The VOICE method’s definition of engagement clearly distinguishes engagement from dialogue. Dialogue is defined as a form of interaction with companies—whether occasional or recurring—that is open in nature, generally for the purposes of gathering information or building knowledge, and whose objective is not to bring about change within the company.
The VOICE method does not deny the value of dialogue activities, which, for example, enable investors to gather information useful for analysing the risk profile of the company in which they have invested, to better understand the company’s context, and also to build a relationship of trust with the company over time (the establishment of a dialogue channel being one of the outputs of engagement, for instance). Dialogue activities therefore often contribute to the chances of success of an engagement and, when they are part of a structured engagement process, can be counted towards the ‘number of activities’ (see definition of activities on p. 7 and reporting on p. 21).