A: Thanks for the question – we’ve enjoyed hearing from you on other topics, including taking our surveys on shareholder relations. We agree that stakeholder advocacy and working with others to create better policies are a worthwhile endeavor. However, as you point out, there’s a difference between being an advocate and actively participating in a company’s activities. We’ve had some great success helping business owners understand how to take their corporate governance stakeholder engagements and get them moving in the right direction. In one of our posts, we discussed several examples where companies can use stakeholder dialogue to improve their overall strategic priorities.
While those were certainly good points, we encourage you to take this topic up with your management team. We know that corporate management is busy; you may have some interesting ideas on how to engage your stakeholder base without taking on the additional complexity of incorporating those into your overall strategy. You might also be concerned about talking to your own employees about this or about what types of things they’d be comfortable talking about with you. Whatever your concerns or questions, we’re here to help.
First, what exactly are stakeholder issues and how can they impact your company? Stakeholders are any individual or organization who has a relationship with you or your company. They include: customers, suppliers, employees, government agencies, et cetera. As you interact with these groups, you need to understand what you can do to be mindful of their interests and how you can position your organization to best represent their interests. You also need to take my corporate governance stakeholder activism quiz to learn more about the different kinds of issues that you can work on as a business owner or manager.
So what should you do if you’re ready to take my corporate governance stakeholder activism quiz and learn more about the topics discussed? First, review our website. Our blog discusses these topics in greater detail. In particular, we’re going to take a look at how to position your organization to be in the best position to serve the interests of your stakeholders. We’ll also talk about what types of strategies can you use to do this, as well as why it’s important. Finally, we’ll talk about why it’s important to remember that you are constantly learning about new topics as your business grows.
Second, take my corporate governance stakeholder activism quiz. If you’re interested in learning more about what it means to be a good corporate citizen, you may want to go online and find out more about the concepts. The basics, as they say, are simple: think about what your company stands for, be aware of your environment, and then use that awareness to think about how to serve your customers and your bottom line. From there, you can begin to develop the strategies needed to make your goals work.
Third, take my corporate governance stakeholder activism quiz and learn more about how you can take action to get started right now. Many people just get into the ballgame without learning the first step. There is no such thing as “taking action” when you don’t know what you’re doing. But if you don’t know where to start, you can find out all about how to get started with the right resources. This will save you a lot of time, money, and frustration down the road.
Those are just three things that you can do today to get on the right track. They’re simple, but they can have a huge impact on your strategy. They’re also great examples of the kind of things that will make you a better corporate citizen. Now, go take my corporate governance stakeholder activism quiz, and learn more about what it means to be a good stakeholder. Who knows, you just might become a corporate citizen before you know it!