EEA Books Offer How-to Roadmaps to Stakeholder Management Implementation

Published long before the topics of stakeholder management or ESG (environmental, social, governance) became more widely known and controversial, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance’s two books focus purely on the economics, implementation, measurement, and disclosure of value creation through people. These books are for those ready to get started putting to work the same principles that transformed quality in manufacturing in the last century.

By Bruce Bolger

Stakeholder Management Starts With You
About Enterprise Engagement for CEOs
Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap for Practical Implementation

Stakeholder management provides a powerful competitive edge because it creates an invaluable tangible asset and barrier to entry that cannot easily be commoditized: customers, employees, distribution and supply chain partners, and communities passionately committed to the organization's purpose, goals, and objectives. The Enterprise Engagement Alliance was the first to publish books focusing on the practical application of its principles for both senior and front-line management in operations, finance, sales, marketing, human resources, administration, logistics, IT, etc.

The debate about stakeholder capitalism, ESG (environmental, social, governance) or even DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) in business was not in the spotlight when the Enterprise Engagement Alliance published its two books focused on the framework, implementation, metrics, and reporting for engaging all stakeholders in the purpose, goals, and objectives of the enterprise. Well before these issues arose in the media in the context of a moral discussion about business, the EEA books focus on these issues as a form of sustainable value creation that enhances returns for investors over time by creating value for customers, employees, supply chain and distribution partners, and communities. By value creation, we mean focusing on ways to enhance the lives of people or businesses through effective products and services, rather than looking for ways to squeeze value out of stakeholders by paying employees as little as possible or skimping on safety, producing inferior products or services marketed through deceptive practices, squeezing distribution and supply chain partners on terms, or polluting communities.

First published in 2012, Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap, is co-authored by myself, Richard Kern and Allan Schweyer, now in its fifth edition updated to include the impact of the pandemic. It provides a detailed, practical framework to break down siloes and harmonize the interests of all stakeholders toward the purpose, goals, and objectives of the organization. In 2019, Enterprise Engagement for CEOs, co-authored by myself and Richard Kern, was published to provide a more condensed version of the roadmap for boards and senior management with case studies of CEOs who have practiced stakeholder management before there was widely used terminology to describe it as such. These books remain one of the few if any that focus specifically on the nitty-gritty of how to implement these practices for front-line management in every functional area of an organization seeking to align strategy and tactics for greater efficiency and enhanced stakeholder experiences.

Stakeholder Management Starts With You

Your organization does not have to undergo a stakeholder management transformation for professionals in all areas of management to start benefiting from stakeholder thinking. Start by making sure there is a clear definition of the purpose, goals, and objectives of your organization of of the task at hand. Ask more specifically how specific strategies and tactics to fulfill that purpose and goals are affecting or being affected by the fundamental interests not only of the people you need to engage but the interests of other stakeholders. Is your strategy based on adding value to or extracting it from your external or internal customers?

Enterprise engagement, better known today as stakeholder management, is little more than the application of total quality management principles, long successfully applied in manufacturing, to the management of people. It involves applying a strategic, holistic, and systematic approach to fostering the proactive involvement of all stakeholders in an organization’s purpose, goals, and objectives; harmonizes the interests of all stakeholders—customers, employees, distribution and supply chain partners, communities, and shareholders, and integrates all the ways organizations seek to engage people across the enterprise.

Based on a meta-analysis of decades of research on the connection between employee and customer engagement and financial performance, the EEA was founded in 2009 specifically to develop an open-source implementation framework based on our experience with total quality management. The goal was and always has been to foster a marketplace of solutions and businesses like the enormous marketplace now available to help companies in manufacturing.

Both books are included with Enterprise Engagement Alliance membership along with four other books on stakeholder management implementation. Click here for more information.

About Enterprise Engagement for CEOs

“If every organization practiced the principles in Enterprise Engagement for CEOs, there might not have been a Little Red Book,” writes Dr. Gary Rhoads, Professor Emeritus of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University.

First published in 2019, and updated in 2022, this is believed to be the first handbook for the implementation of stakeholder capitalism designed for boards and the C-suite. It provides a worldwide-recognized framework based on total quality management principles for a more sustainable way to run organizations that addresses the growing desire for a more human-focused capitalism. This book shows that with the right focus on the value of people, capitalism can create a virtuous circle of prosperity that surpasses the potential of any other system. Enterprise Engagement for CEOs is for a new generation of purpose-led leaders and proud capitalists who don’t just say human capital is their organization’s most important asset, they know it.

Human capital includes not just employees or customers, but all stakeholders — distribution partners, vendors, communities and investors, or stakeholders for government and non-governmental institutions and not-for-profits. In the case of not-for-profits, this also means donors and volunteers, and in government, constituents, political donors and volunteers. Enterprise Engagement for CEOs provides organizational leaders or anyone who aspires to be one a logical, practical guide to a new strategic and systematic approach to people management that generates greater and more sustainable financial results than prevailing process- and short-term focused management styles. It also creates a better experience for all stakeholders and a healthier, more prosperous society, not to mention greater peace of mind for boards, management. and investors.

Here is the table of contents of Enterprise Engagement for CEOs:
• Why a CEO’s Guide to Enterprise Engagement?
• The Enterprise Engagement Strategic and Tactical Implementation Process
• The Enterprise Engagement Operating System
• A Template for the Disclosure of Human Capital Practices and Measurements
• The Role of the Chief Engagement Officer
• CEO Profiles
• A CEO’s Enterprise Engagement Toolkit
• Resources

Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap for Practical Implementation

Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap is designed for the senior leaders in charge of strategic and tactical engagement plan development and for the front-line managers involved with implementation. It provides a desk reference to all the engagement strategies and tactics and how to better align them to achieve the purpose, goals, and objectives of the organization or effort. It provides a guide to developing ISO (International Organization for Standardization) Annex SL and ISO 10018-conforming strategies and for auditing engagement processes, as well as information on engagement careers and applications for engagement in government and not-for profits.

“By the time I finished reading Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap my copy was filled with Post-it notes highlighting information I knew I would need to reference later. This book provides a complete guide to almost everything an organization needs to implement a strategic approach to engaging everyone in organizational goals in a systematic way,” Grace Swanson, Vice President, Human Capital, Accumold.

Gary Rhoads, Stephen Mack Covey Professor of Marketing Emeritus at the Marriot School of Business at Brigham Young University, says “As a professor of marketing and entrepreneurship for most of my career, and founder of two leading companies in sales and marketing management, I know that delivering promises is one of the most critical strategies for success. Yet too many organizations fail to address the importance of engaging all stakeholders in organizational goals. Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap is the only book I know that focuses on how to apply a strategic and tactical approach to engagement across the enterprise in a systematic way.”

Writes Barbara Porter, Executive Director, Ernst & Young."I have spent much of my career helping organizations develop great cultures, and in the end a successful strategy requires a CEO-led approach to connecting employees, managers, customers, vendors, suppliers, the community--everyone inside and outside the organization who has a stake in its success. I have repeatedly referenced almost every chapter in Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap since the first edition came out, as it’s the only book I know of that puts together in one place all the tactics needed to address engagement to achieve organizational results.”

The book includes a complete how-to and reference resource for anyone in management charged with implementation, including:

The framework, economics, and auditable implementation processes.
Culture and the enterprise brand
Breaking down organizational siloes
Audiences of engagement—types of stakeholders
Tools of engagement, communications, learning, social media, surveys, incentives, rewards, recognition, DEI, job design, innovation, workplace environment, big data, analytics, metrics, and much more
Corporate sustainability and human capital reporting
Click here for a summary of the book syllabus.

ESM Is Published by The EEA: Your Source for Effective Stakeholder Management, Engagement, and Reporting

Through education, media, business development, advisory services, and outreach, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance supports professionals, educators, organizations, asset managers, investors, and engagement solution providers seeking a competitive advantage by profiting from a strategic and systematic approach to stakeholder engagement across the enterprise. Click here for details on all EEA and ESM media services.

1. Professional Education on Stakeholder Management and Total Rewards

Become part of the EEA as an individual, corporation, or solution provider to gain access to valuable learning, thought leadership, and marketing resources to master stakeholder management and reporting.
The only education and certification program focusing on Stakeholder Engagement and Human Capital metrics and reporting, featuring nine members-only training videos that provide preparation for certification in Enterprise Engagement.
EEA books: Paid EEA participants receive Enterprise Engagement for CEOs: The Little Blue Book for People-Centric Capitalists, a quick implementation guide for CEOs; Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap 5th Edition implementation guide; a comprehensive textbook for practitioners, academics, and students, plus four books on theory and implementation from leaders in Stakeholder Management, Finance, Human Capital Management, and Culture.

2. Media

ESM at EnterpriseEngagement.org, EEXAdvisors.com marketplace, ESM e–newsletters, and library.
RRN at RewardsRecognitionNetwork.com; BrandMediaCoalition.com marketplace, RRN e-newsletters, and library.
EEA YouTube Channel with over three dozen how-to and insight videos and growing with nearly 100 expert guests.

3. Fully Integrated Business Development for Engagement and Total Rewards

Strategic Business Development for Stakeholder Management and Total Rewards solution providers, including Integrated blog, social media, and e-newsletter campaigns managed by content marketing experts.

4. Advisory Services for Organizations

Stakeholder Management Business Plans; Human Capital Management, Metrics, and Corporate Sustainability Reporting for organizations, including ISO human capital certifications, and services for solution providers.

5. Outreach in the US and Around the World on Stakeholder Management and Total Rewards

The EEA promotes a strategic approach to people management and total rewards through its e-newsletters, web sites, and social media reaching 20,000 professionals a month and through other activities, such as:

Association of National Advertisers Brand Engagement 360 Knowledge Center to educate brands and agencies.