3 Reasons to Hire a Freelancer to Lead Your Stakeholder Research

Many moons ago, I worked on the development communications team for a large, prestigious university. We were creating a new content strategy for the division following a fundraising campaign, and I was asked to head an internal stakeholder research project. It involved surveying our division's 500+ employees, then conducting about a dozen focus groups. I had to write a rather thick report, then make a presentation to the division's executive leadership.

Looking back, I wish "back-then me" had a freelancer like "today me" to help carry that load. Here are three reasons why:

1. Research takes so. much. time.

Nonprofit development and communications teams balance many responsibilities—stakeholder research, with internal or external audiences, is just one of them. And research takes a lot of coordination: Creating surveys and analyzing data, scheduling and rescheduling interviews or focus groups, sending follow-ups/thank-yous to participants, reviewing transcripts, producing reports, and making presentations.

When leaders tap in-house staff to lead a stakeholder research effort, they usually face two inevitabilities:

• The need to re-prioritize staff members' workload to accommodate the research project, meaning other mission-critical tasks will be delayed or stopped completely.
• Hoping the deputized staff can fit the research into existing gaps (ha! what gaps?) in their schedules, meaning the research will take a long time to finish.

A freelancer can help solve this problem. We can dedicate the time necessary to keep a stakeholder research project on track. We'll deliver the information you need to move forward with strategic planning as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, your in-house staff can continue to focus on their primary responsibilities.

2. People don't want to give the unvarnished truth to people they know.

Folks are told from an early age: "Don't take it personally." But they do—and because they do, they know that others do, too. That's why people often pull their punches when they're asked to critique something related to someone they know. This fear is heightened when the person asking the questions has a direct influence on the respondent's employment (for internal stakeholders) or level of access/recognition (for external stakeholders). But honest feedback is an indispensable tool that helps leaders make important improvements and build stronger strategic plans.

A freelancer can help solve this problem. Having an unbiased, unaffiliated person asking focus group questions and anonymizing the responses can put both internal and external stakeholders at ease. They'll likely feel more comfortable speaking candidly with a "stranger" like me than with a colleague or staff member they know. This can yield more honest, more useful feedback from focus groups or interviews.

3. When you're in-house, it's hard to see the forest for the trees.

Institutional knowledge and experience has value in stakeholder research, but it can also be a limiting factor when a staff member is the one asking the questions.

Maybe they have a personal connection to the subject and instinctively fear that a new idea may marginalize their role. Maybe they know that a division leader has shied away from a particular tactic in the past, so they move on quickly when a respondent raises a related idea. By consciously or unconsciously redirecting the line of inquiry in these ways, the interviewer chills the conversation and risks overlooking potentially lucrative but unorthodox ideas.

A freelancer can help solve this problem. Yes, you're paying us, but we don't have a proverbial dog in the fight. Rather than shut down respondents' ideas, we'll ask probing questions to get to the bottom of their answers. We'll make sure those out-of-the-box ideas are explored or at least presented in a report and presentation to leadership. And who knows? They just might get the green light.

The Value of Extra Hands and an Extra Brain

Returning to my example from the start of this post: I thought my stakeholder research project would take weeks to complete—but it took months. I did my best to balance my core job responsibilities with the project—but most ended up back-burnered. I'm immensely proud of the content strategy we created thanks to that stakeholder research—but I sometimes wonder how much better may it have been with extra hands and an extra brain on the case.

Since going out on my own 3+ years ago, I've had the chance to provide those extra hands and brain to many higher ed and nonprofit development and communications clients. If you're thinking of launching a stakeholder research project and are considering extra support, drop me a line—I'd love to help!