Boréalis

The importance of environmental justice communities in stakeholder engagement strategies

Christine Crowe — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 12:50:16 +0000

Today, environmental and social justice issues are inescapable, and projects requiring infrastructure development can no longer ignore groups such as environmental justice communities, that are at risk of discrimination. Strategic planning to engage their stakeholders must, more than ever, take environmental justice into account.

What is environmental justice?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines environmental justice as “the fair treatment and meaningful participation of all people, regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, in the development, implementation, and enforcement of laws, regulations, and policies that affect the environment.”

Through environmental justice, all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income, should have equal access to a healthy environment, and equal protection from harm. This is because historically, low-income and minority communities (communities of color, indigenous peoples, etc.) have been disproportionately affected by pollution and other environmental hazards.

How are environmental justice communities defined?

Beyond the above global definition, however, there are disparities in how ej communities are named and defined.

Efforts to do so have been made. In the United States, to help identify communities living with environmental injustices, the EPA launched the EJScreen in 2015, a an environmental justice mapping and screening tool based on environmental socioeconomic and demographic indicators.

But not all states are taking the same approach. While the concept of environmental justice is often used in legislative contexts, the vocabulary chosen to refer to communities affected by it and the criteria for doing so vary widely from place to place.

California, for example, which also has its own environmental health screening tool, the CalEnviroScreen (CES), refers to “disadvantaged communities,” while New Jersey refers to “overburdened communities. In Massachusetts, “environmental justice populations” must meet one of four criteria, but in New Jersey, communities must meet all three criteria: low income rates, demographic distribution, and English language proficiency.

Such inconsistency can cause headaches for businesses, and certainly complicates the task of legal professionals, in litigation cases, for example.

And while it seems desirable that discussions on the definition of “environmental justice communities” continue, Byron Chan, senior counsel at Earthjustice, cautions that “defining a term limits it rather than addressing the breadth of what constitutes an environmental justice community. These very clear thresholds are ultimately very arbitrary and do not take into account the complexity of what constitutes an environmental justice community.

How can environmental justice communities influence the process and outcomes of infrastructure projects?

In projects involving the creation of infrastructure, environmental justice issues can arise at every stage.

Site Selection

At this early stage, projects may choose to locate in an area with minimal environmental impacts and minimal impacts on the surrounding population. But they may also decide to locate in a sensitive area, with a commitment to reverse the trend, hand in hand with the people involved.

Planning and design

Conscientious developers should consider the needs and concerns of the community on site, including public transportation, housing, and protection of cultural and natural resources.

Implementation

During the construction phase of the project, environmental justice can be related to issues of reducing GHG and other harmful emissions from construction equipment, reducing the amount of waste generated, and even excessive noise from the construction site.

Finally, monitoring and enforcement of environmental regulations during and after construction may also be influenced by environmental justice considerations. For example, the project may need to provide sufficient resources to ensure that regulations are met and the community is protected.

Why are EJ communities important to your stakeholder engagement strategy?

Part of the importance that is given to EJ communities is for legal and incentive reasons.

For example, in the United States, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an independent agency responsible for regulating interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil, has been increasingly asked in recent years to consider environmental justice issues in its decision-making processes.

In 2020, FERC issued an order recognizing the importance of environmental justice in its decision-making, stating that the agency will “consider the environmental justice effects of its decisions in a more systematic and transparent manner.” This includes a commitment to work with environmental justice communities and to consider the cumulative effects of multiple energy infrastructure projects in a given area.

Also in the U.S., Justice40, a Biden administration initiative that comes directly from the White House, seeks to address environmental injustices by prioritizing the needs and concerns of marginalized communities and ensuring that they benefit from the transition to a clean energy economy. With this program, the government has set a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments will benefit disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and suffering because of pollution. To take advantage of this initiative, organizations have a vested interest in ensuring that they capture the concerns of affected communities.

Increasingly, regulators and funders are taking environmental justice into account, forcing companies to do so as well.

Organizations that can demonstrate higher level of commitment toward engaging with stakeholders located in environmental justice area bay be favoured by funders and legislators when it comes down to attributing siting permits.

How can effective stakeholder engagement in an infrastructure project both support environmental justice and improve project outcomes?

Infrastructure projects can have a significant impact on the environment, including on vulnerable communities. The implementation phase of these projects therefore raises environmental justice issues and challenges, particularly when affected communities are not sufficiently involved in the decision-making process. Stakeholder engagement therefore becomes an essential element of infrastructure development, as it can help mitigate these issues and challenges, and contribute to the success of the project.

In practice, this requires project leaders to :

knowing the historical issues that have affected communities in the past, those among them that still affect them, and the new challenges they face. This includes, for example, recognizing the importance of paying more attention to the engagement of indigenous peoples through the recognition of past injustices and abuses.
knowing the details of the current situation of the communities: demographics, language and means of communication, most influential community organizations, etc. A social media charm campaign may not work if the community has limited access to the Internet.
Recognize that environmental justice communities may have different needs and interests than other communities around the project, and that their voices and concerns may require different tactics and tools to be heard.
be able to demonstrate to regulators and investors that they are aware of dealing with environmental justice communities, and that they are taking steps to ensure that they are involved in the project.

What kind of tool can facilitate engagement in environmental justice areas?

Borealis, our stakeholder management software, is designed to support organizations in their engagement efforts.

It allows you to, among other things, :

Centralize and systematize the collection of all types of data, using the Stakeholder Engagement Module
Structure the information obtained and make it easily accessible to all concerned.
Improve the planning of stakeholder engagement activities and the allocation of required resources.
Provide members of disadvantaged communities with an anonymous space to voice their concerns.
Provide regulators and investors with detailed reports of efforts to include these communities in the project.

Moreover, Borealis lets you add shape files from public sources like the Climate and Economic Justice Screening tool into the platform. This is particularly useful when overlapping with project design maps or corporate assets to understand where those areas are in relation to your project or quickly know which stakeholders from EJ communities need to be part of your engagement plans.

Effective stakeholder engagement is critical to mitigating environmental justice issues and challenges in the implementation of an infrastructure project. In disadvantaged areas, stakeholder engagement can strengthen community participation, foster decision-making, promote transparency and accountability, improve project design and implementation, and encourage partnerships and relationships.

By involving their stakeholders in their project, companies can better understand the concerns and needs of communities and work to address them. This can lead to better project outcomes that reflect community needs and values, and ultimately to more equitable and sustainable infrastructure development.

The story of EJ

The concept of environmental justice was born in the United States in the late 1970s. Its origin is associated with two events in particular that acted as a kind of scout for collective consciousness. In 1968, the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike for fair pay and better working conditions led to the first national mobilization against environmental injustice. Then, in 1979, in Houston, Texas, a group of African-American homeowners filed a class action lawsuit against a corporation to prevent the construction of a landfill within 1,000 feet of a public school and 2 miles from six schools. The lawsuit was the first of its kind in the United States to challenge environmental discrimination in the siting of waste facilities under civil rights laws. And although the plaintiffs were unsuccessful, the event was a precursor to environmental justice.

Data Management Maturity Level for Stakeholder Engagement

Louis Lieutenant — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 12:21:12 +0000

Stakeholder engagement professionals are always looking to put stakeholder data to better use. Whether you work in energy, oil & gas, mining, transportation, retail, government or healthcare, the bottom-line need is similar across the board: All companies, regardless of sector, need to closely monitor and measure the success of their stakeholder engagement activities.

What does differ is their ability to do so, based on the organization’s processes and tools for managing stakeholder data. In other words, based on their stakeholder data management maturity level.

This article looks at what stakeholder data management maturity level means, why it’s important to do a data management assessment of maturity level, and how you can improve your data maturity to improve stakeholder engagement outcomes.

In this article:

What Is Data Management Maturity Level?
Why Is It Important to Assess Data Management Maturity Level?
What Are the 4 Data Management Maturity Levels in Stakeholder Engagement?
Stakeholder Data Management Assessment – Measuring Your Organization’s Data Management Maturity
How Can Improving Data Management Maturity Improve Stakeholder Engagement Outcomes?
Improving Your Stakeholder Engagement Data Management Maturity Level – Where to Go From Here?

What Is Data Management Maturity Level?

First, let’s look at what “maturity” means for an organization:

“Maturity is a measurement of an organization’s ability to undertake continuous improvement in a particular discipline.”

For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on the discipline of data management in stakeholder engagement.

There are host of data management maturity models out there that organizations can use to take a systematic approach to conducting a data management assessment, such as CMMI. These and other maturity models guide organizations towards best practices, optimize processes, and empower continuous improvement.

Maturity models are commonly used in project management, information security, software development, and data management – including stakeholder engagement data management.

Why Is It Important to Assess Data Management Maturity Level?

As the saying goes: What gets measured gets improved.” Knowing where you currently stand – and where you want to go – will allow you to create the appropriate plan to improve your stakeholder data management.

Get in touch with a Borealis stakeholder engagement expert to learn how our software can support your organization’s stakeholder data management processes.

What Are the 4 Data Management Maturity Levels in Stakeholder Engagement?

Level 1 – Ground Level: No Digital Trail

Organizations at the first level of data management maturity for stakeholder engagement are working mostly with paper. Any information stored on computers is done so in an unstructured way, which means minimal paper trail or digital records.

Instead, the bulk of strategic stakeholder engagement information is stored in people’s heads. There’s little-to-no institutional memory; as staff members come and go, so does important information.

Level 1 data maturity in stakeholder engagement means there’s no sure way to trace what was said, or what agreements were reached during public consultations or meetings. It also typically means poor handling of grievances and complaints, so they are more likely to escalate.

Still at the basic level of stakeholder engagement?

Level 2 – Ad Hoc Level: Focus on Data Collection

Organizations at the second level of data management maturity for stakeholder engagement are collecting and recording data, but information is not centralized or easily accessible. All this information is being managed in an uncoordinated manner, often by one or two departments.

Data may exist in different formats (Excel, Word, Access, SharePoint, emails, text messages, photos, PDFs, notebooks, and more), with spreadsheets typically being the most “advanced” approach at this level.

Still using spreadsheets to
manage stakeholder data?

Level 3 – Operational Level: Operation & Project-Focused with Lagging Indicators

Organizations at the third level of data management maturity for stakeholder engagement have a defined approach with some business processes to provide guidance.

At this level, the focus of stakeholder data management is on historical data and regulatory compliance. Teams often use trailing performance indicators to monitor activities and maintain a general overview of the situation.

However, there is often a disconnect in reporting from site to site, with different sites using different systems to report on stakeholder engagement activities. Some organizations at this stage may use a customized CRM or try to build an in-house system, though these systems rarely meet all business needs.

As a result, users rarely fully adopt the system and often end up using a combination of systems and tools, defeating the goal of centralizing stakeholder data.

Tired of being limited by your current system
for managing stakeholder data?

Level 4 – Strategic Level: Strategic Management & Performance

Organizations at the fourth level of data management maturity for stakeholder engagement commonly use a fit-for-purpose stakeholder relationship management (SRM) system that’s implemented corporate-wide across projects and departments.

The organization uses the system to track leading social performance indicators, and management regularly consults the system’s stakeholder data to strengthen strategic decision-making.

Stakeholder engagement plans are no longer static documents, but dynamically evolving tools based on the progress of engagement activities and changes in the stakeholder landscape.

If your current stakeholder data management system is not meeting all your needs, request
a demo to see how.

Stakeholder Data Management Assessment – Measuring Your Organization’s Data Management Maturity

Like any other improvement process, identifying your starting point is crucial. According to the data management maturity model you’re using, you can start by asking a few simple questions:

Are you keeping track of your social and environmental performance activities?
Are there processes in place to help you see the big picture?
Are you starting from scratch?

Below is a simple diagnostic tool our team has developed to allow stakeholder engagement professionals benchmark their organization’s stakeholder data management maturity.

How Can Improving Data Management Maturity Improve Stakeholder Engagement Outcomes?

Improving stakeholder data management maturity means:

More complete stakeholder data with fewer information gaps, and therefore less stakeholder fatigue and greater trust
Less information silos, meaning more accurate stakeholder mapping and better collaboration across different teams engaging with stakeholders
Clearer view of the stakeholder landscape and your progress in hitting key stakeholder engagement milestones
More informed decision-making, such as knowing exactly what resources to invest, when and where
Better reporting and easier compliance with key lenders and regulatory agencies

The Four Maturity Levels of Stakeholder Data Management: A fictional (but accurate) account of the day-to-day challenges of a stakeholder engagement team leader based on the organization’s maturity level.

Improving Your Stakeholder Engagement Data Management Maturity Level – Where to Go From Here?

All of our customers, regardless of industry or role – community engagement, public affairs & government relations, asset & land management, or environmental & social performance – have similar objectives for stakeholder engagement. They need to ensure their projects are socially accepted, and they strive to create genuine shared value.

To that end, the information being collected by their stakeholder engagement teams is of immense strategic value – but only if it’s reliable, presented in a coherent manner, and available to decision makers at the right time.

At Borealis, we help organizations improve their data management maturity level to ensure successful stakeholder engagement and project outcomes. Our fit-for-purpose stakeholder relationship management software can be used by organizations at any stakeholder engagement data maturity level. Its flexible, user-friendly features make it easy for teams to gradually and continuously improve their maturity level over time, at their own pace.

Regardless of where your organization is today in terms of stakeholder data maturity, Borealis SRM software will let you quickly retrieve the accurate and insightful data you need to manage social risks and improve stakeholder outcomes.

Contact us today to learn how our Borealis software can support the success of your projects.

Why and how to measure stakeholder engagement

Justin Lagac — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 15:06:49 +0000

Stakeholder capitalism has witnessed a marked rise recently. This has been largely driven by a growing awareness of environmental issues, growing global inequality, and a sense of collective vulnerability triggered by COVID—a simple virus that singlehandedly wreaked havoc on global business activities for several financial quarters.

In light of this growing awareness, businesses are now much less inclined to view stakeholder engagement as an “optional” investment. Gone are the days of downplaying stakeholder influence on the success—or failure—of projects and business activities. If anything, stakeholder influence is on the rise.

Organizations that implement a stakeholder management system face a major challenge, however: How can they measure the intensity and quality of this engagement?

Why is it important to measure stakeholder engagement?

To improve engagement strategies: The data collected on stakeholders provides valuable insights that can guide the company toward the best engagement strategies to put in place, based on the unique characteristics of specific stakeholders or stakeholder groups.

To comply with regulations: Large-scale projects such as those in oil & gas and renewables are subject to innumerable laws and regulations. Being able to measure stakeholder engagement is therefore a must. Energy companies are required to report to the government bodies that monitor them, particularly on issues like social acceptance.

To optimize the allocation of resources: Having meaningful data on shifts in stakeholder sentiment lets you measure the success of initiatives and ensure your investments are being directed in the right places.

How to measure stakeholder engagement?

A number of factors can make it challenging to measure stakeholder engagement:

The intangible nature of some of the information gathered (favourable or hostile feelings toward the project)
The number and variety of points of contact between the organization and its stakeholders
The fact that information is often kept in silos

Or so it might seem. With the right tools and knowledge, you can easily measure stakeholder engagement and gain incredibly valuable insights.

The first step is to put in place a rigorous evaluation system that involves the regular measurement and accurate recording of results, such as in a dashboard, for example. This information will let you identify trends and adjust course if needed.

You also need to ensure that data of all types is easily accessible to everyone concerned. This is the only way to ensure that everyone who needs to be informed remains fully up to date on a dossier’s progress—regardless of who was in the discussion or meeting (or who carried out a given activity) with one or more stakeholders.

Next, you have to determine your performance indicators (KPIs). To do that, you need to ask the right questions:

What is the purpose of these indicators? Who or what are they intended for? What decisions should they inform?
What is the nature of the desired information? Is it to evaluate processes or outcomes? To highlight the positive or the negative?
What resources are available to measure these indicators? Do we have sufficient time, money, expertise, tools, etc.?

Your answers to these questions must lead to clear and precise objectives which will serve as your reference points, and to the definition of observable and quantifiable indicators.

Another aspect to keep in mind is the fact that a Community Relations Manager and a VP of Public Affairs do not face the same challenges. How they measure stakeholder engagement efforts, the types of indicators they need and how they will implement them will differ based on the targeted stakeholder groups.

Ready to see how our solution can help you define and track these indicators?

Here are some examples of questions that are likely to arise, along with potentially relevant indicators, depending on whether you’re dealing with community relations, public and governmental affairs, or land management.

How to measure stakeholder engagement activities with communities

The first thing organizations will want to measure is the actual engagement of stakeholders in their project. This can be done calculating the number of communications (face-to-face conversations, emails, phone calls, meetings, etc.) that took place with each stakeholder group over a given period.

But beyond this basic data, other questions can shed light on the engagement of community stakeholders.

How is stakeholder position changing?

Stakeholder sentiments or positions are other important factors to monitor. By systematically categorizing interactions with stakeholders based on clear and precise criteria—such as Positive, Neutral, Negative—you can take your stakeholder pulse at any given moment. It also lets you assess changes in stakeholder sentiment over time so that you can measure the level of success of your strategic activities.

Are grievance management processes working optimally?

It is of paramount importance to examine stakeholder grievances and claims to mitigate their associated risks. You need to regularly measure things like:

Where exactly grievances are coming from?
Are grievances on the rise?
Are our grievance resolution mechanisms working well?
Do they need to be improved to reduce the time between when we receive a grievance and when we resolve it?

Grievances should never escalate into conflicts. Download our white paper on how to handle grievances.

What is the real importance of a given issue?

Holding a public consultation can be an easy to know if a certain issue really stands out for a given stakeholder group. But what about when you want to consider all of your engagement strategies and determine the priority issue for an entire community or region?

To gather this type of information, you need to have a consistent method for identifying and naming issues, regardless of who raises them or through what channel of communication.

Are all stakeholder groups being properly targeted?

This indicator can sometimes be necessary for obtaining a permit. But it can also tell the community relations team if there are any “blind spots” that need to be addressed before moving forward with the next stage of a project.

A good practice is to establish an objective along the lines of: “Minimum number of individuals belonging to a First Nation to contact.” That said, you also need to be able to quickly check if this target number has been hit.

Setting measurement indicators for public affairs and government relation

Public policies have the power to significantly influence a project on many levels: financial, logistical, marketing, etc. If organizations want to help shape government decisions, they need to achieve a sufficient level of influence.

A growing number of organizations strive to quantify the financial impacts of public sector policies and regulations. Fortunately, the tools for quantifying these impacts are becoming more refined.

But even if you’re not yet at the quantitative point, there are a number of questions you can ask to measure the qualitative impacts of your relations with public sector actors—or to analyze your lobbying expenditures.

How many people did we meet at a major event?

Comparing the number of important people met at various events (conferences, economic summits, business trips, etc.) lets you evaluate the relevance of participating in such events. It also helps you determine the effectiveness of your strategy for each one. Link the number of participants to the issues discussed, and you get an even more useful portrait for assessing the relevance of an event.

How many elected officials were contacted for a particular topic or issue?

The number of elected officials or influential people approached to discuss an issue can indicate whether sufficient efforts are being made to resolve it. The value of lobbying is not simply to make your voice heard; it can also nurture relationships with valuable representatives—allies whose proximity can pay off in more ways than one. For example, by allowing you to quickly resolve emerging problems before they become more widespread and costly.

How many lobbying activities have been carried out?

Being able to track the number of lobbying activities carried out and their cost is essential. This can be done in various ways, such as by drafting quarterly activity reports. This is key, whether you want to ensure the adequate allocation of resources or demonstrate the value of the work being done by the public relations team.

What impact did a given press conference have on the press and on the public?

How many journalists were invited to the conference?
How many actually showed up?
How many times was the topic subsequently mentioned in the media?
What is the public saying about it on social media? Anything?
How much chatter is the topic creating?

All these impacts need to be measured.

How to measure stakeholder management efforts in infrastructure projects

Projects that involve land use planning or infrastructure construction need to consider a wide range of stakeholders. These include the people who will be directly affected by the work, but also local government agencies, natural resource developers, environmental groups, tourist organizations, and farmers, just to name a few.

Close and regular monitoring of stakeholder engagement data can significantly impact when you break ground or whether you can easily carry out preventive maintenance work on assets so that more serious repairs can be avoided down the road.

Upstream of a project, you’ll want to know how many people with access conditions to their land you need to contact. This will be one of your key objectives for properly managing this group of stakeholders. With regular measurement, you can track the progress of this mandate by answering the question: “How many people with access conditions to their land have we contacted so far?”

What will be the total dollar value in compensation for a hypothetical route?

As you hold discussions with the affected owners, you need to track the budget that has been set aside for acquiring real estate.

How many grievances were there for a given period?

Having access to this information is essential for linking grievances to activities. If, for example, the number of grievances or issues jumps up every time a certain contractor carries out work, it would make sense to sit down with him to discuss what measures need to be taken to reduce inconvenience to stakeholders.

What is the dollar value of commitments made to landowners for a given stretch of linear infrastructure?

This indicator lets you monitor the amount of funding to anticipate for maintenance activities. It can also be used to compare various scenarios.

Using the right tools to facilitate measuring stakeholder engagemen

Borealis software for stakeholder management is more than just a powerful tool for organizing data stemming from your engagement activities. Its user-friendly reporting features also make it easy to take comparative measurements.

Borealis helps you determine the right engagement strategies for various stakeholder groups. It also flags emerging problems and helps you reduce response times. It facilitates accountability and makes it much easier to monitor the myriad of factors involved in the sound and controlled management of stakeholders.

4 key takeaways

All stakeholder engagement plans should include a rigorous evaluation process.
This evaluation exercise can be difficult, but it’s essential.
Quantifiable indicators must be linked to specific objectives.
The reporting functions in Borealis software simplify all aspects of stakeholder engagement, including measuring the success of these effort

What gets measured gets improved

Contact us to see how Borealis software can help your organization measure stakeholder management efforts.

How to Create a Stakeholder Engagement Plan

Francis Dupont — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 13:10:31 +0000

When it comes to effective on-site and remote project management, one key aspect is an effective communication plan. Though planning is daunting, it can make the difference between your project’s success and failure. It is especially critical when your project impacts many stakeholders—who may have positive or negative feelings about your project.

It’s what makes stakeholder engagement planning so essential. A stakeholder engagement plan considers every individual, organization, business, family, governmental institution, indigenous group, piece of land, tree, crop, animal, that will be affected by the scope of your project. That may sound like a lot of stakeholders, but some projects do involve that level of detail.

While communities are different everywhere, there’s one thing that’s common to all: if you voluntarily keep them out of the decision process, refuse to inform them of plans, and let misinformation spread, it’s only a matter of time until you lose social acceptance. Improving community relations practices helps ensure stakeholders view your project positively.

Planning stakeholder engagement won’t guarantee your social license to operate, but it will give you a tremendous head start. Of course, you can’t plan it all. A natural disaster could strike, or funding could fall through. There’s a lot beyond your control. Fortunately, managing unplanned crises and events will be much easier if you have a good stakeholder engagement plan.

What is a Stakeholder Engagement Plan?

A stakeholder engagement plan is all about strategic communication. It is a step-by-step process outlining how your organization will communicate with your stakeholders to increase the likelihood of positive project outcomes.

It is a written document that identifies key stakeholders and outlines your approach to interacting and communicating with them. It allows your project manager to devise a method to manage expectations and deliver the right information to the right people at the right time.

A stakeholder engagement plan is closely linked to stakeholder analysis. They both aim to help you decide which types of communication and messaging will be most successful. This can help you minimize negative perceptions, amplify positive impacts, and resolve conflicts before they escalate.

How to prepare a Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP)?

Stakeholders have the power to influence your project, so a proactive communication strategy will help deliver positive project outcomes. Completing your stakeholder engagement plan before your project kickoff is the best practice. The plan provides structure, clarity and timeliness to your communications and engagement. Your initial plan will help you start, but it is a starting point. As the project evolves, you’ll need to update your plan frequently.

Of course, no two projects are alike. Each project has several engagement plans open at the same time. Each will address different groups of stakeholders and different aspects of the project. You’ll constantly need to evaluate communication strategies to consult with diverse groups to gain and maintain their support to increase the likelihood of a successful project.

Our experience has proven that a good stakeholder engagement plan consists of should 12 sections.

1. Areas of influence

This first section provides a geospatial understanding of the areas impacted by the project. It also determines the level of engagement according to each zone. For example, let’s say that your project has four zones, which you’ll find on the following map:

Zone 1: Significant

This zone is the closest to the project site and will frequently impact stakeholders, potentially daily.

Zone 2: Moderate

Zone 2 stakeholders often deal with the project. Impacts are not as significant as in Zone 1, but they are still important.

Zone 3: Minor

The stakeholder’s interactions with the project are limited or restricted to a specific project phase.

Zone 4: Negligible

Interactions could occur on an incidental or occasional basis with stakeholders in this zone, and impacts are either very limited or nonexistent. Here’s how one could map the zones:

It’s a good idea to prepare the first version of the map before implementing the engagement plan. Remember that you’ll readjust zones as the project evolves through its lifespan

2. Regulations and requirements

Most development projects are required to respect many regulations and requirements. Organizations must ensure compliance and conformity throughout the project. A stakeholder engagement plan is a great place to gather this information. Here’s a list of requirements and regulations that, if applicable to your project, you must comply with:

INTERNAL

Code of business conduct and ethics
Anti-bribery and corruption policies
Privacy policy
Risk management policy

EXTERNAL

Local, regional and national regulations
International standards

World Bank (IFC)
Free, prior and informed consent (FPIC)
Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI)
International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM)
Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI)

In some contexts, online engagement tools help you better map the current stakeholder landscape. This lets you leverage data to shape a more solid engagement strategy and be on top of what is happening. As conversations in the community occur, you’ll want to understand how people perceive your project.

However, effective engagement entails more than simply identifying stakeholders and letting them voice their concerns; it also requires taking the appropriate actions. And these actions must always be in line with the organization’s goals while respecting key stakeholder concerns.

Sooner or later, you’ll want to address the concerns raised online. You may wish to interact personally with critical stakeholders. You’ll also need to organize all interactions, problems, new issues, and stakeholder contacts in a central platform.

Also, you don’t want to open yourself to people trolling your online engagement platform and sowing confusion about your project. It’s important to consider appointing someone to moderate the information people are sharing online to avoid this risk.

3. Methodology

Choosing an effective methodology is essential, as it is the foundation of your plan. This step is where you detail the criteria for identifying and categorizing stakeholders for your engagement strategy. Every organization has its own internal matrix to categorize stakeholders. At Borealis, we like to divide them into four broad groups. Below are a few examples of each group:

Government Authorities

Local authorities
Ministries
Public advisory bodies

Advocacy Groups

Civil Society & Development Agencies
Environmental groups
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
Religious authorities

Affected Communities

Inhabitants of areas affected by the project
Representatives of affected people
Job seekers

Commercial Organizations

Local businesses
Local providers (services and products)
Associations
Unions

Stakeholder identification doesn’t end here. Further analysis is vital to ensure your plan is as complete as possible. Among other things, it’s important to identify vulnerable people.

Another critical aspect of the methodology is categorizing issues. Not all stakeholders will be affected by the same impacts, and classifying them according to the issue will simplify managing these various issues. Plus, you’ll easily identify which problems need your team’s attention. Categories may include social, health and safety, environment, economic, and security. These categories can also be divided into sub-categories to provide an extra level of clarification. For example, the environmental section could have “air quality” and “waste management” as sub-categories.

Learn how to implement a stakeholder engagement system

4. Project stakeholders

This section of your Stakeholder Engagement Plan is an extensive list of every group and sub-group you defined in your methodology. You’ll include details such as traditional and customary authorities, villages, etc. For longer lists like Project Affected People (PAP), you can add them in an appendix – as they will be quite long.

Identifying and categorizing your stakeholders is one thing but understanding them is different. Stakeholder mapping helps you understand each stakeholder according to parameters like influence/power capacity, network capacity, and interest level.

Sometimes, stakeholders with high interest have little to no influence among their peers. Of course, you’ll still need to engage with them, but you’ll want to spend much more time engaging with those stakeholders who have a lot of influence and who are interested in your project.

In some instances, you’ll want to reach out to stakeholders with high power capacity. Your initial stakeholder mapping will change and evolve as you learn more and as the situation changes.

Here’s an example of a stakeholder map:

5. Stakeholder Engagement activities

The “activities section” of your stakeholder engagement plan defines your communication strategies for each group you identified during your stakeholder analysis. In other words, this section is your communication strategy.

Activities included in this section of your plan include:

defining your audience
identifying communication tools, such as:
- public meetings
- email campaigns
- focus groups
- in-person visits
- conferences
- traditional mail
determining the frequency of your planned interactions and communications
outlining the tools you’ll use to efficiently implement your strategy to implement your strategy efficiently

It’s essential to keep in mind the project lifecycle as you plan communications, as some steps require more engagement than others. For example, during the construction phase, you might need to hold monthly focus groups with stakeholders from villages A and B.

Stakeholder engagement software with an Engagement Plan Feature can be of immense help. It allows teams to easily coordinate, prioritize and report on activities, demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements, visualize assets, hot spots and rising issues, and generate an institutional memory to empower future engagement efforts. The software allows you to use these valuable insights, not only for a specific project, but also to obtain a long-term view of your strategic stakeholder engagement.

By centralizing all this carefully collected data in a single platform, this valuable information will always be at your fingertips – and displayed in a meaningful way. And as we all know, having access to the right information at the right time is the key to good decision-making.

6. Stakeholder engagement plan matrix

Get ready for the biggest section of your plan! Now that we’ve identified who your stakeholders are and how you’ll reach them, this section of your stakeholder engagement plan will cover how to implement your strategy.

To understand this sample stakeholder engagement plan matrix, please refer to the stakeholder map in the methodology section, above. Once again, this matrix should separate each stakeholder group (Authorities, Affected communities, etc.) We’ve added a stakeholder for each quadrant in the following chart:

7. Timetable

This section will provide an overview of your communication strategy over time, for each project phase. You don’t need to go into too much detail. We recommend monthly intervals.

8. Resources and responsibilities

As you begin to coordinate activities, be sure to clearly outline each team member’s responsibilities. Who is responsible for what? Who will lead? What is the hierarchy for grievance escalation?

It’s good practice to create a detailed job description for each position, including the names of the people who are in charge. You can even add an organizational chart to provide a visual overview of roles. If your project involves external contractors or consultants, in addition to regular employees, make sure you indicate the nature of their role along with their position.

9. Grievance management

According to the IFC handbook, Stakeholder Engagement: A Good Practice Handbook for Companies Doing Business in Emerging Markets, companies should not only have a grievance mechanism process, but they should also put it in writing and publicize it, respond in a transparent and timely manner, and keep good records, and report back.

Stakeholders should be able to request and receive a clear definition of what constitutes a grievance and how it is managed, including an estimated resolution time. If you’d like to learn how to implement an effective grievance mechanism, this white paper explores the topic in-depth.

10. Monitoring and reporting

Congratulations! Your plan is almost complete. As you begin to interact with stakeholders, you’ll need to monitor and report on your engagement activities.

There are many ways to do this. Basic approaches typically involve using a combination of Excel spreadsheets, email and shared documents, etc. But since this patchwork of tools tends to compromise data security and traceability, they’re inefficient for monitoring and reporting purposes. That’s why experienced stakeholder engagement teams will opt for the added productivity and transparency that comes with using a stakeholder relationship management system (SRM).

There are many advantages to using an SRM to manage stakeholder engagement. First, all data is centralized in the same place – a huge time saver when you’re looking for specific information from an interaction that took place two years ago.

Some systems also offer advanced analytical tools to help you quickly compile reports and extract meaningful insights from your data. In addition to knowing how many grievances you’ve had over the past 18 months, you can access more details like areas, subject, and resolution time in just a few clicks. Or generate a monthly report of your team’s engagements with trends in just a few clicks. The right system will let you do all that and much more.

And that’s what Borealis stakeholder engagement software offers. We go beyond planning by providing the software that lets you break your engagement plan down into a series of actionable activities and assign tasks to your team. The Stakeholder Engagement Plan feature It gives you a real-time view of your progress as the project unfolds which allows you to quickly adjust course as needed. Proper planning will help you minimize oversights, eliminate duplicate efforts, and simplify the reporting process.

If you’d like to know more about our system and how it facilitates the monitoring and reporting of your stakeholder engagement activities, contact us. We’ll be happy to discuss how Borealis software can support your project.

11. Budget

You’ll also need to monitor the financial aspects of your stakeholder engagement activities. Make sure to enter as much detail into your budget as you can. Also, remember to review your budget often.

12. Appendix

The Appendix is where you’ll include any documents such as your list of PAP, grievance form templates, public consultation attendance sheet template, etc. You may also find it helpful to link to any other documents that might be relevant to your stakeholder engagement plan.

We hope these tips will facilitate your work and provide a valuable framework for building a solid stakeholder engagement plan!

Importance of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan

Stakeholders have tremendous sway over the project’s success. A stakeholder engagement plan is the foundation for achieving a proactive communication strategy. It is a significant undertaking. Each stakeholder has varying needs and wants. Your plan should outline the communication and consultation requirements of each person (or group of people) impacted by your project.

We’re here to support you with the software you need to create an effective plan. But, we’re about more than software. We’re here to become a trusted partner, providing the training and advice that you need to help support your projects.

Get started with Borealis stakeholder engagement software today!

What you need to know about the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard

Christine Crowe — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 14:01:00 +0000

For businesses that seek to build trusted relationships, stakeholder engagement is a never-ending cycle. To improve outcomes, strategies and processes must be continually refined over time. Fortunately, organizations can turn to a number of frameworks and best practices to guide their efforts. One such framework is the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (SES) 2015.

What is the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard?

AA1000 was developed by AccountAbility, a global consulting and standards firm that helps organizations address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges to promote responsible business practices and improve performance.

AA1000 SES is a freely available, globally recognized standard that defines a series of requirements and best practices for high-quality stakeholder engagement. It is the most widely adopted stakeholder engagement standard worldwide.

According to AccountAbility, AA1000 SES:

Provides a simple, relevant, and practical framework to implement high-quality stakeholder engagement.
Outlines how to rethink an organization’s approach to engagement by empowering stakeholders as active contributors to value creation.
Describes how to integrate stakeholder engagement with an organization’s governance, strategy, and operations.

Source: AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (2015) © AccountAbility 2015

For complete details, you can download the AA1000 SES here.

Who is the AA1000 standard intended for?

AA1000 SES is written for stakeholder engagement professionals, (e.g., those working in community engagement, public affairs, government relations, land and asset management, environment and social performance, etc.), but it benefits everyone involved in the engagement process.

AA1000 is meant to be used by organizations of any size, in any country, and any industry – it’s not just for large organizations or businesses!

The AA1000 standard can be applied to all types of stakeholder engagement: public or private, internal or external, project-based or ongoing.

Why should organizations adhere to the AA1000 SES?

Stakeholder engagement is essential to an organization’s success. Listening and responding to stakeholders promotes accountability and improves performance. But for stakeholder engagement to be effective it must be done strategically, for a clear purpose, to achieve specific outcomes.

The AA1000 standard takes guesswork out of the process. It helps organizations bypass the initial ‘trial and error’ phase as they figure out what works and what doesn’t. AA1000 SES provides simple guidelines to help organizations craft and implement a high-quality stakeholder engagement process that is based on established best practices.

Benefits of quality stakeholder engagement

High-quality stakeholder engagement can help an organization:

Build transparent, trust-based relationships with stakeholders.
Manage risk more effectively to safeguard reputation.
Learn from stakeholders, to promote innovation and achieve better outcomes.
See the bigger picture to better understand complex situations and cultural dynamics.
Create more equitable and sustainable social development by giving affected parties a voice at the table.
Pool resources to solve problems or achieve goals that couldn’t otherwise be met.
Educate and inform stakeholders, to influence their choices and actions.
More easily identify (and report on) material issues.
Secure social license to operate.

Implementing the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard

AA1000 SES provides guidance to help organizations integrate the standard into their core processes, define the criteria for stakeholder engagement, and establish an effective engagement process.

Source: AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (2015) © AccountAbility 2015

The outcomes of the stakeholder engagement process should be meaningful to the people involved, and must be communicated transparently. The organization should review these engagement outcomes and use the information to revise their processes for better performance.

Getting started with AA1000

The first steps in adopting AA1000 SES are commitment and integration. Organizations must commit to the AA1000 APS Principles and integrate stakeholder engagement into their core functions (organisational governance, strategy and operations).

The 3 principles of accountability

The AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard recognizes 3 key principles of accountability: inclusivity, materiality, and responsiveness. Together, these principles form the foundation for AA1000 SES and the series of AA1000 Standards.

Accountability Principles

Inclusivity – people should have a say in the decisions that impact on them.
Materiality – decision makers should identify and be clear about the issues that matter.
Responsiveness – organizations should act transparently on material issues.

Source: AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (2015) © AccountAbility 2015

Inclusivity

Inclusive organisations hold themselves accountable to their stakeholders and actively seek their stakeholders’ participation at all levels to achieve better outcomes.

Inclusive stakeholder engagement considers the needs of everyone involved. In some cases, this may require interventions to remove cultural, social, political, or communication barriers that prevent people from participating meaningfully.

Inclusivity helps the organization understand diverse perspectives to establish a global view of the issues, which helps to determine materiality.

Materiality

Material issues are those that are most relevant and significant. Assessing materiality helps identify the issues which will have the greatest impact on the decisions, actions, and performance of the organization or its stakeholders. While different issues will be material to different stakeholders, the organization must weigh these competing interests and prioritize them accordingly.

AA1000 advises organizations to clearly identify the issues that matter most, and report openly to stakeholders about their performance on them.

Materiality helps to determine responsiveness, as material issues will compete for limited resources.

Responsiveness

Responsiveness is how an organization responds to issues. This can be evaluated through their decisions, actions, performance, and communications with stakeholders.

Organizations should act transparently on material issues and develop innovative, sustainable responses to address challenges that matter – not just now, but in the future.

Any organization that chooses to implement AA1000 must make a formal commitment to these principles. This might be done by issuing a policy statement, or by including the commitment in the organization’s mission or value statements.

Integrating AA1000 into core operations

Stakeholder engagement isn’t a stand-alone process. To be effective, AA1000 contends that stakeholder engagement should be fully integrated into an organization’s fundamental processes and culture. By doing so, engagement outcomes can be used to inform the decision-making process and improve strategic and operational outcomes.

AA1000 SES includes a number of recommendations to help organizations integrate stakeholder engagement into their governance, strategy and operations.

The AA1000 standard can also be used to support the stakeholder engagement requirements of many other standards, including the Global Reporting Initiative G4 and the ISO 26000 guidance on social responsibility.

Defining the stakeholder engagement process

To ensure successful engagement, AA1000 SES helps organizations clearly define the purpose, scope, and stakeholders that will be involved. This knowledge is used to inform strategies, choices, and day-to-day activities.

Source: AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (2015) © AccountAbility 2015

Purpose – Why is the organization engaging with stakeholders?

Before engagement begins, it’s important to think about why you need to engage and what you hope to achieve.

The purpose for engagement may be related to ongoing activities or focused on a specific project. An organization might need to address operational issues or determine which course of action will be most acceptable to the people who will be affected. In any case, building trust-based relationships with your stakeholders is essential.

AA1000 asserts that the purpose of engagement should be connected to the organization’s overall strategy. This purpose should be revised as needed, based on stakeholder feedback.

Scope – What issues should the organization engage on?

To determine the scope of engagement, you will need to define which material issues are relevant to your purpose. Which parts of the organization need to be involved? Does the purpose of the engagement affect the organization as a whole, or is it limited to a single region, activity, product, or team? Do you need to engage with stakeholders about a current issue, long-term concerns, or both?

As with the purpose of engagement, AA1000 recommends that you review the scope of engagement periodically and adjust your strategy if necessary, based on input from your stakeholders.

Stakeholders – Who needs to be involved in this engagement?

The organization must carefully identify the stakeholders (individuals, groups and organizations) that are relevant to their purpose and scope. A thorough stakeholder analysis is an excellent place to begin. After stakeholders have been identified and analyzed, stakeholder mapping can help teams identify key stakeholders based on their levels of interest and influence in order to engage more effectively.

Creating a successful stakeholder engagement process

Once the purpose, scope, and stakeholders have been identified, organizations need to put a solid stakeholder engagement process into place.

Requirements for quality stakeholder engagement

According to the AA1000 standard, quality stakeholder engagement must:

Be based on a commitment to the AccountAbility Principles (AA1000APS)
Clearly define the issues to engage on
Establish a decision-making process
Focus on issues material to the organization and/or its stakeholders
Create opportunities for dialogue
Be integral to organizational governance
Be transparent, timely, flexible and responsive
Have a process appropriate for the stakeholders being engaged
Add value both for the organization and its stakeholders

The 4-stage engagement process advocated by AA1000

AA1000 SES recommends a 4-stage engagement process, which can be tailored to the specific needs of your organization or project.

Source: AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (2015) © AccountAbility 2015

1. PLAN

Profile and map stakeholders
Determine engagement levels and methods
Establish and communicate boundaries of disclosure
Draft engagement plan
Establish indicators

2. PREPARE

Mobilize resources
Build capacity
Identify and prepare for engagement risks

3. IMPLEMENT THE ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Invite stakeholders to engage
Brief stakeholders
Engage
Document the engagement and its outputs
Develop an action plan
Communicate engagement outputs and action plan

4. REVIEW AND IMPROVE

Monitor and evaluate the engagement
Learn and improve
Develop and follow up on action plan
Report on engagement

Source: AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (2015) © AccountAbility 2015

Each stage in this process can be greatly simplified with stakeholder management software, which allows teams to plan, engage, and measure all stakeholder engagement activities from a single platform.

Find out how stakeholder mapping can help you target the right people, with the right message, at the right time.

Stakeholder engagement is an ongoing cycle, but businesses can take simple steps to improve their processes along the way. Adopting best practices, adhering to globally recognized standards like AA1000 SES, and implementing fit-for-purpose stakeholder relationship management tools will help teams build stronger, more productive relationships – and achieve better outcomes.

About Borealis

Borealis Stakeholder Engagement Software is used by organizations worldwide to secure social acceptance, demonstrate corporate social responsibility, and consider the impacts of stakeholders on their core business activities.

Want to see how Borealis software can help you achieve better engagement outcomes? Talk to an expert.

Choose the best solution to create your stakeholder register

Justin Lagac — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 19:54:31 +0000

Many medium and large companies have a significant – if not astronomical – number of stakeholders. Whether these stakeholders are internal (executives, managers, shareholders, etc.) or external to the organization (users, government, interest groups, etc.), the number of people involved can multiply exponentially as large-scale projects are carried out. For example, infrastructure construction projects occur over several stages, and different requirements at each stage mean working with different individuals and groups. To keep track of these many relationships, organizations need to create a database, often called a stakeholder register.

Fortunately, companies can see significant benefits by centralizing stakeholder data and adopting efficient data management practices. However, some of the solutions available for this purpose are better than others. Organizations can create a stakeholder register as a spreadsheet (Excel), on a collaborative platform (Sharepoint), or using a CRM system, but in terms of efficiency and functionality the best option is stakeholder management software, which was designed specifically for this purpose.

What is a stakeholder register?

A stakeholder register is the result of identifying and analyzing the actors who have an influence or interest in a project, or who may be affected by it. Once stakeholders have been added to the register, additional information can be collected to create a more complete profile for each person, for example, their interests, concerns, attitudes, location, etc.

Why do projects and organizations need a stakeholder register?

Any large project can involve hundreds or thousands of stakeholders. These relationships must be assessed, monitored, and managed carefully, because stakeholder participation can determine a project’s success or failure. Engagement teams need to have access to complete, accurate and up-to-date information to inform their efforts. A stakeholder register is an essential tool for managing these many, complex relationships.

Challenges to be addressed

Ideally, organizations seeking to implement a stakeholder register want it to help address the challenges they face.

Comply with rules and standards

Large-scale projects must follow certain rules and standards. For example, in Canada, a renewable energy developer seeking approval to use federal seabed may be required to report on consultations with First Nations communities and the accommodations agreed to by the parties involved. This is simple – if the data is managed well.

The same is true if an incident occurs near a pipeline and the authorities require evidence that the company diligently communicated safety instructions to the people affected.

Create a lasting corporate memory

A stakeholder database is undoubtedly an important part of a company’s corporate memory. It’s essential in situations where projects take place over a number of years, or where they change hands – for example, from a consulting or exploration company to a mining company. A carefully documented corporate memory is incredibly valuable to the people who come on board, as it provides context and historical data that will save them time and help them avoid missteps.

Track the evolution of interactions and communications

A rigorously maintained stakeholder database provides information on the status of interactions with stakeholders and the progress of issues affecting them, individually or generally.

Speed up response times

Relevant information available in a few clicks can make the difference between an accurate, timely response and an ambiguous answer delivered after a long delay – which is likely to cause frustration and discouragement.

Improve security

In the event of a field emergency, a stakeholder register contains contact information for all individuals and groups that need to be notified, both of the event and of the actions that need to be taken immediately.

How do traditional databases compare to modern information management systems?

Traditional stakeholder databases (Excel spreadsheets, collaborative platforms, and customized CRMs) are designed to store data, rather than to manage information efficiently. A modern stakeholder register offers several practical features that help organizations build and maintain relationships and establish trust with stakeholders.

What are the weaknesses of traditional databases?

Unfortunately, many companies still use inadequate tools to create and maintain a stakeholder register. Traditional databases can be of some use, especially when there’s not a lot of data to manage. But for large-scale projects, these solutions do not meet the necessary requirements to serve as an efficient and secure data management system.

Security

In traditional stakeholder databases, the protection of confidential information is not guaranteed. Data can be copied, modified, manipulated, or even deleted – accidentally or intentionally – without a trace. In fact, this may go completely unnoticed.

Quality

The lack of quality control features, particularly in spreadsheets, compromises data quality. This can have serious – and potentially costly – consequences. A study published in the Journal of Organizational and End User Computing concluded that 88% of spreadsheets contain errors, and some spectacular errors have cost companies millions and even billions of dollars. And, of course, a small change to a spreadsheet can throw different versions of the document out of sync, obliterating the single source of truth. This reduces the value of the entire data set.

Traceability

Spreadsheets hinder effective collaboration. Overwritten or duplicated files, incomplete data, and inaccessible documents can all be problematic for users working with this type of stakeholder database. It’s not possible to tell who did what in the document, for example, who last modified the information about a specific stakeholder.

As for collaborative platforms, they do offer more possibilities than spreadsheets. Unfortunately, beyond their ability to store data, they’re rather useless when it comes to seeing the bigger picture or analyzing data to draw conclusions. In emergency situations when you need to quickly identify and contact the affected people in your stakeholder register, this can be a serious problem.

Companies that attempt to customize a CRM for stakeholder management often find themselves investing significant time and money in the project, only to end up with a tool that proves ineffective for managing stakeholder relationships.

Why invest in modern tools to manage your stakeholder register?

The modern, fit-for-purpose tools dedicated to stakeholder relationship management (SRM) – more commonly referred to as a stakeholder management tool, system, or software – go well beyond simple data storage. They centralize data to ensure that everyone has access to relevant information, reduce the time and effort required to create reports, and increase data security. A good SRM system will:

Simplify data management

Ensure that everyone has access to the same information, a single source of truth.
Facilitate the rapid transmission of information (about an event, conversation, decision, etc.).
Permit the organization to assign access rights to each user based on their specific needs.
Integrate with external tools (collaborative platforms, email software, GIS databases, etc.).
Simplify data analysis and reporting.

Allow you to make clear, informed decisions, develop proactive strategies, and protect business reputation

Map stakeholders according to their influence, interests, and other relevant criteria.
Provide a comprehensive, global view of important information, so you can quickly take action when needed.
Respond quickly and thoroughly to questions and concerns, ensuring stakeholder satisfaction.

Help conserve resources

Access necessary information available quickly and efficiently to avoid misunderstandings, repetition, oversights and other time-consuming nuisances.
Automate manual tasks related to mobilization work.
Simplify data entry.

Ultimately, any stakeholder management software worthy of the name should help proactively identify potential concerns and issues, then effectively address and resolve them. It should help the organization reach the highest level of data management maturity, that of strategic performance.

Features to look for when purchasing a tool to manage your stakeholder register

Of all the qualities stakeholder management software should possess, a few stand out.

First and foremost, organizations need a platform that is intuitive and comprehensive, easy to feed and operate, and most importantly, easy to integrate into their daily operations. SRM software is designed to automate manual work and optimize processes, so that no one needs to continually perform repetitive tasks. The system must also have the ability to ensure the security of corporate data. After all, no one wants to be responsible for the loss or theft of sensitive information.

In addition to meeting all of the criteria described above, Borealis software stands out thanks to its integration and data protection features.

Integration

Add-ons for email software

In order to lighten your workload, Borealis offers an Outlook add-in and a Gmail add-on. These helpful tools allow users to transfer emails and events directly to Borealis, greatly reducing the risk of transcription errors when saving information from one system to the other. Moreover, these add-ons provide a level of security equal to that of the software itself.

Mobile application

Borealis offers a convenient mobile application which is especially useful for people who are constantly on the move to meet with stakeholders. The mobile app:

provides access to all information saved in the software. Data is easy to locate and modify, and it’s just as simple to enter new information (communications, individual or organizational records, follow-up tasks, etc.).
reduces the risk of oversights since information can be entered in your stakeholder database without delay.
allows users to create new records for people they meet by simply taking a photo of their business card, attach photos to files (evidence of a complaint, photos of people to help recognize them when you see them again), and record voice notes.

GIS functionality

Borealis contains a Geographic Information System (GIS) and mapping function. Users can import infrastructure data, cross-reference corporate assets with the stakeholder register, and integrate other GIS web services with Borealis to overlay social and environmental data.

API

To make data collection even easier, organizations can connect Borealis to a GIS data system, CRM, SAP, and many other tools using the Borealis API. This guarantees data integrity, because any changes in the original system will be automatically updated in Borealis. This is particularly helpful when you need to manage continually changing lists, for example, elected officials, researchers, etc.

Data protection

Borealis ensures maximum security at all stages of data management and in all environments.

Infrastructure

Borealis servers are installed in Tier 3 certified data centers. All data is duplicated in real time in an off-site disaster recovery center to ensure that your data remains safe and accessible. Systems and infrastructure are monitored 24 hours a day.

Software security

All data collected in Borealis is treated as confidential by default, ensuring absolute protection. Data is encrypted using the most up-to-date methods available, and access is limited on a need-to-know basis. We follow best practices for cloud data encryption.

Data security

We safeguard data that is ‘in use’ (being created, updated, viewed or deleted), ‘on the move’ (in transit), and ‘at rest’ (stored in your database) to ensure its protection no matter where it is in the system. This is particularly important when ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) policies are in effect.

Borealis offers a reliable audit trail to ensure that all activities in the system are recorded and fully traceable. This feature is essential for compliance with data privacy laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The software also allows you to establish multiple levels of access control that can be assigned by role or group, as well as by project, campaign, or communication.

Stakeholder engagement is more important than ever, and the benefits of adopting a stakeholder management system are clear. As stakeholder management practices continue to evolve through professionalization, investing in fit-for-purpose tools makes sense. While an ordinary database offers some of the necessary capabilities, it won’t be able to compete with specialized software developed for these needs.

Key points to remember

A stakeholder database isn’t just necessary to keep track of interactions with your stakeholders, it can also help you meet legal requirements.
Different types of stakeholder databases are not created equal. While traditional stakeholder registers help manage information, more sophisticated systems allow for proactive, social risk mitigation and help create better relationships.
While more traditional databases may be appropriate for small amounts of data, large-scale projects require a much more capable data management system.
A stakeholder relationship management system is an investment. By facilitating access to up-to-date data and offering practical tools, it minimizes frustration and saves time.

Borealis offers a complete range of modules and features to meet the needs of large projects. Contact us today to schedule a personalized demonstration. Talk to an Expert >

How fit-for-purpose technology tools simplify Investor Relationship management

Louis Lieutenant — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:16:00 +0000

Most businesses need to manage relationships with the people (or entities) who finance their projects. While financing may take many different forms – from bank loans, equity, or bond investments to limited partnerships or joint ventures – there is no question that maintaining positive, long-term relationships with financial investors is important.

For larger companies, managing the extensive information around these relationships can be incredibly complicated. As a result, many medium and large companies choose to implement investor relations management software – but with all the different options on the market, how do you know which one to choose?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems aren’t designed to manage investor relations

Companies that wish to optimize investor relations (IR) often turn to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, because they aren’t aware that other tools are better suited to their needs. But why shouldn’t you use a CRM for investor relations?

CRM systems focus on customers, sales leads, marketing, and prospecting funnels. When it comes to evaluating potential investors, connecting them to different organizations, or highlighting relationships between different entities, CRM systems fall short.

Investors are stakeholders

Investor relations teams need to report on business activities, manage communications, and track interactions with investors. They need a tool that can manage relationships with key players: planning, engaging, and measuring outcomes based on the data, and evaluating how those relationships change over time.

Increasing social demands are pushing companies to pursue ‘stakeholder capitalism,’ which focuses on long-term results. This sometimes conflicts with the expectations of shareholders – including investors – who demand quick returns and may not be willing to wait.

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review recommends that companies identify their steward shareholders – those with a financial stake in the company – and then “foster symbiotic relationships with them.”

Since investors are ultimately stakeholders – high-priority stakeholders, at that – stakeholder relationship management software is perfectly suited to this purpose.

Why choose Borealis to manage investor relations?

Borealis is a specialized stakeholder management software (SaaS) that helps teams manage important relationships proactively and strategically, in an organized, long-term manner. The platform was originally developed for the extractive sector, where large-scale projects need to build and maintain relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. These include a number of different groups with diverse interests, such as government authorities, regulators, landowners, indigenous communities, environmental groups, and more.

Having established a solid foundation in stakeholder management, Borealis has continued to develop new capabilities based on feedback from their global community of users and evolving stakeholder engagement best practices.

Borealis software has proven to be equally effective in managing strategic corporate accounts – including investors – by helping teams build flexible, mutually beneficial relationships.

How does Borealis address IR challenges?

Centralizing stakeholder data across an organization helps break down information silos, ensuring that every team using the platform has access to accurate, up-to-the-moment information about the people and organizations they’re working with. This helps teams identify (and better manage) risks, improves efficiency, simplifies reporting, and reduces stakeholder fatigue.

On top of that, centralized data also reveals a clear picture of an organization’s stakeholder relationships and helps teams create more informed engagement strategies. For example, since all interactions are documented in the system, it can be incredibly helpful to tag meaningful communications and review them periodically as a team. This proven process is quick to implement, and easy to train and report on. It’s a great way to improve visibility and awareness about what’s happening across sites or different teams.

Strategic information is easily accessible and always available

Keep sensitive data private and secure

A non-secure system can jeopardize an organization’s projects and reputation, so it’s important to choose a software solution that can maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your data. With Borealis, there’s no need to worry about sensitive information falling into the wrong hands.

Borealis adheres to the highest industry standards for enterprise security. User access rights determine what each user can see and do in the system. Borealis also includes a Team Data Segregation add-on which can restrict access by project, department, location, and corporate level to protect the confidentiality of sensitive information between different sites or projects. And finally, every action users take in Borealis is traceable, to ensure accountability and transparency during internal or external audits.

A better understanding of your stakeholders

An investor’s interests can change over time and vary from one individual to the next, so it’s important for organizations to have accurate, up-to-date information about their financial partners. Borealis helps users track a stakeholder’s status, contacts, relationships, and interactions with the organization. It lets users document important details about the topics that have been discussed, stakeholder sentiment about a particular subject, their degree of project acceptance, and engagement outcomes. Users can even categorize interactions as “positive”, “negative”, “important”, etc.

Stakeholders can be assessed and mapped by a number of different values (such as level of interest, influence, or authority), and ranked by priority. These assessments can even be archived to monitor how the relationship changes over time.

Better communication

Managing relationships with investors typically involves a series of meetings and interactions. Success or failure depends on your ability to communicate clearly and effectively. Whether you need to arrange an annual shareholder meeting, an exploratory discussion with a potential investor, a quarterly conference, or a call to discuss a number of different topics, effective planning and communication tools are an important asset.

Account management

Engagement Plans in Borealis are powerful project management tools designed specifically for engagement teams. They help users coordinate all of the activities, tasks, communications, and follow-ups related to a strategic account. Engagement plans are incredibly helpful when you need to manage an event or a campaign around a particular issue (e.g., informing people about an upcoming project or managing a crisis), quickly compile lists of stakeholders (e.g., message recipients, interested parties, or potential participants), monitor the status of individuals and organizations, and keep a record of interactions related to the project.

Mobility

Borealis offers a mobile application that’s incredibly useful for users who are travelling, attending conferences, or otherwise away from the office. It makes it easy for users to perform common tasks from a smart phone. For example, they can access and enter communications on the spot, review the latest interactions with a stakeholder before a meeting, and create tasks to ensure that any necessary follow-ups are handled in a timely manner. The app includes a number of time-saving features, like the ability to create new contacts in the system by simply taking a photo of their business card, or to enter notes using a built-in voice-to-text feature. Users can also forward text (SMS) and WhatsApp messages to Borealis using the app to provide a more complete overview of ongoing communications with an investor.

And even if you don’t use the dedicated mobile application, Borealis software is mobile-friendly. If users need to dig deeper – for example, to create or configure widgets – they can access the full version the software from any internet-capable device, including their smart phone.

Email integration

For those who work with Outlook or Gmail, Borealis has developed an Outlook add-in and a Gmail add-on to document information in Borealis without leaving the email environment. With just a few clicks, emails and calendar items can be entered and classified in Borealis, linked to engagement plans, and more. This helps teams avoid oversights, minimizes the risk of data entry errors, and helps keep sensitive data secure.

Activity reports

Because data is centralized in Borealis, it’s easy to generate detailed activity reports for management, regulators, or investors. For example, a company that pays to set up a booth at an important conference may want to calculate the return on that investment (ROI). The built-in reporting tools in Borealis will allow them to easily evaluate the number of visitors to their booth, the number of contacts made at the event, and the number of contacts that led to further conversations (or even actual collaborations).

Reputation management

Any company that already uses Borealis to manage stakeholder engagement (often for public affairs, community relations, or similar needs) can benefit greatly by adopting Borealis as their investor relations software. Any data in the system that shows how the company manages social and environmental risks can be used as proof of due diligence, which reinforces a company’s positive reputation to help attract and reassure potential investors.

What if your company is the one doing the investing?

While Borealis is an optimal solution for managing investor relations, it’s also a great asset for a company that wants to invest in – or even propose partnerships with – other companies. The same great features that allow users to manage investor relationships work just as well to document open files and monitor evolving relationships with targeted companies.

Key points to remember

Investors are VERY IMPORTANT stakeholders.
Investor relationships are COMPLEX, and Borealis makes it EASIER to successfully manage them.
Because Borealis was designed to manage stakeholder relationships, is a PERFECT SOLUTION for organizations seeking investor relationship management software. Borealis is better suited to this task than a CRM.
Some of the biggest challenges in investor relations involve ACCESSIBILITY OF INFORMATION and FOLLOWING-UP AFTER INTERACTIONS. Borealis was specifically developed to meet these needs.

If you’d like to learn more about how Borealis can simplify your relationships with investors and other strategic partners, please contact us today!

Towards Sustainable Mining: How Borealis helps mining companies manage environmental and social risk

François Robichaud — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 18:11:09 +0000

With demand for essential minerals continuing to rise rapidly, the global mining industry is experiencing tremendous growth. In 2021, the world’s 40 largest mining companies reported record results, including a 32% increase in revenues.

According to PWC, the future success of the mining industry will depend on its ability “to play a leading role in the global transition to clean energy while continuing to generate significant value for stakeholders.”

Internationally, Canada is doing well with its Towards Sustainable Mining initiative, which aims to increase productivity in the extractive sector while ensuring that this is done in the most socially, economically, and environmentally responsible manner possible.

This is where modern, fit-for-purpose tools come into play. Borealis software is an adaptable solution that helps organizations track performance and implement essential follow-ups in order to carefully manage sustainable development commitments and stakeholder relations.

Towards Sustainable Mining

The Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative is a Canadian program that supports mining companies in managing environmental and social risks.

Launched in 2004, TSM became a requirement for membership in the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) in 2006. In 2013, the commitment was expanded to include “demonstrating continuous improvement over time.”

Adherence to this initiative is only mandatory in Canada, but many MAC members are voluntarily adhering to its standards even when operating outside the country. Since 2015, Finland, Argentina, Botswana, the Philippines and Spain have adopted the Canadian program, a testament to its relevance and effectiveness. Other countries are reportedly considering joining as well.

Values and Guiding Principles

TSM is based on three core values that must support all of a mining company’s activities, from exploration to development to production to recycling.

Accountability

Rigorous assessments are conducted at the mine sites themselves. Every three years the results are verified by qualified experts.

Transparency

The performance of mining companies, based on a series of key indicators, is published on the websites of the relevant associations so that all interested persons or entities – including stakeholders – have access to detailed information on their commitment to sustainability.

Credibility

TSM is overseen by the Community of Interest (COI) Advisory Panel, an independent, multi-interest group whose mandate includes fostering dialogue between mining companies and their stakeholders.

With TSM, mining companies are committed to demonstrating their sense of responsibility to social, economic and environmental issues with honesty and integrity at all times.

Performance Protocols

In order to transform mining companies’ commitments into concrete actions, TSM has established eight performance protocols grouped under three areas of importance: Communities and People, Environmental Stewardship, and Energy Efficiency. These protocols are assessment tools based on performance indicators that measure the quality, scope, and effectiveness of a mine’s management systems. These assessments are intended to provide the public with accurate information on the industry’s performance in important environmental and social areas.

Borealis software makes it easier to monitor objectives, activities, communications and results, and to share this information with all concerned individuals and groups.

Communities and People

Indigenous and Community Relationships

This protocol assesses these relationships according to four indicators: identifying affected individuals and groups, maintaining good relationships with them, taking a collaborative approach, and establishing a community feedback system to address questions and concerns.

Good practice: Make a firm commitment to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples directly affected by a project.

Borealis not only allows you to create a complete register of stakeholders, but also to quickly group these people into categories based on factors like position, relationship with the organization, membership in a group, location, etc. Reports can be generated in just a few clicks to extract data about the number of communications that have taken place, the commitments made with stakeholders (Indigenous and otherwise), the number and nature of the issues raised, and the number of stakeholders who are affected. The creation of a community feedback system is simplified by our Grievance and Feedback Portal, a natural extension of our Grievance Management module. This ensures that the company has a robust grievance management mechanism in place that provides stakeholders with a neutral way to submit feedback via the web, where they can anonymously voice their concerns. This system is based on the classic complaint management model, and includes an escalation and external referral process. The mechanism seamlessly integrates with the software, which allows for effortless reporting.

Crisis management and communications planning

Under this protocol, mines are required to establish a crisis management and communications plan. They must then review it regularly and update it as needed. The plan must include annual training and simulation exercises.

Good practice: Establish company-wide crisis management teams.

To simplify communication with stakeholders who need to be alerted in the event of a crisis, Borealis offers a Smart Communications Add-on that quickly targets the people and groups who need to be informed (e.g., the owners of land parcels beside a waterway that may have been contaminated). The software also keeps track of these communications in one place to ensure timely follow-up.

Safety and Health

This protocol requires mining companies to be report on their health and safety management, prevent incidents, train employees and contractors, monitor and report on performance, and establish “zero incident” objectives.

Good practice: Implement a training program that includes a needs analysis and training records management.

Borealis centralizes your data in one place, allowing you to assign deadlines, track reporting (to the public, authorities, etc.), and ensure that safety instructions and other communications are received and understood. Example: the user guide for a new machine needs to be read and understood by 34 people in the company. Borealis allows you to record details about when the information was sent and received, employee responses, individual evaluations, etc. This data is incredibly valuable in the event of an audit. The software also makes it easy to find out who should receive the results of a particular performance evaluation.

Preventing Child and Forced Labour

This protocol differs from others in that it addresses issues that mining companies must AVOID.

They must not have anyone under the age of 18 perform potentially dangerous work, or hire anyone under the age of 15. Forced labour must not be used, and where there is a high risk of forced labour, they must implement processes to monitor supply chains and relationships with recruitment agencies.

Good practice: Avoid unreasonable restrictions on employees’ freedom of movement in relation to the mine site

Borealis allows organizations to establish a secure whistleblowing process. Our Grievance and Feedback Portal provides an anonymous channel for anyone who witnesses prohibited practices to disclose the situation without suffering negative consequences.

Environmental Stewardship

Tailings Management

This protocol makes firm commitments to tailings management, including the implementation of a tailings management system, the development of contingency plans, the appointment of a responsible officer, an annual audit, and the production of a comprehensive guide to better manage risks.

Good practice: Ensure that all aspects of tailings management meet the requirements of the MAC Tailings Guide.

Biodiversity Conservation Management

With this protocol, the mining company commits to managing biodiversity by applying the mitigation hierarchy, identifying significant biodiversity aspects, and reporting on its biodiversity performance.

Good practice: Consult with affected communities on conservation programs and activities.

Water Stewardship

This protocol requires mines to commit to good water stewardship, implement a management system, cooperate with other water users, and set targets to measure their performance.

Good practice: Develop a water monitoring program that includes risk reduction measures related to water quantity and quality.

Data from the three Environmental Stewardship protocols can be centralized in Borealis using the Environmental Monitoring module, which is a natural extension of our stakeholder management solution. Borealis allows organizations to monitor indicators related to biodiversity, water quality management, and tailings management. More importantly, it simplifies the process of reporting these results to affected stakeholders and those who have raised concerns. Using Engagement Plans, it is very simple to inform municipal elected officials of the results of water analyses, or report to environmental groups about the efforts that were made and the results obtained from a plan to safeguard an animal species at risk.

Energy Efficiency

Climate Change

This protocol commits mining companies to ambitious climate actions, climate change management, target setting and reporting of performance results.

Good practice: Develop a comprehensive system to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions.

This protocol can also benefit from the functions offered by Borealis with respect to scheduling and monitoring of actions, communications, and evaluations.

With nearly 20 years of experience in the mining industry, Borealis understands the importance of pursuing a sustainable mining model that considers its social and environmental impacts. Our advisors have significant experience working with the standards around stakeholder management, such as ISO 26000 and AA1000.

We’re always listening to our clients in the mining industry to improve our product, and we’re proud to offer the most advanced stakeholder management software available to meet your TSM data sharing needs.

As software developed specifically for stakeholder management, Borealis does an exceptional job for the Communities & People portion of TSM, and it’s equally useful for other protocols – especially when it comes to monitoring communications.

Whether your organization is adhering to TSM or simply committed to making their mining practices more sustainable, we’re sure that our SRM solution can help you make a positive impact on communities. Contact us today to request a demo.

The importance of change management when adopting new software

Louis Lieutenant — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 12:38:09 +0000

“Nothing is permanent except change.”

Heraclitus of Ephesus

Change management is not a new issue. It has concerned organizations for decades, particularly in the last 15-20 years. But while its importance is universally recognized, the figures circulating among experts show that a high number of change management initiatives – about 70% – end in failure.

Digital transformation and the adoption of new technologies – such as new software – require change management programs. But why is it so important to invest in these programs? What are the best practices around change management? And how do you measure the success of the processes you put in place?

Why is a change management plan so important when adopting new software?

To ensure your return on investment

The equation is simple. The more effectively change is managed, the faster the tool will be adopted, and the faster the benefits will be felt – including profits. On the other hand, a poorly managed transition may result in significant costs: lost time, productivity, human resources, etc. Investments in change management are the key to success. Failure to manage change effectively can result in expenses that aren’t just wasteful, but counterproductive.

To create more dynamic user adoption

With proper change management, people better understand the value of the change and become more interested. They make more connections between different elements of the project and ask more questions. As more people quickly adopt the software, user champions emerge as resources for their colleagues. Ultimately, people who are well integrated into the implementation project and who understand the issues at stake can propose improvements, new features, and even new projects.

To manage the magnitude of the changes

Adopting new software will certainly affect the activities and responsibilities of many people working in different departments. Don’t underestimate the extent of the changes that are taking place or their impact on your teams’ morale. A carefully thought-out change management plan centered around these human challenges can make all the difference when it comes to acceptance.

To prepare the organization for the future

Adopting new software is one thing; evolving with it is another. Change management is increasingly becoming a permanent part of organizations as they realize that change never ends. Embracing change management now will help you prepare for the future: once in motion, the wheel of evolution – especially technological – will not slow down or stop.

Keys to success for adopting a new tool

Objectives, deadlines and essential follow-ups

In order to successfully implement a technological solution, it is imperative to set project objectives, but also adoption goals. Therefore, it is important to carefully manage the strategic plan with precise deadlines and essential follow-ups.

Clear, effective, and ongoing communication

To encourage acceptance of a new software, inform your employees about the implementation plan, its necessity, consequences, etc. You may even consider setting up a marketing campaign to “sell” the new tool to everyone who will be affected by its adoption.

Client success

One of our clients chose to train their employees at a location outside their workplace so that they could focus on the activity. They even distributed useful office promotional items (mouse pads, mugs, etc.) with the words “Who is your most important stakeholder today?” to serve as a reminder and positive reinforcement for using the tool.

Once implementation of the new tool is underway, make sure managers understand that they need to monitor their team’s adoption of the platform. While decisions are being made at the senior management level and efforts are focused on user adoption, managers are sometimes left out of the process. However, their role is essential, as their regular supervision allows them to check in with users, supply feedback to upper management, and quickly address any potential issues before they escalate.

Plan to meet goals and targets

Develop a support plan for users. Encourage buy-in by setting short-, medium- and long-term goals, ideally connected to deliverables that need to go through the software. Consider linking annual performance reviews to the adoption of the tool. Regular use of the tool is essential if you want to benefit from its full potential. Monitoring and providing regular feedback to users help establish this routine. For example, weekly usage reports can be very effective toward achieving this goal.

What not to do

A customer decided to wait for his users to adopt the software at their own pace. Nine months later, system use was still lagging. For another client, it took two years. This is why it is so important to set specific adoption targets and timeframes.

Review meaningful conversations as a team

You may find it helpful to plan a regular daily (or weekly) meeting to review important conversations together as a team. Encourage everyone to contribute so no one feels left out. This is also a great way to share knowledge and insights – not just about Borealis usage, but also to keep everyone up to date on engagement activities and any challenges that arise.

The non-compliant

If you encounter individuals who continue to resist using the system, it may be necessary to meet with them privately and assign specific tasks with definitive deadlines. When dealing with a few stubborn people, some clients decide to stop pressuring them to comply. In many cases, they realize that they are the only one lagging behind. That said, sometimes you do have to tighten the reins to get results.

Client success

A client whose team was resisting system adoption told his employees that from a given date, he would no longer accept emails or Excel documents, only Borealis reports. The result? There was no choice but to comply.

Pilot projects

You may wish to start implementation of the new software with a small project – for one region, department, etc. – and expand from there as you learn and succeed. This is a great way to make sure that you don’t get discouraged by a project that seems too big. It also provides an opportunity to find champions among the early adopters.

Adequate training and support

Focus on training that is complete, relevant, and user-friendly in terms of both content and format. Inadequate training can confuse employees and jeopardize the success of the transition.

Client success

Provide support materials tailored to each team, based on real-world situations they may encounter: “to do this, follow these steps.”
In one case where users were being trained in “waves,” a client created an internal Facebook group to share videos and testimonials from the training sessions. This helped motivate people in the subsequent training groups by giving them a better sense of what to expect.

Establish a clear process for providing answers to users’ questions. Who do they go to for this type of problem? Champions are often appointed to assist other employees.

What not to do

At one of our clients, employees who asked for help with an immediate, concrete problem were redirected to multi-page documents… where they had to find a solution themselves. A perfect example of what to avoid.

And more...

Other elements can be added to these good practices, as one of our client case studies shows: a company culture that is not only open to improvement, but also enthusiastic about it, support from the IT team, the use of clean data, etc.

How do you evaluate the success of change management?

Clear objectives and timeline

In addition to facilitating the adoption of the new tool, clear objectives and a well-defined timeline simplify the evaluation exercise, since they provide a baseline for analysis.

Data collection

Managers can help assess the comfort level of their teams. Levels of user adoption can also be measured with satisfaction questionnaires.

Relevant and limited measurement indicators

Performance indicators must be aligned with adoption objectives, but be careful not to multiply them unnecessarily. The calculation of the company’s ROI is an excellent – the first? – barometer to evaluate the success of the project. The two are interconnected, and the success of the organization depends on the success of the project.

Why risk failure?

In an ideal world, no new software implementation would take place without a change management program. The benefits are too great, and the investment certainly outweighs the potential losses if change isn’t managed well.

Changing software is no small thing, and that decision should not be taken lightly. So why take the risk of compromising the success of the company? Good change management allows you to stack the deck in your favor.

Our expertise, your success

At Borealis, we are committed to helping our clients ensure successful adoption of our software, and we’ll accompany you through every step of the transition process.

Our project evaluation questionnaire for future clients includes questions about the desired project deadlines and the consequences of not meeting them. For example:

What reports do you need? Who are they for? And what will happen if they are not produced on time?
When do you want to implement the software? What is the consequence if you don’t have it in two months, six months, etc.?
Do you have other priorities at the same time? What is your current capacity to implement our software?

We know from experience that good change management makes a difference at all stages of the onboarding process, from the first exploratory meeting to the follow-up once the software has been fully implemented. Our goal is to help you maximize your ROI. We have witnessed the mistakes and successes of our many clients, and we are glad to be able to pass these lessons on to you.

How to build good relationships with stakeholders (and how a Stakeholder Management system can help)

Justin Lagac — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 14:15:47 +0000

Building good relationships with stakeholders is vital for effective engagement. Of course, having a ‘good relationship’ doesn’t mean all of your stakeholders will be happy all the time. At the end of the day, positive stakeholder relationships are based on trust. Good communication is key, so it’s important to create open, transparent channels of communication where people feel respected and listened to. Let’s look at some things you can do to build better relationships with stakeholders.

Practices that foster positive stakeholder relationships

Start engaging early

While engagement isn’t always seen as a priority during the initial project stages (for example, the exploration phase of a mining project), this is a missed opportunity! Getting your stakeholders on board from the start has significant benefits: benefits:

Engaging with affected communities early in the process allows you to control the narrative. Be sure people hear about the project from you, not from speculation on social media. Reaching out to tell your stakeholders what’s coming is a great way to demonstrate transparency and build trust.
Let your stakeholders know how their input will affect the project. People are usually more willing to engage when they believe that their participation will influence the outcome. Actively involving your stakeholders in project decisions shows that you want to do what’s right for them, which will help you gain their confidence, support, and approval.
Early engagement can also help you identify risks and opportunities and build in solutions to resolve potential problems before they escalate. In fact, addressing stakeholders’ concerns before the project is in full swing can help you avoid project delays, cost overruns, and even work stoppages.

Conduct a thorough stakeholder analysis

Before you begin to engage, you’ll need to identify your stakeholders and conduct a thorough stakeholder analysis. As you go through this exercise, try to genuinely understand your stakeholders’ motivations and how they will be affected by the project. Determine who needs to know what, and when. This will help you define an appropriate engagement strategy for each group instead of taking a one-size-fits-all approach. A careful analysis can help you recognize what is important to your stakeholders, identify areas of disagreement, and work together to find acceptable compromises.

Now that you’ve identified and analyzed your stakeholders, you’re ready to determine your communication strategies. Download our step-by-step guide for creating a solid stakeholder engagement plan.

Be as accessible as possible

Making information and resources available in different formats (audio and/or video in addition to text, in person as well as online, and in different languages) will help create opportunities for more people to participate. It will also help ensure that your message is heard and understood by a wider audience.

Likewise, it’s a good idea to implement multiple channels for people to contact you with questions or feedback. Depending on the type of project and the stakeholders involved, people’s preferences may vary. Consider a number of options, such as a call center, a temporary office people can visit in person, an email address that can be shared widely, an online portal to file grievances, one-on-one meetings with important leaders, and door-to-door outreach. Be creative! For example, as part of their community relations strategy, Drummond LTD implemented this online portal, which gives users the option to provide feedback anonymously.

Communicate clearly and honestly

If you’re not sure how to build good relationships with stakeholders, think about how you would like to be treated if the roles were reversed. When you communicate with stakeholders, always be honest and direct. Don’t make any commitments you’re not sure you can keep! It’s important to be realistic, even if that means saying ‘no’ sometimes. While a stakeholder may be disappointed, they will respect your honesty. Being clear about which decisions have already been made and what is still uncertain will help you manage expectations. Share information as it becomes available and continue to communicate with stakeholders as the project unfolds.

Show stakeholders that you’re listening

Ultimately, stakeholders are doing you a favor by providing feedback, so try to make it convenient for them to communicate with you. Find out what contact method your stakeholders prefer and use that method as much as possible.

Listen without judgment to their feedback and really try to understand their point of view. Be respectful and patient, especially when there’s disagreement. Remember, you don’t have to agree about everything to build positive relationships with stakeholders. If you tell someone that you will follow up, be sure that you follow through. Take notes, and at the end of each session, repeat their key points back to them to be sure you understand. Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification if necessary. Stay curious, focus on areas where you do agree, and work together to identify mutually beneficial solutions.

And finally, don’t forget to thank your stakeholders for their time and input. People are usually more willing to participate when it’s clear that their efforts are recognized and appreciated!

Building and maintaining positive stakeholder relationships is hard work, but Repsol excels at it!

Their team is committed to addressing their stakeholders’ concerns in a way that’s as positive and efficient as possible. Find out how adopting fit-for-purpose tools has helped Repsol earn their stakeholders’ trust and set themselves apart from their competitors.

How good data management helps teams build positive stakeholder relationships

Stakeholder engagement professionals work hard to build productive, mutually beneficial relationships, but without the right tools it can be difficult to manage the endless stream of project data. And unfortunately, if you’re not able to extract insights from that data, much of its strategic value is lost. Thankfully, the professionalization of the industry has led to the development of specialized SRM systems, which are designed to manage stakeholder engagement effectively, based on industry best practices. Let’s look at how these fit-for-purpose tools can help organizations build better relationships with stakeholders.

Centralized data helps you see the big picture

Centralized, structured data provides a global view of issues to help teams identify and evaluate risks as they arise.
Data is always accessible and up to date. Custom dashboards allow you to track trends in real time.
Analytical tools let users call up information in just a few clicks, so teams can respond quickly to stakeholders’ concerns and answer tough questions on the spot.
A complete, well-documented corporate history lets teams build on lessons learned and know what’s important to people before engaging with them.
Commitments are carefully documented to ensure timely follow-ups and make sure that nothing slips through the cracks.

Borealis features that help teams maintain constructive relationship with stakeholder

Engagement plans – Over the course of your project you’ll need to engage with different stakeholders, for different purposes, at different times. Borealis Engagement plans automatically generate actionable tasks and activities at the designated intervals. Simply assign these to your team and you can be sure you’re engaging appropriately with each stakeholder group according to their specific needs and concerns.

Mobile application – The Borealis mobile app offers a convenient, efficient way to enter and manage stakeholder data, upload photos or documents, and more, so you can respond quickly and proactively – even when you’re on the road. Consult up-to-the-moment stakeholder data before meetings to know where a stakeholder stands on your project and facilitate meaningful discussions. Document interactions while the information is fresh in your memory, and enter details in the system using voice input. This is a great way to instill trust in the person in front of you and show them that you’re taking their concerns seriously.

Outlook add-in – Our Outlook add-in lets users record and categorize communications and update stakeholder information in Borealis without ever leaving Outlook, which saves everyone valuable time. It’s an easy way to make sure your records are up to date, so you always have a complete picture of the situation when meeting with stakeholders.

SMS messaging – Communicating with stakeholders using their preferred method is key to successful engagement, but keeping track of these communications is critical. The SMS messaging add-on lets you send messages to individuals or even to a whole list of stakeholders, and automatically documents each communication in Borealis along with their replies.

Grievance management – Make it easy for stakeholders to share feedback and follow up on requests or any issues that were raised. The Borealis Grievance and Feedback portal provides a practical, convenient way to simplify the process. It allows stakeholders to communicate their issues (even anonymously, if they prefer to do so), and receive responses without compromising their identities. All channels feed into one centralized system to ensure efficient, thorough grievance management. Showing stakeholders that you’re ready to respond to their concerns builds trust, improves stakeholder satisfaction, and helps maintain social license to operate.

Analytics – The reporting tools in Borealis make it easy to monitor, measure, and understand the outcomes of your engagement activities, so you can be sure social acceptance is on track. Carefully monitor KPIs and trends to spot changes in real-time and engage more efficiently with stakeholders. Generate reports in just a few clicks to respond quickly to questions or requests and better prioritize everyday activities.

Data security – Between the risks posed by bad actors and the introduction of strict new data privacy laws, it’s more important than ever for teams to take the confidentiality and integrity of stakeholder data seriously. Borealis helps teams secure this important information to protect your organization and your stakeholders’ privacy, while also simplifying compliance with GDPR and other personal data regulations.

Which organizations should use a stakeholder relationship management system?

An SRM system is a good fit for organizations that:

Have many stakeholders or a large staff managing engagement activities.
Want to create a structured corporate memory to bring insights to operations.
Benefit from visualizations tools that let them see the geographic location of stakeholders on a map (particularly helpful when starting a new project or developing large, distributed assets).
Want to report on corporate and social responsibility, community engagement, social impact, sustainability reports, environmental and social governance, etc.
Need to comply with regulations & requirements related to stakeholder relations.

Contact us

If you’re committed to building positive stakeholder relationships, an SRM system can be a game changer. Contact us today to find out how Borealis can help you take stakeholder engagement to the next level!

Boréalis

The importance of environmental justice communities in stakeholder engagement strategies

What is environmental justice?

How are environmental justice communities defined?

How can environmental justice communities influence the process and outcomes of infrastructure projects?

Site Selection

Planning and design

Implementation

Why are EJ communities important to your stakeholder engagement strategy?

How can effective stakeholder engagement in an infrastructure project both support environmental justice and improve project outcomes?

What kind of tool can facilitate engagement in environmental justice areas?

The story of EJ

Data Management Maturity Level for Stakeholder Engagement

What Is Data Management Maturity Level?

Why Is It Important to Assess Data Management Maturity Level?

What Are the 4 Data Management Maturity Levels in Stakeholder Engagement?

Level 1 – Ground Level: No Digital Trail

Still at the basic level of stakeholder engagement?

Level 2 – Ad Hoc Level: Focus on Data Collection

Still using spreadsheets tomanage stakeholder data?

Level 3 – Operational Level: Operation & Project-Focused with Lagging Indicators

Tired of being limited by your current system for managing stakeholder data?

Level 4 – Strategic Level: Strategic Management & Performance

If your current stakeholder data management system is not meeting all your needs, request a demo to see how.

Stakeholder Data Management Assessment – Measuring Your Organization’s Data Management Maturity

How Can Improving Data Management Maturity Improve Stakeholder Engagement Outcomes?

The Four Maturity Levels of Stakeholder Data Management: A fictional (but accurate) account of the day-to-day challenges of a stakeholder engagement team leader based on the organization’s maturity level.

Improving Your Stakeholder Engagement Data Management Maturity Level – Where to Go From Here?

Why and how to measure stakeholder engagement

Why is it important to measure stakeholder engagement?

How to measure stakeholder engagement?

Ready to see how our solution can help you define and track these indicators?

How to measure stakeholder engagement activities with communities

How is stakeholder position changing?

Are grievance management processes working optimally?

Grievances should never escalate into conflicts. Download our white paper on how to handle grievances.

What is the real importance of a given issue?

Are all stakeholder groups being properly targeted?

Setting measurement indicators for public affairs and government relation

How many people did we meet at a major event?

How many elected officials were contacted for a particular topic or issue?

How many lobbying activities have been carried out?

What impact did a given press conference have on the press and on the public?

How to measure stakeholder management efforts in infrastructure projects

What will be the total dollar value in compensation for a hypothetical route?

How many grievances were there for a given period?

What is the dollar value of commitments made to landowners for a given stretch of linear infrastructure?

Using the right tools to facilitate measuring stakeholder engagemen

What gets measured gets improved

Contact us to see how Borealis software can help your organization measure stakeholder management efforts.

How to Create a Stakeholder Engagement Plan

What is a Stakeholder Engagement Plan?

How to prepare a Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP)?

1. Areas of influence

2. Regulations and requirements

INTERNAL

EXTERNAL

3. Methodology

Government Authorities

Advocacy Groups

Affected Communities

Commercial Organizations

Learn how to implement a stakeholder engagement system

4. Project stakeholders

5. Stakeholder Engagement activities

6. Stakeholder engagement plan matrix

7. Timetable

8. Resources and responsibilities

9. Grievance management

10. Monitoring and reporting

11. Budget

12. Appendix

Importance of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan

Get started with Borealis stakeholder engagement software today!

What you need to know about the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard

What is the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard?

Who is the AA1000 standard intended for?

Why should organizations adhere to the AA1000 SES?

Benefits of quality stakeholder engagement

Implementing the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard

Still using spreadsheets to
manage stakeholder data?

Tired of being limited by your current system
for managing stakeholder data?

If your current stakeholder data management system is not meeting all your needs, request
a demo to see how.