The Importance of Stakeholder Engagement

I drove through Oregon recently and came across a billboard that was advocating against the building of a mid-size manufacturing facility in a rural town. I was curious about that sign because this rural town from an outsider’s perspective seemed to be neglected and this new facility was sure to bring commerce and jobs to the area. The residents went to a lot of effort to publicly express their dissent of the project – Why?

New development projects can go wrong for many reasons – costs, market fluctuation, environmental issues – however community backlash is one that can mostly be avoided with a great community engagement plan. Community engagement is more than just spreading all the perceived good outcomes over existing social channels or sending press releases to the local media. It is working with the community members and letting them know of your plans, relaying your message in a personal way, and hearing their feedback. Face-to-face meetings and listening to objections early in the project phase can go a long way to having a community that endorses your business.

When a development project is in progress, everything flows a little smoother when all involved support you. In the above example (and after a little research), the community was angry about the project blocking local access to the river for recreation. Could that have been included in the planning phase and the whole incident avoided? Who knows, but a little honest conversation and engagement could have gone a long way to avoid public backlash to the new facility – the kind of backlash that has elected officials and visitors to the region, like me, taking notice.               -Jennifer Ott