I have heard all of the excuses.

“They don’t know enough about the substance of the issues to provide input.”

“They don’t really care.”

“We already know what they think.”

Wrong, Wrong, and Wrong.

There are many different categories of stakeholders.  They could be customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, community members, and more.  If someone “feels” that they have a “stake” in your organization’s future – then you should provide them with the opportunity for input into major decisions – certainly this includes your strategic planning efforts.

Involving stakeholders is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.

For sure, not everyone will have great ideas – but the same can be said about “senior” people.  And sometimes brilliant ideas will come from voices you would least suspect.

You might think that people do not care, but you could be shocked at how much more engaged they can become when they are asked to participate in meaningful ways.

And what if you actually do not learn anything new when you cast the net widely for input?  At least you have respected the role of the stakeholders in the process and – here is an important learning – the support and participation of all stakeholder groups is usually vital to the implementation success of any decision.  They are more likely to be actively supportive if they were involved.

Once involved, some people will give their heart and soul to make an effort successful.  An organization I know of once asked line staff to elect three representatives to the strategic planning committee.  After every meeting the reps held town halls with all employees to explain what was happening and ask for input.  By the end of the process, there was more than “buy-in,” there was active, enthusiastic participation in making sure the strategy was successful.

A culture of meaningful involvement of stakeholders on a continual basis – not just episodic – can be transformational for an organization.

We all know how important it is to have strong relationships with our stakeholders, whether they are donors, board members, volunteers, alumni, people who use our services, staff, community leaders, etc.  Nonprofits do not have “shareholders” as owners.  But the closest thing we have to “owners” are our stakeholders – and we owe it to them to keep them updated on what we are doing and to regularly get their input on our activities.

And this should not just happen every three – five years when you are doing your new strategic plan.  It should be an ongoing, regular process.  You don’t have to wait until it is strategy time to do a survey, hold a town hall, run some focus groups, or have some individual meetings to share what is going on and ask for input.

I know one CEO who makes it a point every week to have at least one lunch/coffee with one or more stakeholders.  Taking this personal time means the world to people.

Who are the most neglected stakeholders?  I would be interested in your nominations, but I find that it is often past board members.  They finish their term and we don’t know what to do with them.  How about asking them out to coffee every now and then?  If you have a national board and that is unrealistic, then maybe you do a special email message just to past board members two or three times a year – and not just when you are ready to ask them for money.

Our stakeholders are our core.  We could not exist without them.  And some day you are going to need them more than you realize.  I say it’s time to put stakeholders on the “A” list.

Sometimes compromise is necessary.

If a group can’t reach collaborative consensus then you have to move to voting, where different factions give up something they want in order to make the result the least distasteful option available – that will get the required votes.  The results are quite sub-optimal and, by the way, this describes our current situation (for years) in the US Congress (I’ll stop; both parties are totally at fault).

The most famous story of how distasteful compromise can be is when King Solomon was petitioned by two women who both claimed an infant to be their own.  His judgment was to cut the baby in two and give a half to each woman.  The real mother recoiled and said the other woman could keep the baby.  And this is how the very wise Solomon determined the child’s real mother.

Don’t compromise on strategy.  No one wants half a baby.

Don’t be satisfied with a watered down version of what you really want – of the future that inspires you.  You can’t go two places at the same time.  Give your strategic planning committee the time to work through the options and ultimately join hands to support a clear future strategy.  Yes – you may even need to bring in an outside facilitator to navigate through such a situation.  But don’t take the easy route of agreeing to something that no one vehemently objects to but neither will anyone enthusiastically support.

Search your hearts for the dreams of what you really want, share these with one another, and then work toward a consensus vision and strategy that everyone can enthusiastically support.  You will engage the future much more effectively and make even more of a Mission Impact.

“We already know what they think.”

“We just don’t have the time.”

“Huh?  Why would we do that?”

We use the term “stakeholders” to refer to any person inside or outside of the organization who feels they have a “stake” or part ownership of the organization. People who feel this ownership can be vital to a strategy process:

*They are a source of valuable ideas on how to guide the future of the organization.

*If involved early on, they can be extremely valuable in the implementation phase of the strategy – whether that’s raising money, promoting awareness, or recruiting volunteers.

*It’s their organization too.  The Board and Staff represent the interests of all stakeholders, and there is no better way to represent their interests than by inviting involvement.

Stakeholders can include donors, staff, volunteers, clients, potential collaborators, community leaders, and more.  Each organization’s list of key stakeholders is unique.

It is ideal to have representatives of various stakeholder groups actually participate as full members of the strategy development group that does the bulk of the strategy work.  In addition, stakeholders can provide input through interviews, focus groups, town hall meetings, surveys, etc.  The key is to provide opportunities which feel meaningful and to actually use the input you receive in the strategy process.

A much larger point about involving stakeholders is that is not just something that should be done every five years when you are creating a new strategy.  Stakeholder involvement is something that organizations should do systematically all through the year.  We really need to think of stakeholders as “co-owners” and to give them the opportunities to meaningfully participate in their organization.  It’s the right thing to do and it’s the smart thing to do.