Strategies for Stakeholder Collaboration in CSR

Are you in advocacy or influence and still using static spreadsheets as a stakeholder map? If so, you need to change course. Now. Why? Because your spreadsheet won’t properly navigate the SMH that is 2025: • Medicaid cuts in the “Big, Beautiful Bill” • AI disrupting everything • Budget deficits and stock market volatility • Wars in the Middle East, Ukraine, elsewhere • Trade wars, tariff escalations, job cuts. • Free speech fights, antisemitism, and extremism • Inflation, immigration crackdowns, data security concerns These aren’t normal times folks. And your advocacy strategy can’t be either. A real stakeholder map in 2025 should work like a live operating system: updating constantly, filtering by issue, engagement level, and digital footprint. You must constantly watering the proverbial 🌼 🌹 🌺 to win. Here’s what that looks like: Stakeholder Type: Media, Hill staff, trade orgs, agency heads, donors, advocacy groups, coalitions. The usual suspects. Still essential, but just one part of the bigger picture. By Issue: Map your landscape around what actually matters now. Different issues = different allies. Period. If you’re not tracking stakeholders across industry specific flashpoints like AI, Medicaid, trade, immigration, or DEI, you’re flying blind. By Position: Ally, neutral, detractor; on this issue, at this moment. Nobody is “always with you” anymore unless they’re on payroll. And even then. Get real about this. By Influence + Interest: High influence, low interest? Your job is to make them care. Low influence, high interest? They can still amplify or derail you. By Engagement Level: 1 = Active 2 = Warm 3 = Cold but still meaningful. Track across both allies and critics. Where’s your team spending time and why? By Relationship Owner: Who owns the relationship? What’s the origin? What’s your backup plan if they ghost? Redundancy matters more than ever. By Digital Footprint: Your map should surface stakeholders with domain authority in policy, media, and increasingly, AI platforms. If the names on your list aren’t being cited, surfaced, or scraped into training data, you’re not influencing the future conversation in the way that people search and advocate. Static stakeholder lists are a liability. They don’t flex. They don’t prioritize. They definitely don’t win. Build something smarter today, because you’re either at the table or you’re on the menu. 💪 📰 ❤️ 🏛️

Having the wrong stakeholders will definitely kill your project. When your main contact is too low in the organization? You watch your work get filtered through layers of hierarchy before reaching the real decision-maker. Most agencies have rigor around account management (selling new projects) and product delivery… …but not around true partnership. The solution is not complicated, but it requires structure. 💡 First, we use RACI charts to map every stakeholder's role precisely: - R (Responsible): Who handles the day-to-day decisions? - A (Approver): Who makes the final call? (usually the CEO or senior leader) - C (Considered): Who needs to be consulted? - I (Informed): Who just needs updates on outcomes? Then, we put a ton of structure around engaging these different tiers to ensure we are not wasting time. Understanding an approver's vacation schedule in March might seem trivial… but it prevents project slowdowns in July. And here is what most people miss: The agenda and note-taking are the unsung heroes of successful project management. They help us capture everything about our stakeholders' mindset and write the history of the project. Not just their project goals, but the full picture: - How are they looking at the bigger picture? - What other dynamics are happening in their business? - What decisions need to be made? - Who is accountable by when? When we document and understand these details, we can present work in the exact context they need for success. By engaging proper stakeholders at all levels directly, everything runs smoother. We use engagement mapping to make this happen: - Creative directors talk to creative directors - Marketing directors talk to project managers - Executive sponsors talk to C-level stakeholders Because if you are the CEO, you do not you need to be talking to someone with context of the project and the business. That is why we always try to present our work ourselves. So we can: - Hear the feedback directly - Address it immediately - Drive conversations forward - Ask follow up questions for context We are listening for different things than someone internally would. While big agencies might take clients to basketball games and focus on building friendships… We focus on what matters: Overdelivering every metric and keeping laser-focused on business objectives. Because true partnership is not about being friends. It is about delivering value in every single interaction.

As a brand leader, securing stakeholder alignment upfront (and not assuming you have it) is crucial before major initiatives—launches, brand refreshes, new messaging, etc. Differing perspectives are often the quickest way to derail progress! Taking stock of the situation is a step that's easy to skip. But instead... at the start of a new initiative, audit your key brand decision-makers and influencers—from the obvious (CEO, CMO) to the less visible (board members, early investors). Understand their: 🔸 Professional backgrounds 🔸 Personal drivers/motivations AND what they're goaled on 🔸 Communication preferences 🔸 Experience with brand strategy For example, is one of your stakeholders a first-time founder? Expect more personal tastes driving decisions. Or, a newly-hired exec might be looking to prove themselves—proactively bring them into your process and what's been done so far so they don't make as many assumptions. Next, identify potential sticking points so you can get ahead of them. Where have brand conversations become unproductive before? What makes execs clam up or get distracted? Proactively plan to navigate those potholes. This critical context-gathering (the often invisible pre-work) helps you tailor your approach for collaboration. Speak stakeholders' language, give visibility into your process, and reinforce how brand work supports the business—every single meeting. Driving alignment is an upfront investment that pays dividends later. When stakeholders actively engage and agree upfront, brand strategy sticks. #BrandStrategy #BrandLeadership #Marketing #Alignment

Are stakeholders ghosting your meetings, blocking decisions, or suddenly objecting at the eleventh hour? The predictability/power matrix is a strategic approach to manage them effectively, reducing risks and opposition. This tool categorizes stakeholders based on two key factors: • Power: Identify high-impact stakeholders requiring close management. • Predictability: Assess behavior patterns to develop proactive engagement strategies. Some argue that stakeholder maps and models are outdated. While these models originated in a different business era, organizations can still benefit from tailored stakeholder mapping processes that align with their specific goals, leading to improved outcomes. Here's a step-by-step guide to using this tool: 1. List stakeholders: Identify all parties involved in your project. 2. Assess power levels: Evaluate each stakeholder's ability to impact your project. Consider their role and resources. 3. Determine predictability: Analyze how consistent each stakeholder's behavior is. Look at past actions and current attitudes. 4. Plot on the matrix: Place stakeholders on the grid based on their power and predictability scores. Master this tool and transform unpredictable stakeholders into manageable ones. — P.S. Unlock 20 years' worth of leadership lessons sent straight to your inbox. Every Wednesday, I share exclusive insights and actionable tips on my newsletter. (Link in my bio to sign up). Remember, leaders succeed together.

Engagement for Sustainability Goals For sustainability efforts to thrive, companies need to think about their customers, employees, and the communities they operate in. Engaging stakeholders from the start leads to more rewarding, sustainable, and successful programs. Key Strategies for Engagement: 1. Connect and Empower: Engage your workforce from day one by tapping into their collective intelligence. Encourage buy-in, ownership of goals, and partnership. Empower customers, suppliers and employees to contribute ideas and take individual actions towards sustainability. Scope 3 emissions represent about 70% of an organization's emissions (Deloitte); imagine your customers and suppliers contributing ideas & action. 2. Green Loyalty Programs: Draw inspiration from other loyalty programs. Modernize this approach by creating dynamic programs that reward sustainable actions, such as incentivizing carbon offset purchases (think some airlines offering one a chance to offset your flight's emissions). 3. Foster Community: In today’s isolated work-from-home environment, building a sense of community is crucial. Create opportunities for customers, employees and others to engage in outdoor activities, nature-based learning, and volunteer programs focused on sustainability. Come build a trail at one of our Scout Camps! 4. Continuous Learning: Encourage ongoing education about sustainability within your organization. Provide resources and training to keep sustainability top-of-mind and ensure everyone is informed and motivated. Offer your own LinkedIn badge to those who complete courses. Imagine if a major corporation like Microsoft offered LinkedIn sustainability badges - how many thousands of customers and employees would be displaying proudly! 5. Wellness: Tie in the concept of healthy people and a healthy planet. Change behaivors toward conservation and sustainability by unlocking personal wellness opportunities.... “tend” to both human and environmental health. Engagement is the driving force behind achieving and sustaining environmental goals. Let’s embrace it as the new currency for sustainable operations.

Here's a partnership that rights holders and brands can work together on, and it's good for the community... I'm excited to see more partnerships that go beyond signage and instead focus on real impact. The Seattle Sounders FC (my local MLS Team) and Puget Sound Energy (PSE) have launched a multi-year collaboration that fuses purpose, education, and community outreach while aligning with fan values and club culture. This partnership is the kind of strategic thinking that raises the bar in sponsorships. Seattle Sounders FC and Puget Sound Energy (PSE) have announced a new multi-year partnership focused on energy efficiency, sustainability, and impactful community outreach. Why is this important? - Purpose-Driven Partnership: PSE becomes Sounders FC's Official Energy Efficiency Partner, aligning brand purpose with community needs. I'm a big fan of these because rights holders can be the echo chamber for messaging. - Localized Community Impact: The partnership centers on reaching underserved households and educating them about PSE's energy-saving programs. - Player Ambassador Activation: Midfielder Pedro de la Vega will be the face of the campaign, helping to bridge the gap between fans and public resources. - Cultural Relevance: Tapping into the passion of soccer fans to inspire action around sustainability and energy awareness. Within Washington State, soccer has a very passionate fan base. - Strategic Alignment: Combines sport, environmental responsibility, and social good—all pillars of modern brand partnerships. How brands can activate partnerships like this: - Leverage player ambassadors for trust and reach. - Focus on CSR-related initiatives that resonate locally and regionally. Use team platforms and channels to scale educational messaging. - Partner with nonprofit arms (e.g., RAVE Foundation) for grassroots programming. When brands and rights holders lead with purpose and deliver measurable value, the result is more than just impressions—it's impact. This collaboration is a model for how teams and utilities (or other service providers) can empower communities while building affinity. For more, we're always here to help. #sportsbiz #partnership #heretohelp