In the my last piece, I shared my reflections on why the strategy process is more if not equally important as the product (the strategy itself). I underscored that of all the aspects to consider about the strategy development process, making it participatory is most definitive.

But just how does an organisation and its leadership make the strategy development process participatory?

• The beginning point is to map out who needs to be involved. The people and entities to be involved are commonly referred to as stakeholders. The goal is to ensure that the stakeholders pertinent to the development of the organisation’s strategy are included.
• The next question would be how an organization determines who needs to be involved. While there are many ways of assessing the stakeholders to be involved in a strategy development process, the main considerations are mostly their needs versus contributions, their influence, and potential impact on the strategy. In our experience, a major C-sense criterion is the level of psychological safety of the stakeholders.

Psychological safety, in this case, refers to the ability, willingness and likelihood of the stakeholder to express themselves without fear of reprisal. If an organization aims for an objective assessment of its situation which will then inform its strategic options, it had better be ready to hear the good, and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the comfortable and the unsettling from its stakeholders.

Broadly, the stakeholders will be internal or external to the organisation with specifics of each category being dependent on the type of organization (e.g. for-profit vs. non-profit, local vs. regional vs. international, private vs. public, small vs. large, among other considerations).

• The internal stakeholders will be mainly the organisation’s staff, management and the board.
• The external stakeholders may include representatives from relevant Government institutions (e.g. regulators and statutory bodies), partners, donors, funders, suppliers, creditors, and auditors. The most commonly forgotten external stakeholders are the customers, target populations or beneficiaries of the organization, yet these could be the most strategic in determining the future shifts that an organization needs to be cognizant of.

Stakeholder engagement channels

Having determined who needs to be engaged in the strategy development process in their broad and specific categories, the next important consideration will usually be the engagement channels. The interests, contributions, influence, potential impact and most critical, the psychological safety of the stakeholders are the important considerations that are helpful in determining the channels to use.

In addition, the location, availability and convenience of the stakeholder is a critical determinant of the channel to use. Table 1 shows my C-sense approach in mapping stakeholders for engagement in a strategy development process bearing in mind the various considerations mentioned in this article.

Table 1: C-sense approach in mapping stakeholders for involvement in a strategy development process and appropriate engagement channels

Caption: Table 1: C-Sense Approach in mapping stakeholders for engagement

Key:

• KII – Key Informant Interview
• FGD – Focus Group Discussion

A closing C-sense note:

Often, it’s not those who sing of an organization’s praises that are able to move it forward but those who may come out as critical, skeptical, and discontented with status quo. As a strategic leader, one must learn to allow key stakeholders to have their say even if not their way. Leaders who aim to make their organizations better and competitively position them must be ready and willing to provide a safe space for all voices to be heard, and grow their capacity to objectively pick constructive contributions while soaring above destructive energy.