Creating a whole-of-organization view of stakeholder engagement

Challenge

A Victorian government organization needed a clearer view of its stakeholder landscape following a machinery-of-government change that brought several areas together, each with its own stakeholders, relationships and ways of working.

Important engagement was happening, but it wasn’t visible. Much of the history and many longstanding relationships sat with individuals, with no shared view of who was being engaged, by whom or how often. This was leading to duplicated engagement and missed opportunities to coordinate across the organisation, creating a risk of mixed messages, stakeholder fatigue and damage to important relationships.

With significant legislative reform approaching, the need for better coordination was growing.

What We Did

Vant built a consolidated, whole-of-organisation stakeholder register and practical engagement guidance framework, drawing on existing knowledge and materials rather than starting from scratch.

We brought stakeholder relationships from across multiple functions into a single view, surfacing legacy arrangements, clarifying who owned each relationship and making overlaps and gaps easier to see. We also designed practical tools teams could use in their day-to-day work, supported by clear principles, a common language and guidance on engagement planning and coordination.

We did the heavy lifting on mapping and consolidation, while validating the detail with executives through short, targeted sessions.

Outcome

The organization moved from siloed engagement to a shared picture that executives and teams could rely on. Teams could see where the same stakeholders were being engaged across different areas, helping to reduce duplication and improve coordination and consistency ahead of a significant reform program.

The register also created a stronger base for planning and reporting, making it easier to identify overlaps, gaps and opportunities to coordinate engagement. The framework provided enough structure to make engagement planning easier and more consistent for staff, while leaving room for judgement across different stakeholders, circumstances and levels of risk.

The result wasn’t more engagement, but more coordinated and purposeful engagement, built on the organisation’s own knowledge and designed to become part of everyday work.