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Stakeholder perception audit

Client name Anglogold Ashanti
Year 2024
Work completed Creative and digital, Government and stakeholder engagement
Team Cameron Wong, Renée Wilkinson

Overview

AngloGold Ashanti owns the Sunrise Dam and Tropicana gold mines and have existing operational and philanthropic relationships with stakeholders in the communities of Kalgoorlie, Laverton, Menzies and beyond to the remote Aboriginal community of Tjuntjuntjara.

To gauge sentiment and overall awareness of AGA and its perceived value and contribution to Western Australian, specifically the Goldfields regions, a bespoke, multi-channel stakeholder survey program was delivered across a three-month period. The overarching goal of this engagement was to provide a baseline to measure changes in performance for future surveys.

Challenge

Engaging in community perception audits is beneficial to better understand key stakeholders and the findings of such surveys provide meaningful data and actionable opportunities to strengthen existing and build new relationships.

However, engaging with stakeholders presents a risk to the relationship and the reputation of the business. The below risks were discussed with the project team and were considered in the planning of the survey delivery methods and communications:

Resistance, apathy and unwilling participation
Unsure about purpose of engagement – for example a fear of change in operation / losing funding
Broken and unmanaged reputation
Remote geographical location of stakeholders
Languages other than English

Solution

As part of this process, AGA was committed to the wide consultation with key stakeholders grouped by their geographical location. The research approach was co- designed with the AGA team and considered the engagement preferences and complexities regarding baselining perceptions coupled with varying relationships experienced to date.

During the early planning process, it was highlighted that the numerous stakeholders and stakeholder groups identified have different engagement preferences and needs. This was considered and reflected in the selected methodology and positioning of questions.
Two Purple consultants travelled to the Goldfields to conduct face-to-face interviews over a three day period. Follow up online and phone interviews were offered to the priority stakeholders as well as the publication of a digital survey to capture the broader community sentiment.

Results

In total 45 face-to-face interviews with priority stakeholders across Perth and the Goldfields region. Upon completion of the interviews and digital survey, a review and analysis of the results was undertaken and a report prepared for AngloGold.

This branded Outcomes Report included graphs and highlighted key themes, insights, recommendations, demographic splits and identified risks and future opportunities.