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5.2
Developing an Awareness of Stakeholders
Submitted by Lori Britt
This activity is designed to help participants think deeply and methodically about who has a stake in the conversation and should be included at the table. It expands thinking and encourages greater inclusivity.
Learning Goal
Distinguish and identify various types of stakeholders in civic issues.
Instructions
Set Up: Prepare for the Activity
Select a topic that is important to your discussion group, something they are passionate about or where they see the need for change. As preparation for this activity, consider doing Activity 5.1 Identifying Your Civic Passion in a prior session.
Share the Identifying Stakeholders Worksheet with participants as handouts or create copies of this file for each group.
Organize participants into small groups (3-4 ppl).
Begin by introducing the learning goals of this activity.
Step One: Introduce the Four Types of Stakeholders (15 min)
Share the following introduction to stakeholders with participants:
When collaborating with others on civic or public issues, it is important to ensure that a wide variety of perspectives on the issue are considered. As we think about complex issues, we need to think about who the issue “touches” and then find out ways to gain their perspectives. One place to start is by thinking about stakeholders. A stakeholder is someone with an interest in the issue. This might be hard to conceptualize at first, so it may help to think about four categories of stakeholders in public issues:
Affected: Those directly impacted by the issue, whose lives are directly touched by the issue.
Helpers: Those who try to help those impacted, this could be family, friends, support groups, non-profits, institutions, etc.
Influencers: Those who try to influence how the issue is defined and/or advocate for changes.
Decision-Makers: Those who have the power to make change through policy. (Policy being defined as a change in the status quo which might include, but is not limited to legislation.)
Step Two: Introduce the Issue (5 min)
If this group has done Activity 5.1 Identifying Your Civic Passion, assign small groups to one of the “winning” issues. You might choose to have groups all focus on the same issue to be able to compare and add depth, or you may wish to have groups working on several of the final four issues.
If the group has not done Activity 5.1, briefly introduce the chosen issue prepared for this discussion.
Step Three: Create Stakeholder Charts (20 min)
In small groups, have participants identify stakeholders for the issue in each of the four categories using the Identifying Stakeholders Worksheet.
Encourage them to keep thinking for several rounds to encourage consideration of those beyond the “usual suspects” or people who are normally associated with the issue. At the same time, remind them to make sure these are people with a stake or connected to the issue in some way.
Use the following prompts to help participants think deeply about who these stakeholders are:
Who is directly impacted by the issue?
Are there others affected indirectly?
Who are the people or organizations who help those impacted?
Who has the authority to make decisions about this issue?
Who might inform those decisions?
Who is shaping public perception of this issue?
Who has critical information about this issue?
Who is involved in addressing the issue?
Step Four: Debrief as a Full Group (10 min)
Invite each group to share their chart of stakeholders. Discuss:
Are there any “surprise” stakeholders on these lists?
What are some strategies you can use to recognize the less obvious or marginalized stakeholders?
Why is it important to consider as many stakeholders as possible? What is gained by this? When might this hinder progress or development?
TIME
50
min
MODULE
Civic Collaboration
This activity can be completed by any discussion group.
This activity can be easily modified for asynchronous learning. See Sample Asynchronous Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
This activity is suitable for professional or more formal learning environments.
This activity can be used to support facilitation skills. See Sample Facilitation Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
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0 Comments
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:39:23 AM
Activity 5.4 uses the fun method of role playing and builds on other activities to help participants develop questions and practice gathering information to collaborate effectively with communities as partners. This activity involves working together in small groups and as a large group. It also includes multiple additional resources for participants to continue learning methods and skills to build community partnerships.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:39:00 AM
Activity 1.8 provides a very useful survey to gather information on and help support participants' different discussion styles and needs, exploring various areas like preferences for group size, ways of participating in discussions, any fears relating to discussions, etc.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:34:46 AM
Activity 5.8 further explores direct democracy by proposing the idea of "legislative juries" to improve the current initiative process through collaboration and deliberation. This activity uses role playing to have participants practice deliberation as part of a mock legislative jury to craft ballot initiatives on a given issue.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:27:35 AM
Activity 5.7 uses a fun and tactile activity like building LEGOs to explore the effects of coming together to colloborate and discuss, while also participating together in another physical activity.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:22:49 AM
Activity 5.6 uses memes and futuristic zombie scenarios to develop ways to change people's minds, while exploring various aspects of the methods used to change minds, like assumptions behind ideas, sticking to the facts versus stretching the truth, appealing to emotions etc.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:16:44 AM
Activity 5.5 uses a fun and visual/craft activity to help participants explore the many different types of knowledge, how they are valued, and the role/importance of each type of knowledge in their own lives.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:11:54 AM
Activity 5.3 gives participants to use writing, drawing, and/or speaking to share and discuss the various communities they belong to and/or feel excluded from, the various aspects that define community, as well as the practices of inclusion or exclusion and power distribution in these communities.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:07:26 AM
Activity 5.2 introduces four categories of stakeholders and multiple prompts to help participants work together in small and large groups to create comprehensive list of stakeholders, including those who are marginalized or not as obvious, for a given issue.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:04:00 AM
Activity 5.1 uses gamification by having participants play the Civics Topics Sweet Sixteen Competition to identify their issues they are passionate about both as individuals and as a group.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:01:34 AM
Activity 4.9 uses both lighthearted and serious characters, topics, and dialogue to help participants practice viewing an issue from the perspective of multiple people/characters and explain their thought processes and rationale for the choices they think these people will make in a given situation.