Stakeholders

Who are stakeholders?

A stakeholder is anyone who is part of the day-to-day business of the agency and may be affected by the practices or situations that are part of the Action Research. Most importantly, it includes the young people, their families and other people who are involved in early intervention practices. Stakeholders can also include workers, management, other agencies and community members.  

Not all stakeholders need to be involved as directly or actively as others.  Some stakeholders may need to be part of all stages of the cycles. Others may simply need to provide feedback at certain points (CMYI, 2006, p. 17).

It can be challenging to ensure Action Research is collaborative. When seeking to engage stakeholders, think about who could be involved and how you would go about working effectively with them.

Participation

• Participation is most effective when people feel that they have contributed significantly and have a real influence in the process.
• Developing a sense of ownership among stakeholders is a very effective way to encourage people to invest their time and energy in working for change.
• Client participation in Action Research can take different forms and have varying degrees of complexity.  Client participation can be something simple like practitioners posing the same question to a range of clients, recording their responses then discussing their observations and reflections to ensure correct interpretation of their response.  Participation can also be as complex as establishing multiple focus groups for specific issues with the focus group interrelating and bouncing ideas off one another.
• Be aware that the language used needs to be ‘inclusive’ and allow all stakeholders to participate.

Suggestions for encouraging ongoing participation from stakeholders in your Action Research

• Always do what you say and when you say you’ll do it.
• Follow up on every key interaction formally or informally.
• Actively acknowledge all contributions.
• Focus on people’s specific interests and don’t expect them to sit around for a three hour meeting that spends five minutes on their topic of interest.
• Several short and focused meetings with small groups may be more efficient and effective than long meetings with large groups.

Ways to facilitate client participation

• Survey clients once support has ended - this includes young people, their parents and other family members.  It would be useful to check with clients while they are engaged with your service whether they would be happy to be contacted in the future to help with providing better services.
• Be open to discussing your service and the strategies used with clients so that they will feel able to offer observations and reflections on their effectiveness.
• Ask clients if they would like to participate in group planning sessions – don’t assume that they are not interested.

Strategies for working collaboratively with other service providers

• One facilitator may consult separately with a range of stakeholders.
• Planning together may occur through the use of email or teleconferences.
• Observations may be gathered at the end of a pre-existing meeting by setting aside time and space to ‘brainstorm’ and record them.
• It is quite acceptable for one person to draw together reflections which have been sourced from various discussions and stakeholders.

Focus questions

What is a stakeholder?

Who are your stakeholders?

How do you engage your stakeholders?

Are your clients stakeholders?

Do some stakeholders have more influence than others?

Whose voices are being heard when you engage with your stakeholders?

Whose voices are not being heard?