One of the underpinning ideas of communication is that of the constituency. We use the term constituency rather than stakeholder not to prove our jargon is better than others but to try to broaden the definition to include groups whose stake may not be all that direct but whose influence is substantial nonetheless.
A constituency is any group that has a direct or indirect interest in your organisation. It is any group that influences how the organisation achieves its objectives.
Constituencies can be represented diagrammatically as a solar system. This makes clear the mutuality and interdependence of the relationships.
Maintaining good constituency relationships, however, goes beyond this fairly elementary two-way transaction of communication. There is a high level of interaction and inter-reliance between a large number of constituencies and the relationships are, in reality, much more complex.
Maintaining the solar system analogy. If the organisation is Planet Earth, locked in its own orbit and hurtling through the void, then constituencies appear as sister planets - travelling their own paths but exercising considerable gravitational pull on each other.
In summary, we can say that constituencies:
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greatly effect the total climate in which your organisation operates
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are likely to intervene in issues where they believe they have an interest
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may exercise an influence as strong as - or even greater than - your own more direct control
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frequently interact with each other and, even if they don't, may share a common purpose
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because of all these factors, need to be consistently and systematically dealt with
Constituencies must be identified, communicated with, listened to, understood and - ultimately - accommodated. We are talking here about establishing and sustaining relationships, the central element of effective communication.
And the central element of inclusion. Indeed, if communication is about anything, it is about building and maintaining relationships