Strategic review and stakeholder engagement

Businesses and organisations have traditionally looked to engage citizens, customers, colleagues or communities for two reasons: 

• Listening to their perceptions and priorities, at a moment in time, to help with decision-making and business planning 
• Engaging them in landmark projects and programmes to demonstrate value and secure buy-in. 

So, how do we achieve greater insight and more active engagement? In our view, real value comes from nurturing deeper human connections for the longer-term – engaging people in achieving a shared positive future. Whether it’s how to change the way we think about the resources we use, or how to address social inequalities, or risks to health and climate, behaviour-driven engagement matters. Scientific reports suggest that behaviour change can deliver between 30% and 60% of the actions required to mitigate climate change. We therefore need a much closer understanding of people, their biases and motivations if we are to develop effective solutions and activate change at the scale we need. 

To achieve real value, we need to move the needle from dialogue and engagement to active participation, collaboration, co-creation and innovation. This generates: 

• More focused and relevant strategies 
• Richer insight and more trusted relationships 
• Deeper understanding of experiences, barriers and motivators 
• More effective interventions and solutions 
• More sustainable people-centred products and services 
• Shared ownership and action 
• Meaningful innovation 
• More effective behaviour change campaigns. 

 We believe the starting point is to be clear on the outcomes you seek – why it matters, and what you want people to think, believe and do. We can help you define your brief and develop the right processes to achieve your organisational goals. 

Times of uncertainty and change can either fuel inertia and panic, or drive fresh thinking, innovation and the opening-up of new opportunities, products and services. Using evidence to inform long-term planning helps organisations respond positively and purposefully in the face of volatility, giving them control and the space to prepare. 

Organisations that are ready for change have increased opportunities to think and act to achieve sustainable success. They do this by continually reviewing and understanding context, defining their preferred future, and bringing that future to life. 

Our process for planning future scenarios couples a rigorous approach to evidence gathering, with creative thinking and analytic interpretation. It’s built around six key principles: 

• Differentiate between trends (based on evidence), signals (that could become trends) and debates (where there are differences in opinion) 
• Prioritise issues by ‘need for speed’, potential impact on the business, risk of inaction and opportunity if you act 
• Show the connection between issues as systems so you understand the links 
• Define the probable future (if nothing changes), plausible futures (depending on which dials are turned up), and your preferred future 
• Turn your preferred future into an evidence-based narrative that appeals to both reason and emotion 
• Don’t stop there; bring that future to life.