Stakeholder Index

We all have stakeholders, from the CEO to the graduate or school leaver; numerous stakeholders help us do our daily roles. A strong relationship with stakeholders helps employees operate at a high level of personal fulfilment and engagement.

If every employee operated at 100% of their potential, aligned, and had mutually respectful relationships with all their stakeholders, they would feel fulfilled and engaged. This is beneficial for performance in good times but is especially important when times are tough. Being aligned and focused on demanding situations enhances our resilience by providing a support network.

If every person improved their stakeholder index by 10–15% (from 6 to 7), the impact at a macro level would be significant. Relationships would be more robust, engagement and productivity would be higher, and engagement scores would be maintained and improved – this is the theory of ‘marginal gains’ as exemplified by Sir David Brailsford, former Team Sky and Team GB Cycling Manager.

A stakeholder is someone who helps you operate in your role. They can come from within your team, organisation or peer group. However, they may also come from outside your organisation or group, i.e., your family and friends or your clients and suppliers.

As members of ethical organisations, we are increasingly responsible for considering wider-reaching stakeholders such as local or national demographic groups and sectors of society and environmental stakeholders.

• Peer group and colleagues
• Line reports and team members
• Senior Manager and management
• Head of departments

• Family
• Friends
• Community (local and national)
• Environment

Looking at your completed wheel, identify which relationships you wish to focus on and work with your mentor or coach to improve them. For example, if you scored a relationship with a 6, what goals and behaviours would you change to improve this to an 8 or 9?

Discuss the elements of your relationship, good and bad, with your coach or mentor. Use recent examples where possible to demonstrate your relationship. Explore the various factors that influence your relationship with the stakeholder (e.g., the reason for the relationship, personality of the stakeholder, time spent with them, output from the relationship, the emotional orientation of both parties etc.) Try to identify the key elements of the relationship, the reasons for any disparity and the possible solutions to this disparity. Then put these solutions into practice (i.e., discuss them with the stakeholder in question). Don’t just talk about it, do it.

After some time, review your relationships. Look at your initial scores, and based on the existing relationships, see if the score has improved. If not, why not? Continue this exercise as often or as frequently as required.