Stakeholder Engagement.
Mana Group Consulting is a leader in stakeholder engagement with a focus on the energy industry and rural stakeholders, work closely with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Labs, and critical groups like the National Association of Counties (NACo) and National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) to connect them with local decision makers working their way through the energy transition.
Engaging stakeholders and our approach to facilitated discussions helps to collect diverse viewpoints from community members. These insights help identify effective solutions to address community concerns and empower local leaders to make well-informed decisions about development impacting their communities.
To identify and give particular focus to the groups most impacted by project development, the Mana Group uses a three-tiered approach for mapping, assessment, and individualized outreach strategies as shown below:
Stakeholder Engagement Formula
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Stakeholder Mapping.
The Mana team takes the time to understand the community they support. We create a community snapshot that highlights critical factors unique to each community. This snapshot results in a shareable community connection database. This step takes the longest to ensure a thorough representation of the community.
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Assessment.
Discovery is a process that the Mana team does not rush and finds most beneficial. The team conducts a series of listening sessions to obtain background regarding ideas, concerns, and areas of challenge for the community. Further analysis is conducted to identify development and cultural factors that support or delay a successful project, including the time and investment required to advance community readiness.
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Outreach Strategy.
Idealized engagement goals include connection preference and how best to facilitate and maintain communication reciprocity.
Our Strategy
Community snapshots are developed using the three-pronged approach above and help identify gaps and targets for outreach, and strategies to connect. Continuous updates to expand the community profile focus on gaps and gain a more in-depth understanding of the influence of private sector interests; the history of trust/distrust among communities, government, and utilities; and the impacts of natural disasters, environmental concerns, and how communities are planning for and opposed to the existence of climate change.
The stakeholder engagement strategy is an organic plan that begins with the stakeholder mapping exercise and is managed by the Community Connection Database (CCD), which entails a local, regional, and state analysis that identifies the obvious and less apparent stakeholders influencing the community. The CCD often reveals prior engagement efforts and their impacts, showcasing a need for an adapted outreach strategy.
