Strategy & Value ยท STR-07
Stakeholder input to strategy
Staff, their representatives, service users, partners and, where relevant, the public and regulators have a real opportunity to shape the AI strategy, and the organisation can show what changed as a result.
Why it matters
The people who do the work and the people affected by it see risks and opportunities that leaders do not. Involving them early produces a better strategy and makes it more likely to be accepted, while consultation after decisions are made does neither.
Levels
| 0 Absent | Confirmed absent: the evidence shows nothing is in place. Not known is recorded as insufficient evidence, not 0. |
|---|---|
| 1 Initial | The strategy is written by a small group without wider input. |
| 2 Developing | Some groups are consulted, but late, selectively, or with no record of what they said or what changed. |
| 3 Defined | A planned engagement approach involves the relevant stakeholder groups before the strategy is settled and records what they said and how the organisation responded. |
| 4 Managed | The reach and influence of engagement are measured, gaps in who has been heard are identified, and stakeholders are told what changed because of them. |
| 5 Optimising | Stakeholder involvement is a continuing part of how the strategy is developed, and the approach is improved from participants' feedback. |
Level 3 criteria
Level 3 is met when every applicable criterion is met. Criteria marked with an overlay apply only to organisations with that characteristic (overlays).
- STR-07.1 A planned engagement approach identifies the stakeholder groups relevant to the AI strategy.
- STR-07.2 The identified groups are involved before the strategy is settled.
- STR-07.3 A record shows the input from each group and the organisation's response to it.
Assessment questions
- Who was involved in shaping the AI strategy, and at what stage?
- Which groups affected by your use of AI have not been heard?
- Can you point to something in the strategy that changed because of stakeholder input?
- The stakeholder engagement plan for the strategy
- A record of input received and how the strategy responded
How to reach Level 3
- Identify the stakeholder groups that should shape the AI strategy, such as staff, their representatives, service users, partners and, where relevant, the public and regulators.
- Plan how and when each group will be involved, making sure it happens before the strategy is settled.
- Run the engagement and record what each group said.
- Record how the strategy responded to each main point, including where input was not taken up and why, and share that response with the groups (see CUL-03).
Common pitfalls
- Consulting on a strategy that is already decided, so input cannot change anything.
- Recording what people said but not what was done about it.
Starter artefacts
- Stakeholder engagement plan for the AI strategy
- Input and response log
Ownership and sequence
- Accountable
- executive sponsor
- Contributors
- ai governance lead, people lead, business owner
- Depends on
- GOV-02
- Roadmap step
- 2
- Lifecycle
- strategy
Cross-references
| GDS AI Playbook | P7 partial |
|---|---|
| ISO/IEC 42001 | 4.2 direct |
| MITRE AI Maturity Model | P2.1 partial; P2.2 partial |
| NIST AI RMF 1.0 | GOVERN 5.1 partial |
| UK Data and AI Ethics Framework | SAT 1.15 partial |
| UNESCO AI Maturity Framework | 5.2 partial |
direct: this control at Level 3 meets the item. partial: it covers part of it.