Not all key actors will engage in Stakeholder Dialogues in the same way. Some stakeholders are more difficult to engage. In many organizations, people continually change positions, send new people to meetings without briefing them or drop out of engagement processes pressured by other commitments. This can compromise the momentum and content of dialogue within and beyond the core group. For some new participants, everything may need to slow down or stop until they have been brought up to speed in their role as core group members, supporters or high-level sponsors. A Stakeholder Dialogue process cannot always be delayed, so it pays off to invest very consciously in container-building when new people are brought on board. In such a situation, relationship-building is the key. Sometimes, people do not understand the difference between a good container for change and a formal committee or task force composed of representatives. Any committee or task force can become a good container of course, but this will not happen automatically. The emotional commitment between people, as well as between people and the goal of the Stakeholder Dialogue, will only build up gradually, and only if the initiators invest enough time in relationship-building and in building the case for change. Have you stumbled into a pitfall? Have a look at these tips:

Dive deeper and learn more about engagement processes in our open course:
Process Designs for Stakeholder Engagement – 01-04 July 2014 in Potsdam, Germany.