2026 Stakeholder Governance & Engagement workshop

Last week, we hosted a Stakeholder Governance & Engagement workshop with guest speaker Ann Sherry AO FAICD.

We covered a range of corporate crises and skills that apply to ASX listed, NFP, government, and industry associations.

The discussion reinforced a simple truth: stakeholder engagement needs to be part of your organisation’s DNA to support sustainable operations and drive long-term value.

As Ms Sherry observed:  “If you're really thinking about the risks your organisation faces, stakeholder management now is critical, reputation risk is critical: if you get it wrong, it smashes your share price if you're listed. It smashes your employment brand, it smashes investors' confidence in putting money into you.”

Below are key points and resources to develop your organisation’s stakeholder map for 2026.

1.  Stakeholder governance is a core board responsibility

Several factors hold boards back from effective stakeholder governance:

• Ownership and accountability is often unclear between boards and management

• Capability where directors view stakeholder engagement as outside their experience or professional background.

• Directors may be unfamiliar or consider engagement beyond their remit.

2.  If shareholders are your motivation, stakeholders is how you get there

Too often, boards frame shareholder primacy and stakeholder focus as being in tension. Ms Sherry challenged this as a false dichotomy: “It’s not an ‘either/or’, it’s an ‘and’. The influence of other stakeholder groups has grown substantially over the last 20 years — much more than any other pressure point on companies. If shareholder primacy really is your motivation, stakeholder management is how you get there.”

3.  Boards must uplift questioning and get out of the ‘bubble’

Stakeholder engagement requires a “mindset shift” and insight. As Ms Sherry noted, “You can't have insight if you don't talk to anybody. It requires talking to customers, employees at all levels, regulators, and many other stakeholders.”

Boards and executives often operate within an internal “bubble”, hearing curated or positive narratives. Sherry encouraged directors to enter conversations without assuming you already have the answer, and hearing unfiltered external perspectives, rather than relying on internal assurances.

4.  Poor stakeholder management leads to sector-wide regulation

When stakeholder concerns are ignored, the issues often escalate to government, resulting in blunt, costly, sector-wide regulation. Boards should ask: “What is happening across our sector that could land on us next? How would we look from the outside in?”

5.  Crisis leadership requires decisive board action

Crisis preparedness is a governance issue. Reputational crises demand swift, decisive leadership. Delay compounds damage.

Strong relationships and strategic alliances with key stakeholders, such as government, are critical so that when something does go wrong, you can at least get in the door.

6.  Culture, incentives and risk settings drive behaviour

Some misconduct cases are caused by misaligned incentives, such as prioritising  profitability over customer outcomes. “Incentives need to be meaningful…otherwise nobody’s going to pay attention”, Ms Sherry said.

7.  Measurement and accountability is essential

Reputation and stakeholder outcomes need to be embedded in executive scorecards. Boards need to ask what they are measuring and what problem they’re trying to solve — it’s not easy, but it’s doable.