Stakeholder perceptions audit case study
PA Housing
Stakeholder and public affairs
The whole process of working with See Media on this project was so straightforward. The team took the time to get to know PA Housing, our needs, who our stakeholders were, and so understood exactly what we were wanting to achieve.
Communications ManagerAlmost three years on from the merger of Paragon and Asra to form PA Housing, the 23,000-home housing association decided it was time to gain feedback from its stakeholders regarding their perceptions of the organisation. Having already delivered on the majority of the objectives in its original Corporate Plan, PA was due to begin working on new plans, and it wanted to harness input from partner organisations, particularly local authorities and lenders – the people who are most likely to impact PA’s ability to deliver its objectives. PA Housing is one of See Media’s retained clients, and it approached us to find out how we would go about gathering the information it needed.
To conduct a stakeholder perception audit that would enable us to conduct gap analysis of stakeholder perceptions and needs versus PA Housing offer. The report, presented to PA Housing executive team and Board, would need to not only present qualitative and quantitative data demonstrating the state of PA’s relationships, but also include practical recommendations for next steps.
We developed a survey that would explore stakeholders’ understanding of PA Housing’s work and produce quantifiable perception scores around trust, influence, commitment, and satisfaction, providing a benchmark that could be used to measure progress.
We worked with PA’s executive team to put together a GDPR-compliant stakeholder list, and then went about contacting the named individuals to introduce the work we were doing for PA, and to organise times for telephone interviews. During the calls, we completed the survey questions, focusing on capturing qualitative information, which would enable the PA team to contextualize the quantitative data.
Part-way through the research phase, we presented our interim findings to PA Housing’s executive team and board members, enabling them to take ownership of the project by suggesting further stakeholders whose views needed to be reflected in the research, and highlighting the areas on which they wanted the final report to focus.
The final 33-page stakeholder perception study report we produced is now being used to inform PA’s strategic work and is helping us (See Media) to ensure we are setting and fulfilling SMART PR objectives that will help our client achieve its organisational aims.