize your communication and engagement efforts and tailor your messages accordingly.

2 Understand their needs and concerns

The next step is to understand what your stakeholders need and expect from you in terms of sustainability. You can use various methods to collect feedback and insights, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, workshops, or online platforms. You can also monitor their behavior, preferences, and opinions through social media, reports, ratings, or reviews. The goal is to identify their values, motivations, challenges, and opportunities related to sustainability and how they align or differ from yours.

3 Communicate your vision and actions

The third step is to communicate your sustainability vision and actions clearly and consistently to your stakeholders. You need to articulate why sustainability matters to you and how it supports your business strategy and purpose. You also need to showcase your achievements, challenges, and plans for improvement and demonstrate your accountability and transparency. You can use various channels and formats to communicate, such as reports, newsletters, websites, blogs, podcasts, videos, events, or webinars.

4 Involve them in decision-making and co-creation

The fourth step is to involve your stakeholders in decision-making and co-creation processes related to sustainability. You need to create opportunities for dialogue, collaboration, and innovation with your stakeholders and invite them to share their ideas, feedback, and solutions. You can also leverage their expertise, resources, and networks to enhance your sustainability performance and impact. You can use methods such as co-design, brainstorming, prototyping, testing, or piloting to involve them in co-creating value.

5 Recognize and reward their contributions

The fifth step is to recognize and reward your stakeholders for their contributions to your sustainability efforts. You need to acknowledge their input, feedback, and support and show them how they make a difference. You also need to provide them with incentives, benefits, or recognition that match their needs and expectations and motivate them to continue or increase their engagement. You can use methods such as feedback loops, testimonials, case studies, awards, or rewards to recognize and reward them.

6 Evaluate and improve your engagement

The final step is to evaluate and improve your engagement with your stakeholders on sustainability. You need to measure and monitor the outcomes and impacts of your engagement activities and assess their effectiveness and satisfaction. You also need to identify the gaps, challenges, and areas for improvement and implement changes accordingly. You can use methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, or analytics to evaluate and improve your engagement.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?