In the Netherlands, strategic stakeholder engagement (SSE) has proven itself thoroughly in recent years. Now, parties across the border are also showing increasing interest. For example, in Germany, where WesselinkVanZijst is partnering with advisory and engineering firm CDM Smith. SSE consultant Eric van Vliet explains how it works.

It all started with a call from a German engineer at CDM Smith: he wanted to join the Basic Training Strategic Stakeholder Engagement (SSE). ‘This consultant had worked in the Netherlands multiple times and seen how projects here run much faster and smoother thanks to SSE,’ says strategic stakeholder engagement consultant, Eric van Vliet.

Because Eric speaks fluent German – partly thanks to previous intensive cooperation with German stakeholders in the Northern border region – he offered the client an alternative: ‘How about we provide this training for you and your colleagues at your office in the Ruhr area?’ For this purpose, he translated the three-day SSE basic training entirely into German – it became the ‘Grundkurs Strategisches Umfeld Management’.

Eric gave the training together with a colleague Wendy Versteeg, who lives in Vienna and also speaks German fluently. ‘It turned out to be a great success. Participants said: this is exactly what we really need in Germany. Soon after, the follow-up question arose: can we look together at how we can further develop SSE here?’

Keeping an eye on everyone's interests

In our eastern neighbor, many major spatial challenges are planned for the coming years, Eric explains. ‘Many roads, bridges, dikes, power lines, and rails are in urgent need of maintenance or replacement. A lot of new construction is also taking place. Such large projects have an impact on the environment, and you see a lot of resistance arising from that. Long procedures, lawsuits, and disputes, delayed projects: it's all in a day's work. They are desperately looking for ways to carry out infrastructure projects faster and more efficiently.’

In Germany, local residents are typically only involved once all decisions have already been made. The task of informing people then falls to the Communications department. ‘They do two things: explain, or – if that yields little – refer people to the compensation desk. Compensation is generous, they don't make a fuss about it. But not all objections can be solved with money. Impact on nature or quality of life, for example. Emotions often play a role: residents primarily want to be heard.’

This is precisely where SSE can make a difference, emphasizes Eric. ‘The key is to look for solutions that add value for all parties involved. This starts with listening to what is important to each stakeholder. Not just afterward, but early in the design process – because that's when there's still room to incorporate the wishes of the community into the project plan. And that significantly increases the chances of getting everyone on board.’

Differences with the Netherlands

Eric made an interesting discovery during his first SSE training at CDM Smith. ‘We always practice with a complex real-world case. Participants take on the role of stakeholders with opposing interests. In the Netherlands, this usually devolves into extensive discussions: the case is rarely resolved within the allotted time. It's very educational, because then you can discuss how something like that could be done better. For example, analyze first and then talk.’

In Germany, it went completely differently, he says with a smile. ‘The group first sat there in complete silence for forty-five minutes reading to understand the case. The discussions then proceeded very structurally. Less enjoyable, admittedly, but in the end, the participants managed to solve the problem entirely – they even had fifteen minutes left. I had never experienced that before.’

This example shows that SSE's methodical approach is also effective in other countries, says Eric. ‘It's not just ‘coincidentally’ working well in the Netherlands. Although of course, each country has its own challenges. For instance, contact with local residents is handled by Communications, while engineers do their own thing. In Germany, people are less accustomed to integrated work.’

The management structure is also completely different. ‘That's also a learning process for us. How do different governments relate to each other, who is responsible for what, and how do you get those parties on board? It's quite a puzzle – for the Germans themselves, too.’

Into the field

Eric and his colleagues are now working with this puzzle in practice. Because not long after the training, CDM Smith asked if WesselinkVanZijst wanted to collaborate on a large tender: the construction of a more than 500-kilometer-long underground power cable from Thuringia to Bavaria. Now, Eric and Wendy are training the German environmental managers who are responsible for contact with residents, farmers, and municipalities along the route. A considerable job, as it involves a large area.

‘We teach them to work more from a mutual gains mindset. For example, by not viewing the other person's position as a given, but as the starting point for a conversation: okay, you're angry, what's making you opposed to this plan? So, trying to understand their interests – and then coming up with a solution that incorporates those interests.’

Crucially, the German colleagues must conduct these conversations in their own region, emphasizes Eric. ‘There's no point in me, as a Dutchman, talking to farmers in Bavaria about value creation. To have the right conversation, you need to speak the local dialect, know the culture, and have a little understanding of how people there tick. We train, advise, and observe from behind the scenes.’

Next steps

This first collaboration makes us want more. That's why CDM Smith and WesselinkVanZijst signed a letter of intent this fall to expand their collaboration. In the coming period, they will jointly hold discussions with German project initiators and implementers for whom SSE might be of interest.

‘We hope to increasingly convince clients and professionals of the added value of SSE,’ says Eric. ‘So that in the future it won't be a case of: here comes a new highway, there's the compensation desk. But rather, that parties reach solutions together at an early stage, improving infrastructure, nature, and livability simultaneously.’

At WesselinkVanZijst, we work with organizations to develop strategic stakeholder engagement (SSE): through training, advice, and knowledge sharing. This helps complex societal challenges proceed more smoothly and quickly. Would you like to discuss further? Contact Eric van Vliet (Senior Advisor) via eric.van.vliet@wesselinkvanzijst.nl.