Nowadays, with mounting pressure on businesses to be accountable for their environmental and social impact, it is no longer optional but expected for them to develop and implement sustainable business strategies that play out across three key areas: Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG). This pressure comes from rising public awareness, tightening regulations, and increased expectations from customers, employees, and investors.
Stakeholder engagement plays a significant role in the successful implementation of ESG strategies. In this article, let’s explore its functions and effects on ESG strategies.
The power of stakeholder engagement
Stakeholders are individuals, groups, or organizations that can influence or are affected by a company’s strategy from within and outside the organization. They can either drive change or resist it. Therefore, it is critical to identify stakeholders and understand their needs and expectations to ensure the ESG agenda reflects the priorities of those who matter and support the strategy’s long-term success.
Pay Governance LLC, a firm that provides independent advice on executive compensation matters, has developed the Stakeholder Value Creation Chain model (See Figure 1) to better understand the effects of stakeholder engagement on the economic success of a business. It demonstrates how ESG strategy, the stakeholder model, and the generation of corporate value all intersect to provide various advantages for corporations.
Engaging with stakeholders during the strategy execution phase allows companies to foster collaboration, build trust and confidence, encourage support for ESG actions, evaluate how the actions are perceived, mitigate potential risks, and improve decision-making.
To know more about ESG strategy and how it exactly boosts stakeholder engagement based on a report, read the full article in the PERFORMANCE Magazine Issue No. 25 – Sustainability Edition. You can download a free digital copy through the TKI Marketplace. Printed copies are also available on Amazon. But the price may vary depending on location.
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) will introduce new sustainability reporting standards focusing on the mining and textile and apparel industries as part of the GRI Sector Program. The move follows the approval by the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), the independent body responsible for GRI Standards.
The GRI Sector Standard for Mining covers the impacts of mining organizations on environmental, social, and economic aspects. It is consistent with the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and disclosure frameworks used in the sector. Judy Kuszewski, Chair of the GSSB, told MINING.com that the standard includes metrics that reflect the information required by stakeholders and emphasizes the duties of mining organizations concerning smaller entities and their involvement in the supply chain. This standard will be published in Q3 2023.
Meanwhile, the GRI Textiles and Apparel Standard aims to guide clothing, footwear, fabrics, and other textile manufacturers and retailers on sustainability reporting by setting global best practices. The GRI identified this sector as another top priority due to its adverse effects on the environment and concerns related to labor and human rights. This standard is set for release in Q1 2025.
The GRI Sector Program will produce standards for 40 sectors, prioritizing those with the highest impact on the environment. The Sector Standards “describe the sustainability context for a sector, outline organizations’ likely material topics based on the sector’s most significant impacts, and list disclosures that are relevant for the sector to report on.” For more information, visit https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/sector-program/
Learn more about sustainability reporting through our cover story featuring Eelco van der Enden, the CEO of the Global Reporting Initiative, on PERFORMANCE Magazine Issue No. 25, 2023 – Sustainability Edition. Download a free digital copy through the TKI Marketplace. Printed copies are also available through Amazon (The price may vary depending on location).
Achieving sustainability is challenging for businesses because it requires significant resources, stakeholder cooperation, and change throughout the supply chain. Justin Jia Kai Goh, the Director of Sustainability Services at Accenture, offers practical measures that organizations can adopt to usher in a sustainable future.
Nasir Abdalla Ali Alobeidli, corporate strategy specialist at the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), sheds light on the role of strategy planning and KPI in the future of public service and how governments can provide services that ensure people’s happiness and quality of life.
Trends
What are the key trends that have shaped the public sector in recent years?
In general, the whole world has gone through global changes that had a significant impact on the business environment, whether in the Middle East or in the whole world. As we go through the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on business continuity, which significantly contributed to directing many organizations to apply the institutional resilience approach to ensure agility. Also, real-time measures and indicators to monitor the various developments affecting the business environment and its sustainability were used.
It can also be said that technological development has taken an accelerating curve in appearing on the ground, which has become evident through the digital transformation in government services, for example. This has also led to the emergence of various technical developments, such as virtual reality, metaverse technologies, and artificial intelligence. It’s safe to say that this change has contributed to an increase in the need to promote digital maturity at the institutional level as a whole and on the quality of life in general.
The changes in the nature of business and the start of transformation in business models have become a reality that we live in today, as most of our meetings take place online, anywhere and at any time.
Technology has not only contributed to the development of mobility systems to become more easy and efficient, but its development has led to the emergence of new modes of mobility that we have not seen before, such as flying taxis, transportation through Hyperloop. We have witnessed during the recent period a great interest in climate issues and environmental issues as a whole, which require us to be ready for what we could face in terms of the challenges or opportunity associated with it. Finally, we are in a rapidly changing world that is subject to various variables, and innovation has been and still is the biggest motive for all variables.
What do the public services of the future look like?
As we mentioned previously, government services are generally on technical manifestations so that they are available electronically. With its world-class resources, the UAE aims to develop proactive, interdependent, and integrated government services that prioritize people’s happiness and improve their quality of life.
I believe that we will not only stop at this point, but that we will witness a reformulate the general concept of service to be as close as possible to the best experience in government services, through the application of artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies and the provision of virtual centers through Metaverse technology to provide services and support closer to reality.
All of this is the future. We do not know its secrets, but we are fully aware that government services will undoubtedly be proactive, flexible and technologically advanced in accordance with standards of efficiency and effectiveness.
What role will strategy planning and KPI usage play in this futuristic scenario?
It is very important during the current stage of the strategy and performance units to embrace the development of methodologies and tools that contribute to shaping the future. This will ensure readiness for potential risks and seize available opportunities. Organizations should build the strategic pyramid, continue implementing measurements to reach the required stage of maturity, and develop new measurement concepts and methodologies. There is a need to enhance the institutional culture in organizations around the culture of measurement to reach the required stage of maturity.
I also see the need to develop indicators that reflect efficiency and effectiveness in performance as well as the final impact of what needs to be measured so that it provides realistic results. What we need is a KPI that will measure the final outcome to indicate the quality of life that we have reached.
Moreover, each entity should look for a pioneer indicator that really reflects its mandate and the reasons for the organization’s existence in terms of the quality of life of the society and their stakeholders.
How is technology impacting the performance of government entities?
Technology has actually contributed to the performance and work of the management of the strategic plan and performance monitoring as a whole through the development of digital systems and platforms that contribute to the governance of monitoring institutional performance and ensuring compliance with the requirements of periodic audits carried out by the strategy departments.
Organizations work to enhance their technological security capabilities by developing their employees’ capabilities in order to enhance the durability and strength of the available systems and to provide high institutional maturity in proper technical handling. With this, there is a need to establish and enhance indicators that reflect the result of technical culture in organizations.
Practice
What are your recommended best practices in strategy planning for government agencies?
The strategy and performance departments lead the institutional transformation at the organizational level, and we may see the best entities that are unique in obtaining international corporate excellence awards, which are the product of the plans and the system of monitoring and developing performance in the organization.
Thus, the best practices will be based on the extent to which the entities achieve compliance and achieve the standards of the system of excellence, first and foremost, and certainly achieving the future vision and the desired strategic success both factor at the level of the organization. Organizations cannot achieve an ambitious vision without a planned risk.
What key performance indicators should be reported for the successful delivery of public services?
Organizations must set leading indicators based on their operations and strategic plans that reflect their impact on the sector in which they operate. The required measures must consistently reflect efficiency on the activities, projects, and operations of the organization—such as measuring achievement rates—and must also include performance indicators that reflect effectiveness and achieve the desired goals. Institutions can set performance measures that reflect the achievement of goals through the OKR methodology.
What are the key performance management tools that any government entity should use to ensure performance improvement?
The system of measurement and performance monitoring generally requires the availability of appropriate tools that refer to the real state of its performance in general and to identify areas of success and opportunities to be worked on in the future.
From my point of view, the entities with their various orientations require focusing on different measurement tools, including measuring the performance of projects and achieving goals at the strategic level, which is known as the strategic and operational indicators to know the level of achieving the strategic plan through key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics. In addition, it must measure the performance of its services and focus on indicators that reflect the level of maturity, flexibility, and proactivity in it, which reflects the best experience for the beneficiaries of government services as a whole.
Institutions will also need to measure the performance of their employees through annual performance measurement systems, known as performance appraisal, which must be designed in a way that reflects strong performance and productivity along with continuous development and application of excellence as a concept and basic principle. The process should include managing the staff’s professional development plans and managing the performance of key operations and tasks in a way that reflects institutional efficiency and effectiveness
What are the biggest challenges that government entities face during the implementation and usage of a performance management system? Please provide your suggested solutions.
In general, the various organizations will face regular challenges related to the efficiency of the monitoring system and the effectiveness of the corrective procedures. From this, it is possible to address the difficulties, including the culture of performance, as the process of monitoring and measuring performance is an integrated process that requires the participation of all parties in the organization and knowledge of the organization’s mechanisms and models.
In addition, we see other challenges related to the efficiency of performance governance in institutions as a whole, and herein lies the need to develop an appropriate governance system that enables individuals and organizational units to enhance performance monitoring internally and to develop and use tools and models. Organizations should focus on their growth and leadership and develop the right strategies to achieve excellence.
What are the crucial success factors in building performance and data-driven culture in the public sector?
Certainly, data represents an important factor and an essential input in the processes of managing and monitoring performance. Therefore, it is necessary from the outset to have an integrated governance and strategy for corporate data management in general, and this process requires clear institutional efforts that ensure accuracy and transparency along with analysis based on business intelligence.
Research
Which government entities would you recommend to be observed due to their successful approach to strategy and performance management? Why?
There are many good institutions that are good examples of measuring and monitoring performance, and here we mention the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, along with the Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai and the Ministry of Interior, as they are entities that have proven their superiority and leadership in developing performance systems and distinguishing them through leadership in national and international programs. This is what we see In the international awards it has obtained, and the General Authority of Civil Aviation is distinguished by a high-quality measurement and control system that can be relied upon as a standard reference for performance according to the government performance system.
What are the key competencies of a successful business leader in a government entity?
In general, the distinctive characteristics of a government’s business environment require the leader to have a clear strategic view and an ambitious vision that contributes to achieving the government vision, in addition to leadership competencies such as knowledge of the nature of work, dynamism, excellence, keenness on creativity and innovation, and continuous presentation of new things in government work.
What are the processes and tools you look at when differentiating a successful performance management system from a superficial one?
In my view, what distinguishes systems in general is what they reflect in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and leadership of the institution. A distinction can be made in the field of achieving the aspired goals at the level of the institution, and this, of course, depends on the level of ambition in its institutional goals.
About the Expert
Nasir Abdalla Ali Alobeidli
Corporate Excellence Manager – corporate strategy and performance, strategic planning, Auditor excellence | UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) (2016-present)
Quality assurance , Government Excellence model , Operation Planning , Strategy, Trainer | Sharjah Police Headquarters – Training Institutes Dept. (2009-2016 ) | Data Analyst | Road and Transportation Authority – Dubai (2007 – 2009)
Executive Master of Business Administration | University of Sharjah
Bachelor’s Degree in Management | Ajman University of Science and Technology
Diploma in Business Administration | Ajman University of Science and Technology
Diploma in Government Performance | Prime Minister office
Future Foresight Diploma | Prime Minister office with Melbourne University
This interview was first published in the 24th printed edition of PERFORMANCE Magazine. You can get a free digital copy from the TKI Marketplace here or purchase a print copy from Amazon for a nominal fee here.
Nancy Samir Ibrahim Khalil, who worked as aStrategic Planning and Performance Management Expert at the Ministry of Health and Prevention in UAE from December 2016 to November 2020, laid down the best practices in strategy planning for government agencies and tools that can improve performance in the public sector.
Trends
What are the key trends that have shaped the public sector in recent years?
The key trends in the public sector have been shaped in several domains, such as sustainable development in energy, transportation, education, high priority healthcare topics, and services.
Add to that big data resources, digital economy, innovation, artificial intelligence, smart government, and space discovery. There is also advanced research in science, society, economy, and policy.
What do the public services of the future look like?
Public services have been developed much in recent years, especially in terms of time management, quality assurance, well-trained staff, customer satisfaction and happiness meters, and smart applications that save time, effort, and money.
Public services will step up ahead new horizons through managing and designing variety, reachability, availability, efficiency, and interacting services. Add to that the digital and robotics services.
What role will strategy planning and KPI usage play in this futuristic scenario?
Strategic planning and KPI usage are the mechanisms of every improvement that can ever be desired. In fact, what is not measured can not be managed. Entities need to track and evaluate very closely the efficiency and outcome of their plans, objectives, initiatives, programs, projects, services, processes, and activities by designing different types of KPIs with ambitious targets.
Good analysis, auditing, statistics, reporting of the performance of the plans, and using different systems and portals empower entities to accelerate and excel in futuristic scenarios.
How is technology impacting the performance of government entities?
Well-built designed systems and smart apps can help maintain an excellent framework to easily manage entities’ strategic and operational plans, contents, and requirements.
Systems provide graphs, live charts, statistics, historical data, comparison, and performance status, which helps handle gaps, take relevant decisions and actions, and optimize resources. Technology saves time, effort, and money.
Practice
What are your recommended best practices in strategy planning for government agencies?
There are many best practices government agencies can adopt. Some of them are fundamental for every entity, and some of them can be much related to the specialization, culture, or work environment of the entity.
Periodic performance management revision meetings for strategic and operational plans with concerned departments
Periodic analysis reports of the performance and KPIs results
Periodic top management steering committee meetings to discuss the status of the performance on a higher level
Visits to the entities that won excellence awards
Workshops and presentations
Training of strategy coordinators to follow up closely with their departments.
The use of a project management system
What key performance indicators should be reported for the successful delivery of public services?
KPIs should report the current situation of performance, whether it is good or needs more effort or bad. They should be coded with related colors (green, yellow, or red), along with solid analysis reports of the strength, weakness points, improvement areas needed, and recommendations with a timeframe to achieve. Dashboards also help a lot in generating quick results, important graphs, trends, and directions.
What are the key performance management tools that any government entity should use to ensure performance improvement?
SWOT and PESTEL Analysis
Scenarios Planning
Stakeholders Matrix
Methodologies
Questionnaires
Mind Maps and infographics
Benchmarking
Cause and effect analysis (ex. Ishikawa)
Workshops and Presentations
Systems and Dashboards
Work forms
What are the biggest challenges that government entities face during the implementation and usage of a performance management system? Please provide your suggested solutions.
Among the challenges are:
The deadlines and the delay of submitting results and documentation,
Resistance to change
Poor strategy culture and knowledge inside the entity
Inflexible administrative hierarchy
The delegation of mandates and responsibilities of the concerned department (strategy development) to other departments
Limited strategy team members
The solutions can be implemented by empowering the strategy department and giving them the needed authority, having enough specialized team members, using electronic systems in tracking and alerting, working closely with the management, addressing challenges and finding proactive solutions, raising strategy awareness, supporting and guiding other departments, and developing initiatives issues through accelerators.
What are the crucial success factors in building performance and data-driven culture in the public sector?
Teamwork
Trust and Confidence
Knowledge and Specialization
Time management
Decentralization
Accuracy and documentations
Numbers and Facts
Collaboration
Addressing Needs and Priorities
Flexibility
Evaluation and Monitoring
What are the key competencies of a successful business leader in a government entity?
The competencies of a successful business leader are a reflection of the corporate values itself, such as transparency, commitment, credibility, integrity, trust, and teamwork. There are many examples of values that every entity adopts to control and organize corporate behavior and the work principles of employees and leaders.
Moreover, the leader should have a good vision, management competency, communication skills, and ability to build teams and solve problems. Besides, the leader should be a good listener, have an open-door policy, and be ambitious and positive. The leader must be empowering, encouraging, and decisive.
What processes and tools do you look at when differentiating a successful performance management system from a superficial one?
There are some processes and tools that can be used:
The mechanism of building strategy document, strategy, and operational plans
The level of engagement of other teams of departments in designing and creating components of strategy
Methodologies of tracking and implementing a strategy
Mechanism of reviewing and evaluating plans, performance, and auditing results
Periodicity presentations and meeting minutes of the strategy and performance
Questionnaires’ results about strategy concepts and understanding.
Other departments’ satisfaction rate towards the effort provided by strategy teams
Proof of closing gaps and addressing recommendations within the deadlines suggested
Project management system.
About the Expert
Bachelor’s Degree, Double Majors in Econometrics & Social Statistics University of Khartoum – Faculty of Economic and Social Studies | Khartoum, Sudan – 2006
Strategic Planning and Performance Management Expert | Ministry of Health and Prevention, UAE – Strategy and Future Department | December 2016 to November 2020
Head of Strategic Planning Section | Ministry of Justice, Sudan – General Directorate for Development and Strategic Planning | April 2016 to December 2016
Strategic Planning Specialist | Ministry of International Cooperation and Development | Corporate Development Dept. | April 2012 up to Dec 2015
Customer Support Executive | Emirates Telecommunication and Corporation Company -.Etisalat, Dubai, UAE | June 2010 – December 2011
Courses & Training: Creativity & Innovation, Strategic Planning and Strategic Thinking, PMP, Six Sigma, Change Management, Excellence Leaders, Institutional Excellence, Economic Analysis, Integration Strategies in Trade, Business English, TOFEl Course
This interview was first published in the 24th printed edition of PERFORMANCE Magazine. You can get a free digital copy from the TKI Marketplace here or purchase a print copy from Amazon for a nominal fee here.
Achieving sustainability is challenging for businesses because it requires significant resources, stakeholder cooperation, and change throughout the supply chain.
