Stakeholder engagement

This section examines how to identify and engage with stakeholders and why this is important for your organisation. Meaningful engagement practices are identified as well as the different stakeholders with which sports bodies engage both inside and outside the organisation.

Within governance theory, the stakeholder approach argues that sound governance aims not just to meet the objectives of shareholders or members but also to have regard to the interests of other individuals and groups impacted by the performance and conduct of an organisation, including the public at large. From a ‘stakeholder view’, governance is concerned with achieving a balance between business and social goals and individual and communal goals.

Effective stakeholder engagement can help organisations improve understanding and decision making as well as overall governance and organisational effectiveness. Acknowledging and affording stakeholder groups a meaningful voice provides some checks and balances on the concept of the autonomy of sport, creates a productive two-way dialogue with those impacted by and contributing to a sport, increases a sense of participation and belonging, and improves democratic accountability. It also encourages the integration of stakeholder knowledge into the sport’s direction.

This section covers stakeholder engagement in several different subsections: