Stakeholders is an annoying corporate term that is actually useful shorthand for every group that’s interested in what a company is doing, even if they aren’t necessarily a shareholder.
I’m thinking about this because as I sit down to write a blog, I have in my mind recent questions and comments from several stakeholders that are in some ways aligned and in others, not so much.
Our current expansion offers good examples of differing perspectives. Our customers are enthusiastic about having easier access to picking up cakes and cupcakes closer to home and recommend Yonge and Eglinton, Mississauga and even other provinces as possible sites. On the other hand, at last week’s meeting of the team advisory council, a major topic of discussion was training: how can it be more consistent, more detailed, and overall easier for new people? Similarly, the next day the management team had a day long retreat and we talked about how we are feeling the heat of trying to hire people while at the same time, train the new people we do have.
And then over at my desk, I’m working on a business plan for bank financing which of course is focused on top-line revenue growth to support the bank’s valid interest in PGB’s financial trajectory over the next few years.
I realize now that there is a murky stage between being a small business with the same number of stores requiring the same level of professionals – and becoming a larger business with an “HR department”. This is a time when it feels hard to meet all the different perspectives, and that none of them seem fully served. But acknowledging to myself that we are just in a new and different stage makes it easier. I know we will move through it successfully. In the meantime the only thing I can think of doing is the next thing on the to-do list.
