Page 200 - Performance Leadership

Chapter 10 The Social Role of Organizations • 189

value creates a virtuous circle, the value we create for our stakehold-
ers, they can use in further adding value to our organization. Extract-
ing value means the opposite. Extracting value is creating wealth for
one stakeholder at the expense of one or more other stakeholders—
stakeholders end up with less value and cannot add value to our organ-
ization. It speaks for itself that adding value is a more sustainable
business model with less risk and greater recognition by all stakehold-
ers as a solid business.
Start this strategic insight about alignment between the self (-per-
ception) and the self of the organization, the corporate identity, and
corporate image by organizing a dialogue with your stakeholders.
Often, stakeholders have requirements that conflict with the require-
ments of other stakeholders. The only way to deal with these conflict-
ing requirements is to be transparent. Open communication on what
is driving the business and the strategies of the company. Seek align-
ment between what people do within the organization and what peo-
ple tell the outside world, between how the organization is being
perceived by the different stakeholders, and how the organization per-
ceives itself. It is when conflicting requirements become visible and
the different stakeholders can view the complete picture that an under-
standing of the different trade-offs takes place.
It makes sense to treat all stakeholders well. They each have their
contributions without which your organization cannot thrive. And in
order to get those contributions, their requirements need to be satisfied.