‍“Your organization loses relevance by exhausting resources on what you assume NEEDS to be done, while missing the WHY completely.”
– Tom DiFiore, CEO at NCDS, Inc.

At the center of your Chamber of Commerce or Economic Development Organization’s ability to achieve any of its objectives is stakeholder alignment — an overused buzzword that falls on deaf ears with every strategic planning cycle. And yet, without it, your organization won’t be relevant. 

In this second installment of our blog series, we delve into what happens when you truly align your organization’s goals and objectives with those of your stakeholders. While it may seem obvious, even boring, that stakeholder alignment sustains everything, many organizations get too mired in small-scale operations and traditional fundraising methodologies to execute this effectively. 

Year after year, they focus on growing their organization with alignment as a stated goal rather than genuinely addressing the needs and priorities of their stakeholders.

Stakeholder Needs vs. Organizational Focus

Economic development and community improvement is the forest, while ribbon cuttings, galas, golf tournaments, and marketing efforts are the trees. Many, even most, organizations miss the forest by exhausting limited resources on efforts centered around themselves — events designed to keep the lights on and attract traditional memberships. 

While important, these functions focus too much on the health of the organization and miss what stakeholders truly value. 

Given the choice, your stakeholders would prefer:

• A vibrant growing market (i.e. demand for their products or services)
• Access to a deep pool of skilled workers
• Policies that create a business friendly environment (taxes, zoning, infrastructure, etc.)
• Connections, not just networking events
• Usable information and data
• Direct personal assistance when needed

Stakeholders Can and Should Have Both

Neither your organization nor its stakeholders have to choose between traditional, expected programming and the list above. They’re already willing to commit to an annual membership and golf tournament tickets. It’s a token, minimum-viable badge of community participation, and they have a line item in their marketing budget already. 

Hence, they cap their commitment only because you haven’t given them a good enough reason to commit more. 

To truly align with your stakeholders and compel deeper commitment, your organization’s mission must go beyond what they perceive as self-serving, small-scale efforts at relevance. It should focus on creating value that resonates deeply with their goals — whether that means taking big swings at ambitious market growth, bolstering workforce solutions, or advocating for a more-favorable business environment.

Three Steps to Nailing Stakeholder Alignment

1. You know what they say about assuming.

The one guaranteed path to misalignment (and irrelevance) is to assume you know what stakeholders want. Instead, take the time to identify, ask, and engage in honest dialogue to uncover their true needs and priorities. This is particularly powerful with confidential meetings facilitated by third-party consultants like NCDS, who can provide valid, objective insights. 

With this in hand, focus on areas of shared concern and pinpoint the most critical needs and opportunities identified in these discussions. In doing so, you’ve not only invited the most influential entities in your community to the table and gotten real data, you’ve given them a chance for early collaboration and buy-in.  

2. Assess what other organizations are doing. What are they missing?

Another guaranteed path to irrelevance is to duplicate local initiatives already in motion. To combat redundancy and plant your flag in new, attractive soil, evaluate your local organizational landscape, identifying the roles and activities of other community and economic development organizations, public agencies, and nonprofits. 

By mapping out these entities’ specific competencies, goals, capabilities, and authorities, you can identify gaps and position your organization’s ambitions on the leading edge of stakeholder issues for maximum impact. 

3. Match what you CAN do with what you SHOULD do

With this clarity and insight into your community landscape, outline what your organization can and should do as the basis of your strategic priorities. However, recognize that you may need to develop new capabilities to fill any competency gaps. 

From there, develop tactical plans and initiatives tailored to each strategic objective, ensuring they are grounded in stakeholder insights and aligned with available opportunities. This approach will position your organization for the highest levels of alignment and relevance when the time comes to execute on your initiatives. 

Keep Awareness and Collaboration in Mind

Stakeholder alignment will and should include key business and community leaders, even those outside your board, to promote broad support and buy-in. However, be mindful of your community dynamics, such as turf battles, mission creep, government influence, and funding sources so as not to overstep or duplicate. 

This consideration will also keep your doors open to partnerships and collaboration, which can amplify your impact and ensure that your efforts are seen as supportive rather than competitive.

Relevance Focuses on Your Community, Not Your Organization

For more than 45 years, we’ve seen organizations punch far above their weight class with a community-centric approach that moves far beyond their daily operations. With true alignment, as detailed above, these organizations generate the relevance they need to propose and fulfill wide-sweeping, ambitious initiatives that transform communities. 

We can help you achieve this level of relevance with our new product, the Roadmap to Relevance and Revenue. In eight to ten weeks and far less than the cost of campaign consultants or strategic planners, the Roadmap reorients your organization at the center of your community’s economic future. 

To learn more about what relevance can do for your organization, click here. 

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