This Document

This document contains some initial notes and suggestions from Adit that may be used to
stimulate the progress of the Digital Birmingham NGA project born from our experience in
commencing other significant Public Sector broadband projects – all advice discretionary;

Specifically as proposed herein:-

1) Suggested terms of reference for a steering committee.

2) Suggested list of entities for inclusion in stakeholders/interested parties

Steering Group - Terms of Reference

Objective

The function of the steering group is

1) To ensure that the Project correctly reflects the plans and aspirations of all potential
stake-holders.
2) Ensure effective communications between all parties such that opportunities for
cooperation, joint working etc are optimised
3) To properly communicate the purpose and scope of the project back to stakeholders.

General

The information flow is two-way the project informs the stake-holders of project progress
– this includes latest thinking, possible outcomes, risks, timescales, and financial
estimates.

In return the stake-holders inform the project of their current and future requirements,
strategy direction and objectives. The steering group has an overarching responsibility to
ensure the project is effective in servicing the needs and aspirations of all potential
customers of the project and are required to represent the project back into their
respective organisations as well as representing their organisation into the project.

The Steering group meetings will be held on a monthly basis with dates published in
advance.

Ethos

The Steering group operates under a general principle of confidentiality. Anything

discussed at the steering group is not automatically assumed to be public knowledge if
any member wishes to discuss items specific to another member’s organisation external
to the steering group then verbal permission to do this should be sought.

In general the group operates on a trust basis and members should be able to talk freely
about their needs plans and issues.

However general Non Disclosure Agreements will not be signed and written permission to
divulge information from individuals will not be requested as the management of this
process will be too onerous.
Attendees and attendance

It is requested that individuals attending the steering group have sufficient seniority within
their organisations to talk with authority and feed back information at a policy makers
level, in general it is expected that these individuals attend in person, with attendance
delegated only if absolutely necessary.

Due to the large number of potential attendees meeting dates will not be arranged by
consensus but at a fixed date each month. Inevitably this will mean non-attendance on
occasion.

If an organisation opts not to attend each meeting it can request to be copied on the
meeting notes.

Template Agenda

In general each meeting will be held to 2 hours with the following typical agenda.

It is expected that the Chair will be the Digital Birmingham Programme Director.

• Introductions
• Actions/Updates
• Project Progress Update
• Presentation – relevant topic
• Topical discussion
• Matter Arising/AOB
• Close

Possible invitees to provide Stakeholder Input or even join Steering Group

These organisations can opt to nominate a representative to participate in the steering

group meetings or just to be copied on progress reports and meeting minutes.

Customers: Without your customers or clients your social enterprise cannot succeed. It is
essential you are aware of their changing opinions and tastes. If you can anticipate what
they might want in the future, then you can ensure your goods or services meet their
needs.

Staff: Your staff are highly significant stakeholders in your organisation. Some social
enterprises are primarily set up to provide employment – so the main beneficiaries of the
business are the people who actually work for it. In other cases, staff are employed to
create an entity which will have a beneficial impact on the wider community. But all social
enterprises have values and principles that guide their work, meaning that profit isn’t
prized above everything else. Bearing this in mind, to demonstrate to your personnel that
they are valued and really do have a say in the organisation as a whole, it is important to
involve them in decision-making.

Volunteer Sector: Volunteers may work for the organisation unpaid, but they still make a
critical difference and their views matter. In fact, because you aren’t rewarding them
financially it is vital that they are made aware of how much their contribution matters. One
way to do this is by involving them in your enterprise’s development. If you take
volunteers for granted they can become disillusioned and find a more appreciative
organisation to work for.

Community Members: The surrounding community will inevitably be affected by your

decisionmaking and work. If you have an office or manufacturing base then you will have
neighbours. Like any socially aware business, you should find out how you affect those
around you and whether you can make yourself a better neighbour.

Funders: In addition to income from your customers, you may receive some funding from
grant-makers and investors. Their money clearly makes a difference to your work. Bear in
mind they are investing in you for a reason, which is usually for more than simply financial
gain. It is likely they are doing so because they believe in the work you are doing. So if
you are planning any changes that could mean their money is more or less effectively
invested, it is only polite to inform them.

Board Members & Politicians: Your Board members, like your volunteers, offer their time
for free and should be in a position where they guide the organisation’s development. In
some not-for-profit organisations, a powerful Chief Executive manages the Board and
limits its input. It is preferable, however, to allow the whole Board to look at long-term
strategies for the continued success of the organisation.

Suppliers: Your current or potential supplier partners who aim to provide you with goods
and services. By engaging them in discussions so they know more about your work you
may be able to build a better relationship with them. If they understand the way your
organisation works, and what it stands for, you may be able to negotiate better prices and
receive more help if you need something urgently - especially in constructing information
to support a Business Case for investment.

Other Community Organisations: Includes complementary community organisations and

another group of stakeholders. You may need to work together, for instance, to have an
effect on rules and regulations relating to your particular area of work. Or you might come
together to bid for some funding. So you need to find ways to engage with other relevant
community bodies.

Local Authorities

Key function here would be finance, legal, traffic management, public transport liaison,
ICT.

Birmingham City Council (especially Planning, Finance & PR representatives)

Housing & Development Stakeholders (including any Community Cohesion Team)

Social Inclusion representatives (drop-in centre coordinators etc..)
Community & Voluntary Sector Network (including ‘Citizens-On-Line’)
Environmental Policy & Planning Officers (including Transport Infrastructure)

Neighbouring County Council representatives

Health
N3 service provider

PCT (s)
Education
School ICT service

HE/FE institutions

Private Schools and Colleges

Emergency Services

Fire & Rescue (especially Emergency Planning Officials + ICT Disaster Recovery)
Police (especially CCTV & City Wide Communications Officers)

Ambulance Communications Officers

Social and Economic Regeneration/Development

Local Agencies (especially Tourism & Customer Communications)

Local Projects (particularly those requiring high ICT or mobile broadband use)

Regional Projects & Sub-Regional Partnerships

Private Sector

Reputable Urban Regeneration Specialists (eg; St. Modwen, Turner & Townsend, Terrace
Hill, EKOS Consulting, LDA Design)

Other Local Specialist Business Park Developers

Local heavy ICT User Community (particularly ICT Mgmt of R&D facilities & Digital Media
Clusters or even ICT representatives of Local Media Companies)

* Sensitive area but at some future juncture appropriate input could be sought from BT
(Regional), SKY, ALCATEL-LUCENT and/or Virgin Media representatives etc…

Business Support Agencies

Business Link

Local Chamber Of Commerce

Political
Local Members

MP & MEPs
Best Practice Stakeholder Management

FIGURE 1: Recent example of NGA workshop exploring key issues to progression

(identification of key stakeholders to help us mitigate against hold-ups).
Engaging Stakeholders is all about building relationships with people who you affect
through your work, or who could make an impact on your success. Regular
communication is very important – and it should definitely be two-way. Below are some of
the ways in which you can engage stakeholders:

Focus groups: Select a small group of representative people. You then discuss relevant
issues with them, exploring their particular perspective and building an idea of how a
wider group of people may feel about something. You might choose to meet regularly with
this same group of people, who would then form a ‘think tank’ or consultative group. (See
Fact Sheet 2.c.ii. Making Good Use of Focus Groups).

Questionnaires: These could be by email, face to face, or over the phone. Even though
you can potentially reach a wider number of people than in focus groups, they cannot go
into issues in such depth. They will be restricted to the questions on the page, whereas
focus groups can identify an interesting issue and discuss it in greater detail.

Structured one-to-one interviews: As with focus groups, it is possible to pursue a

particular issue in more depth if this is appropriate. However, one-to-one interviews take a
lot of time and you are severely restricted in the number of people you can consult.

Websites: Websites are increasingly used as an effective tool to engage stakeholders. As

well as being able to post news and information to keep people informed, you can make
the communication two-way, by encouraging email responses and – if appropriate –
including a forum on your website. There is a cost, of course, and if you have a forum you
will need someone to look after or moderate it.

Events: Events can be another important tool when it comes to working with and
consulting stakeholders – from holding open days and exhibitions to seminars and
workshops. The key is to ensure events are interactive, so that people feel able to put
across their point of view.

Being strategic about stakeholder engagement:

Stakeholder engagement is not something you can just do from time to time when you
feel like it. It is something that should be built into your processes. Some stakeholders will
probably need to be more actively involved than others. And remember, you won’t be able
to engage with everyone all the time.

It is worth conducting a review once a year, when you look at each group of stakeholders
and ask yourself – and them – how they have a voice within the organisation and whether
the mechanisms for achieving this could be improved.

As well as your own members of staff, there may be a number of people associated with
your social enterprise who could contribute to your sales.

In this fact sheet we run through some of the individuals or organisations who could be
part of an expanded and mostly free additional sales force. And we explain how you can
help them fulfil this role.

The following could form part of your big free sales force:

- Other organisations that have a link, or synergy, with what you do

- Your volunteers and beneficiaries
- Existing customers
If you want to make effective use of them, then it is important to map who exactly is out
there that could add to your sales force or advocates for your project.

Many social enterprises have connections with other organisations that have a similar
social purpose. These may include businesses, voluntary and community organisations,
funders and development agencies.

Adit Traditional Stakeholder Engagement

Being in touch with the market means being in touch with the people who will shape
and influence its future: non-governmental organisations, influencers, decision-makers,
consumer groups and thought-leaders. Adit can help you map and prioritise the
spectrum portfolio of stakeholders in your business or in a particular issue, and
facilitate effective engagement that brings insight to societal expectations, the
dilemmas you need to manage and opportunities to innovate.
What We Do
Our starting point is to understand your team’s openess and preparedness for external
engagement, through research and interviews to understand needs, limitations and
future aspirations. This work provides the basis for advice on priority stakeholders and
methods of engagement.
We typically map and prioritise stakeholders according to likely influence / impact
and the company’s ability / credibility to engage.

We then engage directly with key stakeholders to understand their interest in direct
corporate engagement, any ground rules and expectations. This enables us to formulate
and facilitate an appropriate engagement – in individual meetings or a roundtable or
combination.

We manage and report the output in a way that informs corporate strategy
development or options appraisal needs. We also make sure the loop is closed with the
involved stakeholders in a way that builds their trust and confidence.
Checklist - for engaging with stakeholders

- Identify the key stakeholders for your organisation

- Agree on a process or processes by which you will engage these stakeholders
- Review these mechanisms once a month

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