22nd April 2020

Article by RoyceComm

Plenty has been written and said about the need for – and the damaging effects of – isolation in the pandemic response.

The physical and emotional disconnection caused by social distancing and working remotely is already impacting mental health and business productivity.

The need for clear and regular communication with your staff is obvious; but businesses that rely on strong stakeholder relationships should be spending time and effort tending to those as well.

Your relationships with suppliers, customers, distributors, government and advocates are more important than ever for the survival, productivity and eventual recovery of your business.

It’s understandable that some businesses don’t currently have the bandwidth to be considering stakeholder comms – but if you’re not engaging or not actively planning how to engage, then you’re letting those relationships slip.

Are you going to come out of the pandemic with stronger relationships, or have to start again?

Consider how you can provide comfort and confidence to the companies and individuals that you work with in your preparedness, your adaptability, and your willingness to work with them to find solutions that benefit you both.

Review your stakeholder engagement plans and consider how to adapt it to current restrictions and obstacles.

Stakeholder relations in these times can be as simple as a brief message to let stakeholders know you’re still around, still operational, still able to be contacted, and when to expect to hear more.

They can be as in-depth as sharing operational continuity plans or including stakeholders in your business continuity planning discussions.

They can be as casual as a phone call or a Zoom check-in, or as formal as including them in new customer reference groups or stakeholder advisory groups.

If we truly are all in this together, then make sure your priority stakeholders know about it.