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Here are a few best practices that make a difference when considering how best to execute stakeholder engagement.

Enroll the right stakeholders to improve outcomes

Most commonly, a stakeholder is defined as "any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of [an] organization's objectives" Freeman (1984: 46). We would add that a stakeholder may also include someone who acts with an organization, implying a joint effort. Research indicates that more successful outcomes emerge from initiatives where stakeholders have participated by providing inputs for identifying and designing solutions. Initiatives make better decisions, which are more informed, have greater longevity and are more likely to meet the requirements of the opportunity or problem they seek to address.

Governance is a process, not a destination

When we speak of governance for multi-stakeholder collaborations, we are referring to the notion that governance provides "mechanisms for steering social systems toward their goals" (Rosenau, J. N., 2006, p. 118). In other words, governance for multi-stakeholder collaborations is a flexible model for group decision-making. It is a means to navigate the ambiguous boundaries at the intersection of our biggest problems - whether within an enterprise, between enterprises or at the place where the economy, the environment and civil society meet. This is not the governance of sovereign nations, but of daily life.

Lead from the middle

When practiced well, stakeholder strategy assigns accountability for outcomes. Not all initiatives or enterprises have a charismatic leader; mostly we lead from the middle and from amongst the many. That's hard to do unless we find a way to do it together. This is what makes stakeholder or governance bodies so important. Rarely does a single authority exist upon which we can confer total responsibility. Pushing accountability and authority outward and towards those who are working at the intersection of where the work gets done empowers companies, workers and communities. It's also more efficient. Authority implies the power to influence and lead cooperation, rather than the power to control the outputs of a group.

Having a strategy helps

I am agnostic, yet passionate, when it comes to approaches to organizing programs or initiatives relative to stakeholder engagement and governance. Most importantly, it needs to work – rather than meet a pedagogy. While an advisor may have preferences, often folks have a methodology, which they prefer and that is to be respected. Flexibility and adaptability are far more important than declarations of "there is one right way." So, while there are many different approaches to structure a stakeholder or governance strategy, which method or approach you use ultimately depends on the developmental phase of your group and what outcomes you seek through your effort.

As examples - I have used straight-forward models such as Discover, Define, Design, Deploy arrangements. On other engagements we have applied Rational Unified Process (RUP), which can also be used for designing governance and standards organizations. Even Xtreme Engineering can be a useful method. And then there are numerous frameworks such as open source governance models for IT or sustainability such as CobIT and FISDEV and the CMMi or the Competency Maturity Model Integration.

One approach that I think is particularly successful, looks at the definition, creation and management of a governance or multi-stakeholder body through the lenses of - Materiality, Completeness and Responsiveness.

- Materiality means "knowing what is important to you and your stakeholders."

- Completeness represents the practice of "understanding your impact and what stakeholders think of you."

- Responsiveness is the principle of "coherently responding to stakeholders concerns."

The three lenses provide a bridge of sorts linking together the three primary phases of stakeholder engagement, Thinking and Planning, Preparing and Engaging, Responding and Measuring. Within each phase are a series of tasks which must be completed to a level of "doneness" that will allow an organization to move on to the next task or phase. Some of these tasks may occur in series or in parallel or even iteratively. For example the task of identifying stakeholders by its nature supports the identification of material issues, which in turn identifies additional stakeholders.

The following is a high-level example of how I have organized a Stakeholder Strategy. The bullets are milestones that can be woven together to form an approach for your initiative:

Phase I - Think and Plan

• Identify and convene owners responsible for the success of this initiative
• Conduct current state analysis such as internal and external assessments or benchmarking and competitive analysis
• Identify stakeholders who are relevant and share material concerns
• Establish a common ground of values and ethics upon which to build the future
• Identify, document and research material concerns
• Determine and define an engagement strategy
• Develop road map
• Establish an engagement plan and an implementation schedule

Phase II - Preparing and Engaging

• Enable stakeholders to own outcomes through participation in the identification, design and creation of solutions to problems and opportunities.
• Identify ways of engaging that work and will produce value
• Build competency and capacity amongst stakeholders as a framework for success Engage with stakeholders to facilitate understanding, learning and improvement

Phase III - Responding and Measuring

• Mitigate risk through feedback and measurement - never stray too far from your values, vision and goals
• Conduct a gap analysis to identify what is being measured, what needs to be measured, what do stakeholders need measured to provide credibility
• Operationalize, internalize and communicate learning
• Measure, assess, and communicate performance
• Assess, re-map, re-define

This model is derived from the AccountAbility AA1000ES Assurance Framework for Stakeholder Engagement.