Description
This workshop introduces a practical, structured approach to stakeholder engagement, focused on the communication strategies that make collaborations, partnerships, and multi-party projects work. Using real-world scenarios common to research partnerships, cross-sector collaborations and community-engaged initiatives, participants will learn how to communicate with clarity, build shared understanding, and align expectations across diverse groups.
The session covers core competencies including:
identifying and prioritizing stakeholders across institutions, sectors and communities
communicating roles, responsibilities, and workflows in collaborative projects
designing communication plans that support trust, transparency and accountability
navigating differences in incentives, timelines, and decision-making cultures
documenting agreements (e.g., MOUs, scopes of work, reporting structures)
managing tension points, misunderstandings, and mid-project changes
framing and communicating project impact to funders, partners and communities, with emphasis on metrics, storytelling and real-world outcomes