-by Wayne Dunn
Helping business toserve shareholders AND society
SIMULTANEOUSLY
Seven steps for engaginginternal stakeholders
7steps for engaging internal stakeholders
The best investment you make in the sustainability of your stakeholder engagement and
corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs could be your internal stakeholders Seriously
The people dealing with communities stakeholders and responsibilities are too often
ghettoized in a corner of a project or company and not seen as part of the lsquoreal businessrsquo This
costs the company money and can be demoralizing
They are tolerated sometimes even encouraged but when budgets get tight they are often
squarely in the cutting line
Itrsquos not a very sustainable position for them or the company So if thatrsquos where you are you
need to change your positioning and make successfully engaging internal stakeholders a
priority
Do it right and other parts of your organization will recognize the important contribution CSR
and stakeholder engagement make to profitability shareholder value and their specific
interests
Drop the ball on internal stakeholder engagement and yoursquoll be near the front of the line the
next time cuts and downsizing happens and near the back of the line for budget increases
3 Share stories from their peers
2 Build allies find champions
1 Ask whatrsquos in it for them Think of their
interests
Even with your most compelling arguments not everyone will become a raving fan of your work If you engage appropriately however some will and others will at least be supportive
Your colleagues are your allies work with them Help them to know more about your work and what it means for their area and interests for the company and for other key areas
With the right information support and rationale you can then turn one or two into strategic champions for your work and its value to the company
Stories are great for communicating and engaging souse some to help you reach internal stakeholders
Find short pointed stories on how CSRstakeholder engagement and other related areas had big impacts on particular areas and then share them appropriately ndash and strategically
page 02
Ask what CSR has to offer your company from top to bottom and side to side through finance human resources investor relations engineering C-suites etc
Work out how your own success contributes to their success
And think through how it impacts on them if your work fails if your project or company loses its social license
Then capture these thoughts make lists and communicate them (see items 3 amp 5 below) Use each new specific example as an opportunity to remind them
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
The good news is that the core principles for successfully engaging internal stakeholders are much the same as for other stakeholder groups They include in no particular order
I was near the conclusion of the project an assessment of the companyrsquos social licenseCSR work in a particular geographic region it was working in
The work they were doing was incredible clearly one of the best examples in the world This was back in 1999 but is still one of the best ndash they were way ahead of the game
However the local systems and successes I assessed were not consistent across their entire operations They had countries and regions where they were doing little or nothing Big risks And they didnrsquot see them
So I explained the risk to the CFO saying that if they had a problem if something came up in those other areas they would have a hard time to respond to an agitated public and confron-tational stakeholder groups (think about making friends in the middle of a mob)
But he didnrsquot seem interestedI think he was happy to see me leave his office
About a month later the company had a cyanide spill that while technically not a major con-cern quickly became a major international issue both for them and for the country they were headquartered in
The spill happened some distance from their mine However their vehicles routinely passed through a local community with whom they had not fostered any relationships at all
You can imagine how the community felt as trucks drove through daily going to and from the mine and with nobody from the company ever coming by They didnrsquot even have much oppor-tunity for jobs or business at the mine-site
So when the spill happened the community used it to get some major attention Suddenly there were advocacy and special interest NGOs all over the community and the incident got a lot of global media attention
Share price plummeted and the company went into emergency response Except they didnrsquot really have the relationships with local or international stakeholders to mount a quick and effective response to this situation (think again of building relationships in a mob)
A couple of months later when I was back at headquarters the CFO actually asked to see me He had been through a pretty rough period
As the share price tanked the company was suddenly getting all sorts of attention it didnrsquot like from investors lenders and other financial stakeholders
The company found itself offside of important agreements like debt to market capitalization covenants
Now a previously skepticalCFO had become a believer Now he could see how the success of stakeholder engagement and CSR programs had real meaning and value for his job and the company
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
page 03
Changed Perception of Value
Do good work but donrsquot be a lsquodo gooderrsquo Your work and the good you do is important for sure But so are the interests of your com-pany Keep your work consciously aligned with the broader interests of your company
Always always keep the companyrsquos interests at the forefront Link your own job and goals to what is good for the company in other ways for example mitigating risk for the company
Lose that link and you are lost
Your company wants good work but not a do-gooder and the same applies to the stakeholders you are working with
4 Donrsquot be a lsquodo gooderrsquo Keep your organizationrsquos
interest paramount
5 Learn their language You will be much more effective at communicating with various internal stakeholder groups if you lsquolearn their languagersquo Hint Do-gooder language wonrsquot get you very far in the CFOrsquos office
By lsquodoingrsquo stakeholder engagement and CSR you can seem like an alien from another planet So learn enough about your colleaguersquos world and priorities to communicate with them in a way that they can hear and understand
page 04
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
These stories will not only help you to better communicate the value in your work to your colleagues they will also help you to under-stand your colleaguesrsquo interests better
6 Be passionate but not fanatical
Most of us working in CSR and stakeholder engagement are pas-sionate about our work But so too are many who work in other areas of your organization
Passion is a gift Cherish it Fanaticism is a curse Avoid it
It is perfectly fine to be passionate about your work and the impact it is having (both on and for stakeholders AND for shareholders) But donrsquot be fanatical about it Passionate is constructive Fanati-cal is destructive
This is a simple communication skill but often can be challenging to apply especially when projects and initiatives feel so important
Always remember that there is a fine line between passionate and fanatical and stay on the constructive side of the line
7 Assertive Humility Humble AND assertive
Temper all internal stakeholder engagement with assertive humility Wersquove all seen do-gooders that come across as lsquoholier than thoursquo It is a turn-off
Wersquove also seen the meek and mild who struggle to make a point but fail to communicate effectively
The work you are doing is important Very important So is the work that others in your company are doing Recognize both of these realities
Remember ndash internal stakeholders are key to the success of your work
Do not assume that they are automatically on your side Invest time in under-standing them and their interests and in explaining how and why your success supports their success
Learn to engage and communicate with them in effective ways and you your work your company and your other stakeholdersrsquo will all benefit
page 05
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
About the author
Wayne Dunn is President amp Founder of the CSR Training Institute and Professor of Practice in CSR at McGill Hersquos a Stanford Sloan Fellow with a MSc in Manage-ment from Stanford Business School He is a veteran of 20+ years of award winning global CSR and sustainability work spanning the globe and covering many industries and sectors including extensive work with Indigenous Peoples in Canada and globally
Hersquos also worked oil rigs prospecting diamond drilling logging commercial fishing heavy equipment operator truck driver and underwater logging done a couple of startups and too many other things to mention
His career and life has had big successes and spectacular failures and he hopes he has learned equally from both
To see other Thought pieces and articles by Wayne click heregtgtgt
To get updates and newsletters from Wayne Dunn and the CSR Training Institute click heregtgtgt
Click to Follow
Wayne Dunn
7steps for engaging internal stakeholders
The best investment you make in the sustainability of your stakeholder engagement and
corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs could be your internal stakeholders Seriously
The people dealing with communities stakeholders and responsibilities are too often
ghettoized in a corner of a project or company and not seen as part of the lsquoreal businessrsquo This
costs the company money and can be demoralizing
They are tolerated sometimes even encouraged but when budgets get tight they are often
squarely in the cutting line
Itrsquos not a very sustainable position for them or the company So if thatrsquos where you are you
need to change your positioning and make successfully engaging internal stakeholders a
priority
Do it right and other parts of your organization will recognize the important contribution CSR
and stakeholder engagement make to profitability shareholder value and their specific
interests
Drop the ball on internal stakeholder engagement and yoursquoll be near the front of the line the
next time cuts and downsizing happens and near the back of the line for budget increases
3 Share stories from their peers
2 Build allies find champions
1 Ask whatrsquos in it for them Think of their
interests
Even with your most compelling arguments not everyone will become a raving fan of your work If you engage appropriately however some will and others will at least be supportive
Your colleagues are your allies work with them Help them to know more about your work and what it means for their area and interests for the company and for other key areas
With the right information support and rationale you can then turn one or two into strategic champions for your work and its value to the company
Stories are great for communicating and engaging souse some to help you reach internal stakeholders
Find short pointed stories on how CSRstakeholder engagement and other related areas had big impacts on particular areas and then share them appropriately ndash and strategically
page 02
Ask what CSR has to offer your company from top to bottom and side to side through finance human resources investor relations engineering C-suites etc
Work out how your own success contributes to their success
And think through how it impacts on them if your work fails if your project or company loses its social license
Then capture these thoughts make lists and communicate them (see items 3 amp 5 below) Use each new specific example as an opportunity to remind them
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
The good news is that the core principles for successfully engaging internal stakeholders are much the same as for other stakeholder groups They include in no particular order
I was near the conclusion of the project an assessment of the companyrsquos social licenseCSR work in a particular geographic region it was working in
The work they were doing was incredible clearly one of the best examples in the world This was back in 1999 but is still one of the best ndash they were way ahead of the game
However the local systems and successes I assessed were not consistent across their entire operations They had countries and regions where they were doing little or nothing Big risks And they didnrsquot see them
So I explained the risk to the CFO saying that if they had a problem if something came up in those other areas they would have a hard time to respond to an agitated public and confron-tational stakeholder groups (think about making friends in the middle of a mob)
But he didnrsquot seem interestedI think he was happy to see me leave his office
About a month later the company had a cyanide spill that while technically not a major con-cern quickly became a major international issue both for them and for the country they were headquartered in
The spill happened some distance from their mine However their vehicles routinely passed through a local community with whom they had not fostered any relationships at all
You can imagine how the community felt as trucks drove through daily going to and from the mine and with nobody from the company ever coming by They didnrsquot even have much oppor-tunity for jobs or business at the mine-site
So when the spill happened the community used it to get some major attention Suddenly there were advocacy and special interest NGOs all over the community and the incident got a lot of global media attention
Share price plummeted and the company went into emergency response Except they didnrsquot really have the relationships with local or international stakeholders to mount a quick and effective response to this situation (think again of building relationships in a mob)
A couple of months later when I was back at headquarters the CFO actually asked to see me He had been through a pretty rough period
As the share price tanked the company was suddenly getting all sorts of attention it didnrsquot like from investors lenders and other financial stakeholders
The company found itself offside of important agreements like debt to market capitalization covenants
Now a previously skepticalCFO had become a believer Now he could see how the success of stakeholder engagement and CSR programs had real meaning and value for his job and the company
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
page 03
Changed Perception of Value
Do good work but donrsquot be a lsquodo gooderrsquo Your work and the good you do is important for sure But so are the interests of your com-pany Keep your work consciously aligned with the broader interests of your company
Always always keep the companyrsquos interests at the forefront Link your own job and goals to what is good for the company in other ways for example mitigating risk for the company
Lose that link and you are lost
Your company wants good work but not a do-gooder and the same applies to the stakeholders you are working with
4 Donrsquot be a lsquodo gooderrsquo Keep your organizationrsquos
interest paramount
5 Learn their language You will be much more effective at communicating with various internal stakeholder groups if you lsquolearn their languagersquo Hint Do-gooder language wonrsquot get you very far in the CFOrsquos office
By lsquodoingrsquo stakeholder engagement and CSR you can seem like an alien from another planet So learn enough about your colleaguersquos world and priorities to communicate with them in a way that they can hear and understand
page 04
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
These stories will not only help you to better communicate the value in your work to your colleagues they will also help you to under-stand your colleaguesrsquo interests better
6 Be passionate but not fanatical
Most of us working in CSR and stakeholder engagement are pas-sionate about our work But so too are many who work in other areas of your organization
Passion is a gift Cherish it Fanaticism is a curse Avoid it
It is perfectly fine to be passionate about your work and the impact it is having (both on and for stakeholders AND for shareholders) But donrsquot be fanatical about it Passionate is constructive Fanati-cal is destructive
This is a simple communication skill but often can be challenging to apply especially when projects and initiatives feel so important
Always remember that there is a fine line between passionate and fanatical and stay on the constructive side of the line
7 Assertive Humility Humble AND assertive
Temper all internal stakeholder engagement with assertive humility Wersquove all seen do-gooders that come across as lsquoholier than thoursquo It is a turn-off
Wersquove also seen the meek and mild who struggle to make a point but fail to communicate effectively
The work you are doing is important Very important So is the work that others in your company are doing Recognize both of these realities
Remember ndash internal stakeholders are key to the success of your work
Do not assume that they are automatically on your side Invest time in under-standing them and their interests and in explaining how and why your success supports their success
Learn to engage and communicate with them in effective ways and you your work your company and your other stakeholdersrsquo will all benefit
page 05
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
About the author
Wayne Dunn is President amp Founder of the CSR Training Institute and Professor of Practice in CSR at McGill Hersquos a Stanford Sloan Fellow with a MSc in Manage-ment from Stanford Business School He is a veteran of 20+ years of award winning global CSR and sustainability work spanning the globe and covering many industries and sectors including extensive work with Indigenous Peoples in Canada and globally
Hersquos also worked oil rigs prospecting diamond drilling logging commercial fishing heavy equipment operator truck driver and underwater logging done a couple of startups and too many other things to mention
His career and life has had big successes and spectacular failures and he hopes he has learned equally from both
To see other Thought pieces and articles by Wayne click heregtgtgt
To get updates and newsletters from Wayne Dunn and the CSR Training Institute click heregtgtgt
Click to Follow
Wayne Dunn
3 Share stories from their peers
2 Build allies find champions
1 Ask whatrsquos in it for them Think of their
interests
Even with your most compelling arguments not everyone will become a raving fan of your work If you engage appropriately however some will and others will at least be supportive
Your colleagues are your allies work with them Help them to know more about your work and what it means for their area and interests for the company and for other key areas
With the right information support and rationale you can then turn one or two into strategic champions for your work and its value to the company
Stories are great for communicating and engaging souse some to help you reach internal stakeholders
Find short pointed stories on how CSRstakeholder engagement and other related areas had big impacts on particular areas and then share them appropriately ndash and strategically
page 02
Ask what CSR has to offer your company from top to bottom and side to side through finance human resources investor relations engineering C-suites etc
Work out how your own success contributes to their success
And think through how it impacts on them if your work fails if your project or company loses its social license
Then capture these thoughts make lists and communicate them (see items 3 amp 5 below) Use each new specific example as an opportunity to remind them
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
The good news is that the core principles for successfully engaging internal stakeholders are much the same as for other stakeholder groups They include in no particular order
I was near the conclusion of the project an assessment of the companyrsquos social licenseCSR work in a particular geographic region it was working in
The work they were doing was incredible clearly one of the best examples in the world This was back in 1999 but is still one of the best ndash they were way ahead of the game
However the local systems and successes I assessed were not consistent across their entire operations They had countries and regions where they were doing little or nothing Big risks And they didnrsquot see them
So I explained the risk to the CFO saying that if they had a problem if something came up in those other areas they would have a hard time to respond to an agitated public and confron-tational stakeholder groups (think about making friends in the middle of a mob)
But he didnrsquot seem interestedI think he was happy to see me leave his office
About a month later the company had a cyanide spill that while technically not a major con-cern quickly became a major international issue both for them and for the country they were headquartered in
The spill happened some distance from their mine However their vehicles routinely passed through a local community with whom they had not fostered any relationships at all
You can imagine how the community felt as trucks drove through daily going to and from the mine and with nobody from the company ever coming by They didnrsquot even have much oppor-tunity for jobs or business at the mine-site
So when the spill happened the community used it to get some major attention Suddenly there were advocacy and special interest NGOs all over the community and the incident got a lot of global media attention
Share price plummeted and the company went into emergency response Except they didnrsquot really have the relationships with local or international stakeholders to mount a quick and effective response to this situation (think again of building relationships in a mob)
A couple of months later when I was back at headquarters the CFO actually asked to see me He had been through a pretty rough period
As the share price tanked the company was suddenly getting all sorts of attention it didnrsquot like from investors lenders and other financial stakeholders
The company found itself offside of important agreements like debt to market capitalization covenants
Now a previously skepticalCFO had become a believer Now he could see how the success of stakeholder engagement and CSR programs had real meaning and value for his job and the company
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
page 03
Changed Perception of Value
Do good work but donrsquot be a lsquodo gooderrsquo Your work and the good you do is important for sure But so are the interests of your com-pany Keep your work consciously aligned with the broader interests of your company
Always always keep the companyrsquos interests at the forefront Link your own job and goals to what is good for the company in other ways for example mitigating risk for the company
Lose that link and you are lost
Your company wants good work but not a do-gooder and the same applies to the stakeholders you are working with
4 Donrsquot be a lsquodo gooderrsquo Keep your organizationrsquos
interest paramount
5 Learn their language You will be much more effective at communicating with various internal stakeholder groups if you lsquolearn their languagersquo Hint Do-gooder language wonrsquot get you very far in the CFOrsquos office
By lsquodoingrsquo stakeholder engagement and CSR you can seem like an alien from another planet So learn enough about your colleaguersquos world and priorities to communicate with them in a way that they can hear and understand
page 04
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
These stories will not only help you to better communicate the value in your work to your colleagues they will also help you to under-stand your colleaguesrsquo interests better
6 Be passionate but not fanatical
Most of us working in CSR and stakeholder engagement are pas-sionate about our work But so too are many who work in other areas of your organization
Passion is a gift Cherish it Fanaticism is a curse Avoid it
It is perfectly fine to be passionate about your work and the impact it is having (both on and for stakeholders AND for shareholders) But donrsquot be fanatical about it Passionate is constructive Fanati-cal is destructive
This is a simple communication skill but often can be challenging to apply especially when projects and initiatives feel so important
Always remember that there is a fine line between passionate and fanatical and stay on the constructive side of the line
7 Assertive Humility Humble AND assertive
Temper all internal stakeholder engagement with assertive humility Wersquove all seen do-gooders that come across as lsquoholier than thoursquo It is a turn-off
Wersquove also seen the meek and mild who struggle to make a point but fail to communicate effectively
The work you are doing is important Very important So is the work that others in your company are doing Recognize both of these realities
Remember ndash internal stakeholders are key to the success of your work
Do not assume that they are automatically on your side Invest time in under-standing them and their interests and in explaining how and why your success supports their success
Learn to engage and communicate with them in effective ways and you your work your company and your other stakeholdersrsquo will all benefit
page 05
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
About the author
Wayne Dunn is President amp Founder of the CSR Training Institute and Professor of Practice in CSR at McGill Hersquos a Stanford Sloan Fellow with a MSc in Manage-ment from Stanford Business School He is a veteran of 20+ years of award winning global CSR and sustainability work spanning the globe and covering many industries and sectors including extensive work with Indigenous Peoples in Canada and globally
Hersquos also worked oil rigs prospecting diamond drilling logging commercial fishing heavy equipment operator truck driver and underwater logging done a couple of startups and too many other things to mention
His career and life has had big successes and spectacular failures and he hopes he has learned equally from both
To see other Thought pieces and articles by Wayne click heregtgtgt
To get updates and newsletters from Wayne Dunn and the CSR Training Institute click heregtgtgt
Click to Follow
Wayne Dunn
I was near the conclusion of the project an assessment of the companyrsquos social licenseCSR work in a particular geographic region it was working in
The work they were doing was incredible clearly one of the best examples in the world This was back in 1999 but is still one of the best ndash they were way ahead of the game
However the local systems and successes I assessed were not consistent across their entire operations They had countries and regions where they were doing little or nothing Big risks And they didnrsquot see them
So I explained the risk to the CFO saying that if they had a problem if something came up in those other areas they would have a hard time to respond to an agitated public and confron-tational stakeholder groups (think about making friends in the middle of a mob)
But he didnrsquot seem interestedI think he was happy to see me leave his office
About a month later the company had a cyanide spill that while technically not a major con-cern quickly became a major international issue both for them and for the country they were headquartered in
The spill happened some distance from their mine However their vehicles routinely passed through a local community with whom they had not fostered any relationships at all
You can imagine how the community felt as trucks drove through daily going to and from the mine and with nobody from the company ever coming by They didnrsquot even have much oppor-tunity for jobs or business at the mine-site
So when the spill happened the community used it to get some major attention Suddenly there were advocacy and special interest NGOs all over the community and the incident got a lot of global media attention
Share price plummeted and the company went into emergency response Except they didnrsquot really have the relationships with local or international stakeholders to mount a quick and effective response to this situation (think again of building relationships in a mob)
A couple of months later when I was back at headquarters the CFO actually asked to see me He had been through a pretty rough period
As the share price tanked the company was suddenly getting all sorts of attention it didnrsquot like from investors lenders and other financial stakeholders
The company found itself offside of important agreements like debt to market capitalization covenants
Now a previously skepticalCFO had become a believer Now he could see how the success of stakeholder engagement and CSR programs had real meaning and value for his job and the company
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
page 03
Changed Perception of Value
Do good work but donrsquot be a lsquodo gooderrsquo Your work and the good you do is important for sure But so are the interests of your com-pany Keep your work consciously aligned with the broader interests of your company
Always always keep the companyrsquos interests at the forefront Link your own job and goals to what is good for the company in other ways for example mitigating risk for the company
Lose that link and you are lost
Your company wants good work but not a do-gooder and the same applies to the stakeholders you are working with
4 Donrsquot be a lsquodo gooderrsquo Keep your organizationrsquos
interest paramount
5 Learn their language You will be much more effective at communicating with various internal stakeholder groups if you lsquolearn their languagersquo Hint Do-gooder language wonrsquot get you very far in the CFOrsquos office
By lsquodoingrsquo stakeholder engagement and CSR you can seem like an alien from another planet So learn enough about your colleaguersquos world and priorities to communicate with them in a way that they can hear and understand
page 04
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
These stories will not only help you to better communicate the value in your work to your colleagues they will also help you to under-stand your colleaguesrsquo interests better
6 Be passionate but not fanatical
Most of us working in CSR and stakeholder engagement are pas-sionate about our work But so too are many who work in other areas of your organization
Passion is a gift Cherish it Fanaticism is a curse Avoid it
It is perfectly fine to be passionate about your work and the impact it is having (both on and for stakeholders AND for shareholders) But donrsquot be fanatical about it Passionate is constructive Fanati-cal is destructive
This is a simple communication skill but often can be challenging to apply especially when projects and initiatives feel so important
Always remember that there is a fine line between passionate and fanatical and stay on the constructive side of the line
7 Assertive Humility Humble AND assertive
Temper all internal stakeholder engagement with assertive humility Wersquove all seen do-gooders that come across as lsquoholier than thoursquo It is a turn-off
Wersquove also seen the meek and mild who struggle to make a point but fail to communicate effectively
The work you are doing is important Very important So is the work that others in your company are doing Recognize both of these realities
Remember ndash internal stakeholders are key to the success of your work
Do not assume that they are automatically on your side Invest time in under-standing them and their interests and in explaining how and why your success supports their success
Learn to engage and communicate with them in effective ways and you your work your company and your other stakeholdersrsquo will all benefit
page 05
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
About the author
Wayne Dunn is President amp Founder of the CSR Training Institute and Professor of Practice in CSR at McGill Hersquos a Stanford Sloan Fellow with a MSc in Manage-ment from Stanford Business School He is a veteran of 20+ years of award winning global CSR and sustainability work spanning the globe and covering many industries and sectors including extensive work with Indigenous Peoples in Canada and globally
Hersquos also worked oil rigs prospecting diamond drilling logging commercial fishing heavy equipment operator truck driver and underwater logging done a couple of startups and too many other things to mention
His career and life has had big successes and spectacular failures and he hopes he has learned equally from both
To see other Thought pieces and articles by Wayne click heregtgtgt
To get updates and newsletters from Wayne Dunn and the CSR Training Institute click heregtgtgt
Click to Follow
Wayne Dunn
Do good work but donrsquot be a lsquodo gooderrsquo Your work and the good you do is important for sure But so are the interests of your com-pany Keep your work consciously aligned with the broader interests of your company
Always always keep the companyrsquos interests at the forefront Link your own job and goals to what is good for the company in other ways for example mitigating risk for the company
Lose that link and you are lost
Your company wants good work but not a do-gooder and the same applies to the stakeholders you are working with
4 Donrsquot be a lsquodo gooderrsquo Keep your organizationrsquos
interest paramount
5 Learn their language You will be much more effective at communicating with various internal stakeholder groups if you lsquolearn their languagersquo Hint Do-gooder language wonrsquot get you very far in the CFOrsquos office
By lsquodoingrsquo stakeholder engagement and CSR you can seem like an alien from another planet So learn enough about your colleaguersquos world and priorities to communicate with them in a way that they can hear and understand
page 04
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
These stories will not only help you to better communicate the value in your work to your colleagues they will also help you to under-stand your colleaguesrsquo interests better
6 Be passionate but not fanatical
Most of us working in CSR and stakeholder engagement are pas-sionate about our work But so too are many who work in other areas of your organization
Passion is a gift Cherish it Fanaticism is a curse Avoid it
It is perfectly fine to be passionate about your work and the impact it is having (both on and for stakeholders AND for shareholders) But donrsquot be fanatical about it Passionate is constructive Fanati-cal is destructive
This is a simple communication skill but often can be challenging to apply especially when projects and initiatives feel so important
Always remember that there is a fine line between passionate and fanatical and stay on the constructive side of the line
7 Assertive Humility Humble AND assertive
Temper all internal stakeholder engagement with assertive humility Wersquove all seen do-gooders that come across as lsquoholier than thoursquo It is a turn-off
Wersquove also seen the meek and mild who struggle to make a point but fail to communicate effectively
The work you are doing is important Very important So is the work that others in your company are doing Recognize both of these realities
Remember ndash internal stakeholders are key to the success of your work
Do not assume that they are automatically on your side Invest time in under-standing them and their interests and in explaining how and why your success supports their success
Learn to engage and communicate with them in effective ways and you your work your company and your other stakeholdersrsquo will all benefit
page 05
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
About the author
Wayne Dunn is President amp Founder of the CSR Training Institute and Professor of Practice in CSR at McGill Hersquos a Stanford Sloan Fellow with a MSc in Manage-ment from Stanford Business School He is a veteran of 20+ years of award winning global CSR and sustainability work spanning the globe and covering many industries and sectors including extensive work with Indigenous Peoples in Canada and globally
Hersquos also worked oil rigs prospecting diamond drilling logging commercial fishing heavy equipment operator truck driver and underwater logging done a couple of startups and too many other things to mention
His career and life has had big successes and spectacular failures and he hopes he has learned equally from both
To see other Thought pieces and articles by Wayne click heregtgtgt
To get updates and newsletters from Wayne Dunn and the CSR Training Institute click heregtgtgt
Click to Follow
Wayne Dunn
7 Assertive Humility Humble AND assertive
Temper all internal stakeholder engagement with assertive humility Wersquove all seen do-gooders that come across as lsquoholier than thoursquo It is a turn-off
Wersquove also seen the meek and mild who struggle to make a point but fail to communicate effectively
The work you are doing is important Very important So is the work that others in your company are doing Recognize both of these realities
Remember ndash internal stakeholders are key to the success of your work
Do not assume that they are automatically on your side Invest time in under-standing them and their interests and in explaining how and why your success supports their success
Learn to engage and communicate with them in effective ways and you your work your company and your other stakeholdersrsquo will all benefit
page 05
Seven steps for engaging internal stakeholders
About the author
Wayne Dunn is President amp Founder of the CSR Training Institute and Professor of Practice in CSR at McGill Hersquos a Stanford Sloan Fellow with a MSc in Manage-ment from Stanford Business School He is a veteran of 20+ years of award winning global CSR and sustainability work spanning the globe and covering many industries and sectors including extensive work with Indigenous Peoples in Canada and globally
Hersquos also worked oil rigs prospecting diamond drilling logging commercial fishing heavy equipment operator truck driver and underwater logging done a couple of startups and too many other things to mention
His career and life has had big successes and spectacular failures and he hopes he has learned equally from both
To see other Thought pieces and articles by Wayne click heregtgtgt
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Wayne Dunn
