You Need to Know Your Stakeholders

Do you have any idea who your actual stakeholders are? Have you taken the time to get to know them or have other responsibilities taken the place of this? I imagine that many of you are shaking your head that other things have taken precedence over getting to know the groups in your community. You need to know these people. You need to know them because they will be your biggest asset when things eventually get hairy.

You must involve all these stakeholders in the process. Without the community’s assistance, you will lose your ability to truly be successful. In addition, the load of even a medium sized event is more than one person or even one office can do alone. How do you go about bringing everyone to the table? I really think that if you follow these four simple methods below, you can get your folks involved and invested in hazard prevention.

• Talk up your work to friends and neighbors. Creating buzz about emergency management is an inexpensive and valuable way to get community support.

• Set up a hazard hotline. Advertise the hotline.

• Speak at schools, neighborhood and community organizations. Discuss potential threats and emergency management plans.

• Form citizen committees to help advise on the emergency management plans and to get volunteers for carrying out the plans.

This piece of your job cannot be overlooked. It is connected to your success and without the help of your community stakeholders, you will not achieve the level of success you would otherwise. As the saying goes, “Many hands make light work.”