Develop and sustain productive working relationships with stakeholders
Overview
This standard is about developing and sustaining productive working relationships with stakeholders. These include colleagues within your own organisation, people within other organisations with which your organisation works and other external stakeholders.
This standard is relevant to managers and leaders who work with both internal and external stakeholders.
This standard links closely with all the other standards in key area DD Build and sustain relationships and also with CFAM&LAA3 Develop and maintain your professional networks.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
You must be able to:
P1 Identify external stakeholders and the nature of their interest in the activities and performance of your organisation.
P2 Establish working relationships with relevant internal and external stakeholders.
P3 Recognise and respect the roles, responsibilities, interests and concerns of stakeholders and, particularly in situations of matrix management, their managers’ requirements.
P4 Seek to create a climate of trust and mutual respect, particularly where you have no authority, or shared authority, over those you are working with.
P5 Seek to understand difficult situations and issues from stakeholders’ perspectives and provide support, where necessary, to move things forward.
P6 Provide stakeholders with appropriate information to enable them to perform effectively.
P7 Consult stakeholders in relation to key decisions and activities and take account of their views, including their priorities, expectations and attitudes to potential risks.
P8 Fulfil agreements made with stakeholders and let them know.
P9 Advise stakeholders promptly of any difficulties or where it will be impossible to fulfil agreements.
P10 Identify and resolve conflicts of interest and disagreements with stakeholders in ways that minimise damage to work and activities and to the stakeholders involved.
P11 Monitor and review the effectiveness of working relationships with stakeholders in order to identify areas for improvement.
P12 Seek and provide feedback in order to improve your own and stakeholders’ performance.
P13 Monitor wider developments in order to identify issues of potential interest or concern to stakeholders in the future and to identify new stakeholders.
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
General knowledge and understanding
You must be able to:
K1 The benefits of developing productive working relationships with stakeholders.
K2 Different types of stakeholder and key principles which underpin the ‘stakeholder’ concept.
K3 How to identify your organisation’s stakeholders, including background information and the nature of their interest in your organisation.
K4 Principles of effective communication and how to apply them in order to communicate effectively with stakeholders.
K5 Why it is important to recognise and respect the roles, responsibilities, interests and concerns of stakeholders.
K6 The importance of creating a climate of trust and mutual respect where you have no authority, or shared authority, over those you are working with.
K7 The importance of understanding difficult situations and issues from other perspectives and providing support, where necessary, to move things forward.
K8 How to identify and meet the information needs of stakeholders.
K9 What information it is appropriate to provide to stakeholders and the factors that need to be taken into consideration.
K10 How to consult with stakeholders in relation to key decisions and activities.
K11 The importance of taking account, and being seen to take account, of the views of stakeholders, particularly in relation to their priorities, expectations and attitudes to potential risks.
K12 Why communication with stakeholders on fulfilment of agreements or any problems affecting or preventing fulfilment is important.
K13 How to identify conflicts of interest with stakeholders and the techniques that can be used to manage or remove them.
K14 How to identify disagreements with stakeholders and the techniques for sorting them out.
K15 The damage that conflicts of interest and disagreements with stakeholders can cause to individuals and organisations
K16 How to recognise and take account of political issues when dealing with stakeholders.
K17 How to manage the expectations of stakeholders.
K18 How to monitor and review the effectiveness of working relationships with stakeholders.
K19 How to get and make effective use of feedback from stakeholders.
K20 How to provide stakeholders with feedback designed to improve their performance.
K21 The importance of monitoring wider developments in relation to stakeholders and how to do so effectively.
You need to know and understand:
Industry/sector specific knowledge and understanding
K22 Current and emerging trends and developments in your industry or sector.
K23 Sector-specific legislation, regulations, guidelines and codes of practice.
K24 Standards of behaviour and performance in your industry or sector.
K25 The culture of your industry or sector.
You need to know and understand:
Context specific knowledge and understanding
K26 The vision, values, objectives, plans, structure and culture of your organisation.
K27 Relevant stakeholders, their work roles and responsibilities.
K28 Identified stakeholders, their background and interests in the activities and performance of the organisation.
K29 Agreements with stakeholders.
K30 The identified information needs of stakeholders.
K31 Mechanisms for consulting with stakeholders on key decisions and activities.
K32 Your organisation’s planning and decision-making processes.
K33 Mechanisms for communicating with stakeholders.
K34 Power, influence and politics within your organisation.
K35 Standards of behaviour and performance that are expected in your organisation.
K36 Mechanisms in place for monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of working relationships with stakeholders.
Scope/range
Scope Performance
Scope Knowledge
Values
Behaviours
1 Identify people’s preferred ways of communicating
2 Use communication media and styles appropriate to different people and situations
3 Present information clearly, concisely, accurately and in ways that promote understanding
4 Keep people informed of plans and developments in a timely way
5 Show respect for the views and actions of others
6 Comply with and ensure others comply with legal requirements, industry regulations, organisational policies and professional codes
7 Seek to understand people’s needs and motivations
8 Create a sense of common purpose
9 Work towards win-win solutions
10 Take account of the internal and external politics that impact on your own area of work
11 Clarify your own and others’ expectations of relationships
12 Model behaviour that shows, and inspires others to show, respect, helpfulness and cooperation 13 Honour your commitments to others
14 Recognise when there are conflicts, acknowledge the feelings and views of all parties, and redirect people’s energy towards a common goal
15 Take account of the impact of your own actions on others
16 Recognise stakeholders’ needs and interests and manage these effectively
Skills
Balancing competing needs and interests
Communicating
Consulting
Empathising
Information management
Involving others
Leadership
Managing conflict
Monitoring
Networking
Obtaining feedback
Presenting information
Prioritising
Problem solving
Providing feedback
Reviewing
Valuing and supporting others