Who are we trying to engage with anyway?
Pull out the objectives for the last exercise you attended. Dimes to dollars that JIC capability was measured by holding a press conference. Now review the differences between Liaison and Joint Information Center in the NRT manual, your Area Contingency Plan or your own organization’s crisis response manual. Each document clearly identifies a select group of people important to your organization; the elusive, magical stakeholder.
It’s not surprising who is listed in these documents; it is surprising who is not.
People We Are Interested In
Plans and policies you already have access to reveal a classic definition of a stakeholder: They are People We Are Interested In.
For decades, a core objective of the Joint Information Center has been to conduct Press Conferences or Media Briefings, to provide information we want the media to have. These objectives define media as perhaps the primary stakeholder. How can I be sure? Because our actions determine our priorities, and every exercise expects the action of a Press Conference, so media must be a priority.
In the same way, Liaison’s effectiveness is often measured by an Elected Officials’ Briefing, or a Community Meeting, thereby identifying two more stakeholder groups of People We Are Interested In.
So our classic stakeholder list thus consists of: Media, Elected Officials and Community. Your plans may have more but, since we seldom actually have a full listing of stakeholder groups, we end up missing important people. Not because they don’t exist, but because we’re not looking for them. They are not People We Are Interested In.
Big mistake!
The capability of any individual to broadcast information via their cellphone, combined with the accompanying ability of any person to access countless media sources, means the classical definition of a stakeholder is obsolete. Our traditional stakeholder groups have important functions, but relying on them to share our message is an exercise doomed to failure. We must broaden our definition of a stakeholder.
People Who Are Interested in Us
Today’s communication environment multiplies any message across myriad platforms, places and people groups. Any person from any location can participate in our response, instantly sharing any concern or comments about our actions with like-minded people across the globe.
This reality forces us to accept this new stakeholder definition: People Who Are Interested in Us. They may be media, they may be elected officials; they might be business owners, parents, activists, any group of people who are interested in our actions, or the consequences of our actions.
These new stakeholders don’t replace our traditional stakeholders, but they amplify them, which in turn allows communicators to amplify the response message. In a world where everyone is Media (Media = every person who can multiply your message), every targeted stakeholder group becomes more valuable for sharing your story. As communicators, we need to expand our stakeholder horizon to include all this new group of People Who Are Interested in Us.
The bad news
We don’t find these people easily. Traditional stakeholder mining can’t identify our new stakeholders, because they aren’t traditional groups. We can subscribe to media list builders or elected official list builders. We can use local resources to find Chamber of Commerce or Service Club members. We can use our procurement people to give us local businesses contacts. But how do we get lists of activists? Even if we have names, can we determine their interest? How can we tell who is concerned about specific topics? How do we find people concerned about fish, or jobs, or local sponsorships?
This is the challenge we face. Identifying these new People Who Are Interested in Us is a challenging process that seems to require more resources than we have.
The good news
The good news is that we don’t have to find these people; these people find us. While their names aren’t listed in the yellow pages under categories and their resumes don’t list their interests or concerns, these people hold deep and long-term interests or concerns for specific issues. They are affiliated with groups that support their causes. They go to the same events and they give to the same organizations. Their concerns are active and enduring. People Who Are Interested in Us are always interested in what they are interested in.
What we need to do is help them self-identify with us. For response planning, this means that we make sure we have a ‘capture’ tool – an intake process. It could be our social media accounts that allow people to follow our posts. It could be a proper inquiry management tool that lets people submit their concerns for our response. It could even be the old low-tech registration form or comment sheet we use at community meetings or presentations. It can even be our own careful notes from meetings we have attended.
Just make sure the intake process allows people to indicate their concerns as well as their contact information. Then use this resource on a daily basis; we don’t have to wait until a crisis to share key information with interested stakeholders. Get in the habit of responding to individuals’ questions and concerns on a regular basis, and we’ll have more finely honed messaging in place for use in response communications, supported by a more finely tuned group of stakeholders.
There seems to be a latent fear of engagement with stakeholders in a crisis. Communicators concerned about being overwhelmed with questions or comments sometimes resist the opportunity to capture them. We’re afraid that we won’t have time, messaging or resources to respond to every one. The truth is, capturing concerned stakeholders allows ongoing communication with each one, now and in the future. Even if it takes time to respond, it is better to respond when we can rather than rebuff their attempts to communicate.
A great investment
Remember too that we pay for mailing lists, but People Who Are Interested in Us come to us for free. We don’t have to pay to capture their interest; we already have it. Plus they’re motivated; they actually want information from us. And they share it, multiplying our message to their own followers and friends.
This activist dynamic is the opposite of traditional list-building, where we spend money on contact information, then spend time and money developing a message which we send to potential stakeholders, in hopes of developing a dialogue with some of them. This new stakeholder group of People Who Are Interested in Us starts with their own dialog, and they are already interested and engaged. This is the most cost-effective stakeholder group we can build!
The silver lining
Crises are challenging experiences to be avoided whenever possible, and no organization wants to be embroiled in an issue. Both crises and issues entail an expenditure of large amounts of time and money, often a squandering of reputation and resources. We can’t avoid expending time, money, reputation or resources but at least we can capture and communicate with key stakeholders.
People Who Are Interested in Us are a group of powerful stakeholders who will either help or hurt our reputation, and we have unhindered access to them. They are waiting to hear from us. With proactive communication strategy and tactics, we can emerge from a crisis or issue response with more interested and involved stakeholders than we had before. With long-term commitment to ongoing response communication, we have an opportunity wrapped up in a crisis: People with influence, accompanied by a greater understanding and appreciation of our organization, potentially more supportive of our ongoing activities.
What do we do?
- Look for People Who Are Interested in Us. Remember that the person we talk to in the grocery line may have more followers than our local newspaper has subscribers.
- Engage with as many stakeholders as we can. Set up routing procedures at our workplace so we get all the calls and emails. Answer them!
- Always offer opportunities for interested people to register for more information. Invite them to do so, and thank them when they do.
- Look outward to new stakeholders, invite them in. Reach past traditional media and groups and engage with individuals.
- Answer people’s concerns, and continue each conversation. ‘Interview 101’: Repeat the question or concern. Provide information you can. Thank them for asking. Pivot to a key message that supports their concern. Ask if they have another question.
- Develop a dialogue, not a sales pitch. Don’t sell, engage. You’re not selling a product; you’re offering understanding.
- Be a follower! Join in stakeholder in conversations on their own turf! ‘Friend’ people, use LinkedIn, attend interest group meetings, hit the turf of our community.
- Offer more. Always offer additional material, information and opportunities to share.
- Ask our own questions. Use the conversation as an opportunity to learn about them, their interests and affiliations.
How about you?
What tactics have you used to capture People Who Are Interested in You? Share them here!