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| Stakeholder
Satisfaction |
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This section looks at those people who
have a stake in our organisation. It considers the nature of their interest
and concern and how we can enable
their needs to be met.
Stakeholders are defined as those who
can claim a legitimate interest in an
organisation and its work. They are the
people who care about and who may
wish to play a part in how our
organisation progresses. Stakeholders
include both people inside and outside
our organisation. The main
stakeholder groups that we need to
consider are:
● those who benefit from our
activities (People We Help)
● those who work for the
organisation in a paid capacity
(Paid Staff)
● those who work for the
organisation in an unpaid capacity
(Volunteers)
● those whose financial support
enables it to function (Funders)
● those agencies who work alongside
us (Partners)
● those whose status, position or public standing may be affected by
our organisation, or those who may
wish to affect us (Influencers) |
If we want to survive and flourish as an organisation we have to ensure
that we keep the support of our stakeholders both internally and externally. This means knowing what
our stakeholders want from us and finding ways to satisfy their needs.
Of course meeting stakeholders'
needs isn't always easy. Different stakeholders may want different things
from us and some stakeholders are more demanding than others.
Maintaining the balance between varying interests requires skill, understanding and time.
The cycle of 'Need, Plan, Do, Review' is particularly important with stakeholders. Voluntary organisations
often come into being because one of these stakeholders groups has identified the need for such an
organisation.
The needs of stakeholders should be taken into account
when deciding the direction of the organisation. In turn this will
influence the activities that we undertake and the way we measure
progress.
There are three key elements to ensuring Stakeholder Satisfaction:
● understand who our
stakeholders are
● listen to and respect their
different needs
● respond to those needs
Look at the website
www.thebigpic.org.uk
(Stakeholder Satisfaction, Key texts) for
information on stakeholder analysis
and methods for consulting
stakeholders
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| STAKEHOLDER
SATISFACTION |
People We Help
Those who benefit from the work of voluntary organisations may be called service
users, clients, beneficiaries, participants, members or even customers. Here we
look at how we find out about, recognise, value and act upon the views of the
people we want to help. |
Paid Staff
This is about ensuring that paid staff feel valued and that they are satisfied with
and feel motivated by the organisation and the work that they do. |
Volunteers
Unpaid or 'honorary' members of staff are a key resource for the voluntary sector,
and one of its most vital and distinguishing features. Volunteers give of their time,
skills and expertise for no financial reward. It is important to think about how we
ensure that they feel valued and are satisfied with and motivated by their work
and the organisation. |
Funders
We need funds to help our organisation to function properly. Keeping funders
happy is vital. We need to understand their needs and to develop good
relationships with them. |
Partners
We can have greater impact when we work with other organisations to address a
common issue or concern. Ensuring that our partners are happy with the way we
work with others is critical to this. |
Influencers
Another, less obvious, set of stakeholders in our work are people who can
influence the impact we make, such as politicians and the media. Some of these
'influencers' may already support what we do. Others create the conditions that
will support or inhibit our work in the future. Here we look at how we satisfy
those influencers and keep them on our side. |
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