Who are your stakeholders?

Hi everyone!

I can't believe I only have two weeks left of my work placement, the time really does fly by!

Just a quick recap for those who don't know, I am currently undertaking my work experience at St John of God Murdoch hospital (SJGMH) in their Marketing and Community Relations department.

Since I've started I have met some amazing people, including the four lovely ladies who I have worked quite closely with: Kat, Community Relations Coordination; Jody, Marketing Coordinator; Nicola, Events Coordinator; and Lizzie, Public Relations Coordinator.

As you can see the roles are quite set in the department and as an intern I was able to stick my foot into each pond and gain experience in each facet of the department.

In this post I will be talking about stakeholder management and what I have learnt since coming on at SJGMH.

Stakeholder management at SJGMH falls mostly under Kat's role as Community Relations Coordinator. Being a private hospital our primary stakeholders are patients and future patients, doctors and allied health professionals, and our employees (which I will be discussing).

One of the ways SJGMH engages with its employees is through a Caregiver Exchange, a two-way monthly meeting with caregiver representatives from each ward who come together to discuss ideas and issues relevant to their roles at SGJMH.

What I found really interesting about the Caregiver Exchange is that there are members of executive management present so employees can give their ideas/opinions on various SJGMH initiatives straight to management. I can't think of many organisations that have these types of meetings on a regular basis.

Once the topic of the meeting has been discussed and the ideas collated, Kat produces a paper on her recommendations going forward and that is presented to all the executive directors for consideration and approval. In other words this exchange is a forum for employees to contribute their ideas of how to improve SJGMH, and to also be kept up to date about what is happening around the hospital.

Another interesting way SJGMH encourages feedback is through an initiative known as  "Ask Executive". "Ask Executive" is where caregivers can email the executive questions they want answered without having to speak to someone directly. All the questions are compiled once a month, answered and available both on the intranet and on the "Ask Executive" noticeboard in the employee lunch room. This form of two way communication allows employees to give feedback, address concerns or even praise the work of their fellow colleagues and is extremely popular if you consider how many questions get sent in.

Though I have only brushed on some of the ways SJGMH engages one of their primary stakeholders it has reinforced the importance of two way communication when it comes to stakeholder management.

I am extremely keen to see some of the changes that are happening as a direct result of discussion at the Caregiver Exchange and through suggestions sent to "Ask Executive".

Until next time!

PRintern.