An Argument for Appointing a Chief Relationship Officer
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While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that “No relationship is more important to this government then the one with Indigenous Peoples", it is important to remember that all relationships are important.
The current government places significant importance on building relationships. In his Ministerial Mandate Letters, Prime Minister Trudeau states:
- Canadians need to have faith in their government’s honesty and willingness to listen. I expect that our work will be informed by performance measurement, evidence, and feedback from Canadians.
- It is my expectation that you will engage constructively and thoughtfully and add priorities to your agenda when appropriate.
- Meaningful engagement with Opposition Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Committees and the public service; constructive dialogue with Canadians, civil society, and stakeholders, including business, organized labour, the broader public sector, and the not-for-profit and charitable sectors.
In fact, the federal Open Government initiative:
- Increases demand to consult and be transparent;
- Raises stakeholders’ and Canadians’ expectation to be heard. They want to participate in decision making where possible; and
- Makes engaging the public the default option.
In order for departments and agencies to achieve their mandates, they must build, rehabilitate and maintain relationships with internal and external stakeholders, at a variety of levels, across vast geographic areas and often with differing objectives. Given this complex operating environment, it can be expected that gaps in how engagement and relationships with various stakeholders are managed can easily develop. Ongoing, accurate and up-to-date feedback from stakeholders enables organizations to evaluate the impact of its specific programs and services on stakeholders as well as the effectiveness of its relationships over time. Wide-reaching, inclusive, and responsive stakeholder engagement activities underpin lasting relationships. These relationships enable organizations to effectively and efficiently mitigate risks as well as design and deliver their strategic, program and operational priorities.
Given the importance of managing both internal and external relationships, it is critical that departments and agencies coordinate their efforts to plan, develop, deliver and evaluate their engagement efforts in order to strengthen interactions with key stakeholders.
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Engaging with Stakeholders
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According to the GCPedia page on Public Participation, Stakeholders are defined as:
Individuals, groups or organizations who are affected or who could be impacted by a Department’s policies, regulations programs, services and communications. They include, but are not limited to, citizens, interest groups, associations, sector representatives, private companies and academics. Stakeholders can also include all or parts of the machinery of government at various levels when the focus of the interest or stake is also internal or exclusively internal.
Our experience at Harley House is that federal organizations frequently do not effectively coordinate their engagement activities with stakeholders, nor have a clear understanding of what constitutes engagement. This experience has led us to develop the Engagement Continuum model and to recommend the appointment of a Chief Relationship Officer to coordinate and support engagement throughout federal departments and agencies.
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Public engagement is an important part of the democratic process and enables departments and agencies to fulfill key responsibilities including:
- Listening to feedback and perspectives from individuals and groups in order to develop an understanding of issues, concerns, priorities and gain feedback on the performance of government policies, programs services and regulatory initiatives. The focus is on who is saying what.
- Providing information to affected stakeholders in order to enable informed decision making and actions. The focus is on this is what will be happening.
- Consulting with stakeholders to facilitate information exchange and knowledge sharing in order to improve the understanding of issues and the building of relationships among interested and affected parties. The focus is on how things will be done.
- Fostering collaboration between the department/agency and individuals, groups and organizations to provide opportunities to shape government policies and decisions. The focus is on what need to be done and why.
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Chief Relationship Officer
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Engagement within the federal government, like communications, is a shared responsibility. However, like communications, it is critical that it be coordinated.
The following table is presented as an illustration of how those roles and responsibilities can be allocated.
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Roles and Responsibilities for Stakeholder Engagement
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Chief Relationship Officer (CRO)
- Develop an Annual Engagement Strategy and update it on a quarterly basis
- Develop a Policies and Procedures manual for Internal and External Engagement
- Provide expert advice and support
- Provide horizontal coordination
- Develop and maintain a central engagement/stakeholder inventory
- Keep a finger on the pulse of the internal and external public environment
- Track and report on consultations and engagement activities
- Support consultation and engagement planning
- Manage web based tools to support online engagement
- Respond to engagement queries, MO, PCO, etc.
- Liaise/coordinate with central agencies and related government working groups
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Program Managers
- Lead on specific consultations and engagement activities
- Advise the Engagement Centre of Excellence of engagement and consultation requests/opportunities
- Provide information on stakeholders and engagement activities for central inventory
- Work with Engagement Centre of Excellence to draft consultation and engagement plans
- Record consultation and engagement activities and stakeholder feedback in central Contact Management System
- Lead routine day-to-day engagement and consultation activities
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This division of responsibility is consistent with the Federal Government Communications Policy that states with respect to consultations and public engagement, heads of communications are responsible for the following:
- 6.41Providing communications advice, support and guidance at all stages of consultations and public engagement initiatives; and
- 6.42Ensuring that information about external consultations and public engagement initiatives are posted on the Government of Canada's web presence.
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At Harley House Consultants Inc. we help our clients manage internal and external relationships with key stakeholder groups to ensure the long-term success and effectiveness of the organization. Please go to www.RelationshipCenteredModel.com to learn more about the six relationships of highly effective organizations.
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At Harley House Consultants Inc. we believe that effective communications involves meaningful, constructive and thoughtful engagement with internal and external stakeholders. You have to be strategically positioned to provide timely, complete, honest, open and sincere information about the policies, programs and services of the Government of Canada.
For more information about how to improve the effectiveness of your consultation and communications strategies:
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