Stakeholder Interviews
Stakeholder interviews are a tool that helps to sense, explore and gain a deeper understanding on different perspectives in a system. The tool has been developed by the Presencing Institute as part of the Theory U toolbox. Stakeholder interviews can be used at any stage of the U process and are a very useful tool to both sense into the system and get feedback on different aspects of your work. At collaboratio helvetica, we use this tool in most of our projects, for example in the Catalyst Lab, where participants do stakeholder interviews to explore the system and topic they are working on.
Why and when to do stakeholder interviews
This tool can be used at any stage of projects with a systemic and multi-stakeholder focus. Stakeholder interviews will help you to get a deeper understanding of the system you are intending to work with, get insights into different perspectives and needs and get valuable feedback for your project. How does the system and topic look from this perspective? What are new information and insights that you are getting by looking from this angle? How does it feel to walk in this person’s shoes? Is the focus you are working on really valuable? Does it make sense for other stakeholders? Stakeholder interviews are also a wonderful tool to start building relationships with different actors of a system, which is especially important if you intend to initiate a process where you want to bring multiple stakeholders together, for instance in a dialogue or Social Innovation Lab.
Whom to interview
For stakeholder interviews, it is important to include as many different perspectives as possible. If the system you are exploring is a company, you will want to interview as many different actors as possible, for instance, the CEO, project managers, the secretary, the person who is in charge of the cleaning, customers, and also outside perspectives of people who don’t know the company well. If your focus is a larger system, for instance, the food system in your region, you will want to interview for instance a farmer, a retailer, an engineer, a consumer, a representative from industry etc. A system mapping can help you figure out the important perspectives to include. One perspective that is always important to include are the marginalised voices, as they will give you important information on aspects that other actors of the system cannot represent. Whose voices are not usually heard in your system? Who is excluded, who is not taken into account in decision-making processes?
How the method works
Before doing stakeholder interviews, you will have to define your focus and calling question. Calling questions help to focus attention, intention, and energy. They sketch the “territory” that you want to explore and dedicate this conversation too. They function as an invitation to others to join. You can learn more about calling questions here.
Once your focus is clear, you can approach your stakeholders and ask them for an interview. In our experience, people are usually quite open to being interviewed if you approach them with an open mind and share that your interest is to learn from their perspective and experience. Before the interview itself, you can prepare some questions as guidance for yourself: what do you want to find out in the interview? They can serve you as a guide during the interview, but usually, stakeholder interviews take on the form of a conversation that is open to the emergence and where many new questions may arise in the process.
Your presence and quality of listening will be key to the quality of the conversation that is unfolding. Practice staying present with an open mind and heart, practising curiosity and compassion instead of judgment and cynicism. How does the world look from that perspective? How does it feel to walk in this person’s shoes? You can learn more about the levels of listening in this introduction video.
Stakeholder interview process: A step by step guide on how to conduct your stakeholder interviews can be found in the Theory U toolbox of the Presencing Institute: Stakeholder Interviews tool description
After the interview, we recommend you take some time to harvest and summarize your main insights. After conducting your series of interviews, you may want to send your main insights to your stakeholders and include them in the next steps of your project. Stakeholder interviews can be a door opener and a first entry point to establish connections and relationships, that make it easier to then onboard your stakeholders into a longer process, for instance, a series of dialogues.
Examples
We use this tool as part of the Catalyst Lab journey. Catalysts are encouraged to do stakeholder interviews already in the sensing part of the U journey, after they have defined their focus and calling questions, in order to learn to see the system they are working on with fresh eyes. Stakeholder interviews are used during the whole process and help the Catalysts also to get feedback on and validate the ideas and approaches they are developing.
Anna Krebs, Catalyst on Gender and Diversity of the first cycle of the Catalyst Lab (2019-2020) has conducted a series of interviews with Gender and Diversity experts across sectors in Switzerland, which in this specific case she also used for communication (depending on what your focus is and what you want to achieve, you can ask your stakeholders if you can publish the interview - if the topic is very delicate or you are in the initial phase of trust-building with your stakeholders, this is not recommended though). You can have a look at the interview series here:
Why we need to step outside of our own bubbles with Fleur Heyworth, Geneva Center for Security Policy
Why men need to emancipate inwards with Gilles Crettenant, Mencare
Stories alone won't change structures and behaviours with Stefanie Hetjens, Transgender Network
Why we need to change the myth about part-time work being a killer of careers, with Simona Scarpaleggia, former CEO of IKEA Switzerland
Sources and Further literature
Sarah Friederich is part of the Catalyst Lab design and hosting team at collaboratio helvetica and in this role supports the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a facilitator (Theory U, Art of Hosting, Dialogue) she supports diverse projects in the area of social innovation with design and facilitation of participatory events and group processes. The promotion of new forms of collaboration and systemic change are an integral part of her work. For many years, she has gained experience working for NGOs and social organisations in the field of environmental and social justice in Switzerland and Bolivia.
In addition to her work with collaboratio helvetica and as a facilitator, Sarah supports people as a coach in their personal development processes, especially in the process of grieving after the loss of a loved one.