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Stakeholder Engagement – in good company

How sustainable should any company be? How much sustainability is enough? Difficult questions to answer, but there is no need to go it alone. Every company is surrounded by people and groups, each with their own values, needs and demands on your business, that you can and should draw on: Your stakeholders. Together with them, it is possible establish the key parameters for “future-proofing” your operations. We are happy to support you in this process.

Our modules at a glance

  • Stakeholder mapping: characterisation, selection and prioritisation of stakeholders or stakeholder groups on the basis of defined criteria
  • Selective stakeholder surveys: broad-based written surveys (online), interview-based surveys, or stakeholder workshops; evaluation and weighting of results according to stakeholder groups and reputational risk, integration into materiality asssessment
  • Continuous stakeholder engagement: concept and support for the implementation of a regular exchange with your stakeholders (focus topics, stakeholder groups and specific forms of interaction)

Why stakeholder engagement?

When you involve your stakeholders, you gain directional assurance for your sustainability engagement and impulses for further innovation. Furthermore, stakeholder engagement is a key building block for identifying the sustainability elements that are essential for your organisation.  

For newcomers in this area, in particular, the following applies: Do not overtax yourself or your company. Excessive expectations on your part or from your stakeholders will not help anyone. Start small and build your stakeholder engagement step by step on the basis of positive experiences.

Step by step towards stakeholder engagement

Create an overview

To begin, we use stakeholder mapping to determine which stakeholders are particularly important for your company. These are not only the stakeholders with whom your organisation has direct contact, such as suppliers or customers, but also scientists, representatives of NGOs, churches, and trade unions.

It is advisable to make the selection based on defined criteria, e.g. their degree of influence or social legitimacy. The AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (2015) from AccountAbility and in particular reporting standards such as GRI or the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive CSRD and the ESRS provide valuable information for stakeholder selection and areas of interaction.

Engage in exchange

What you then need are suitable formats to initiate a joint learning process and to ensure that your sustainability strategy is future-proof and your credibility strong.

Depending on the objectives and the desired scope of stakeholder engagement, either a selective survey or a regular ongoing exchange of views may be appropriate. In preliminary discussions, we will clarify which format is most suitable for you. The stakeholder mapping module forms the basis for both approaches.

Publications

References

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