Stakeholder Alignment: Stakeholder Engagement, Corporate Communications and Reputation Management

5 Day Training Training

Dates: 30 September – 04 October | 25 – 29 November 2024
Locations: Grayston Ridge Office Park, Sandton
Platform: Available In-Class / Online

Price: Available on request

Course Introduction

Stakeholder engagement and management supports the development of strong, constructive, and responsive relationships. Thus, effective stakeholder identification, engagement and management should enhance project acceptance and ownership as well as strengthens the social and environmental sustainability and benefits of supported interventions. It is both a goal in itself – upholding the rights of citizens and others to participate in decisions that may affect them – as well as an effective means for achieving project outcomes, including those related to democratic governance, protecting the environment, promoting respect for human rights, and preventing and resolving conflict (UNDP, 2017).

Corporate communication is defined as activities involved in managing both internal and external communications in a workplace – this can include internal presentations, staff newsletters, media releases for journalists, investor correspondence, social media and more. The aim of corporate communications is to create a favourable perception amongst stakeholders the business depends on, such as investors, employees, or the public. In corporate communications, there are typically three principal areas which are interdependent in ensuring that the organisation successfully communicates with all stakeholders. These are management communication, marketing communication, and organisational communication.

Reputation consists of people’s opinions and perceptions of things. Thus, reputation is considered as very important to organisations yet difficult issue to classify or to specifically explain in academic literature: people are different, and an action that is thought of as justified by one person can be seen as unethical by another, whether in the private sector, public sector or not-for-profit. The reality is, nonetheless, that good reputation can increase an organisation’s sustainability and interest among customers.

Still, an organisation’s reputation does not consist of only what the customers’ opinions of it are. Also, employees, investors, funders, and even analytics have an impact on how the organisation’s reputation is seen. Building a reputation can be a long and complicated process, but to break it down it only takes, for example, few dissatisfied and loud enough employees and/or customers. Thus, to reach organisational goals and prosper, good reputation paves the organisational path to acceptance and approval by stakeholders.

Course Objectives

Through this Stakeholder Alignment: Stakeholder Engagement, Corporate Communications and Reputation Management course, you will better understand your stakeholders, develop a positive working relationship based on cooperation and mutual respect, and maximize long-term benefits.

Better identify and understand your stakeholders
Understand the stakeholder engagement process
Manage their expectations through rapport and an enhanced working relationship
Effectively communicate through identifying and overcoming communication barriers
Better understand personalities and manage conflicts
Apply stakeholder relationship management techniques to gain stakeholders’ confidence and cooperation in new product rollouts, news announcements, changes/restructuring, issues management and crisis.

Who should attend?

Stakeholder Engagement Managers
Corporate Communications Specialists
Reputation Management Experts
Senior Management and Executives
Public Relations Professionals
Government Relations and Public Affairs Specialists
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Managers

Training Methodology

Our diverse instructional approaches ensure effective learning:

– Lectures & Presentations: Engage with expert-driven, stimulating content.
– Course Material: Access well-crafted supporting resources.
– Group Work: Collaborate on discussions and case studies for practical insights.
– Workshops & Role-Play: Participate in immersive, scenario-based activities.
– Practical Application: Focus on applying theoretical knowledge in real situations.
– Post-Training Support: Receive extensive support after training for skill implementation.

Training Outline

Module 1: Stakeholder identification, engagement, and management

Demonstrate understanding of the organisation.
Explain the structure of the industry in which the organisation operates and the organisation’s role within the industry.
Explain the organisation’s purpose and the environment within which it operates.
Identify the people, groups, or organisations (internal and external stakeholders) that could impact or be impacted upon by your developmental intervention.
Perform stakeholder analysis/mapping to optimally understand stakeholder needs and interest.
Describing stakeholder’s relationship with the organisation.
Describing the stakeholder’s relationship to each other.
Develop appropriate stakeholder management strategies for effectively engaging and managing stakeholders.
Apply basic negotiation skills to maximise the impact of the stakeholder management plan.

Module 2: Communications Principles in the Public Sector Environment

Communications defined.
One way versus two-way communication.
The communications process.
Breakdown of communication and overcoming barriers to communication.
Communication process used to coordinate selected communications programmes in the public sector.
Identifying appropriate communication tools.
Different communication methods, channels, styles, and their effectiveness.
Utilising information technology to enhance communications.

Module 3: Corporate Marketing Communications

Demonstrate an understanding and define the nature and role of marketing communications.
Explaining how marketing communications works and how it is classified.
Defining and explaining persuasive communication.
Identifying and explaining the role of marketing communications in the overall marketing process.
All forms of marketing communication including advertising, direct marketing and relationship marketing, sponsorship, event marketing, sales promotion, public relations, and alternative strategies.
Media will include all electronic, print, outdoor, digital media, e-media, and direct media.
The role of marketing communications including promoting corporate image, providing information, creating, increasing, and stabilising demand, differentiating product/service features and benefits, providing competitive differentiation, lead generation / customer service, customer retention and loyalty, motivating staff serve customers effectively.

Module 4: Reputation management

The working definitions and nature of reputation and its management.
Identify best practices in reputation management.
Understand the global nature of reputation and its management.
The boundaries between organisational branding, image, and reputation.
Measuring Corporate Reputation – Models/Approaches and Case Studies.
The Role of Leader Reputation in Determining Corporate Reputation.
Organisational Sustainability (Profits, People and Planet) and Corporate Reputation.
Media and corporate reputation.

Module 5: Crisis Communications