Authentic Engagement presented by Richard C. Harwood, President The Harwood Institute for Public...

Authentic Engagement

presented by

Richard C. Harwood, President

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, all rights reserved © 2007

The Harwood Institute for

Public Innovation

People

in retreat

are

into close knit circles

all rights reserved © 2007

Yearn to return to reconnectand re-engage

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovationall rights reserved © 2007

Answer the call

Tap people’s potential to make a difference

Forge a common future


What Creates Attachment?

Coherence / Meaning / Sense of Possibility


Potential Pitfalls

• Activity happy, action deprived• Plug & play• Becoming mechanistic• Customer service mindset• Lack of public purpose


Three Starting Points

• Start with Community First

• See People as Citizens

• Create New Pathways


Start with Community First

• Understand community context

• Think about impact

• Be clear on “what space you occupy”


See People as Citizens

5 Principles of Authentic Engagement


Authentic EngagementPrinciple #1

_____________

Pursue civic engagement,not public input

• How are people engaging on the underlying issues they’re working on?

• How am I designingmy initiatives - from the questions we’reasking people, to theways in which they interact?


• How will our initiatives ask people to think about the public challenges from a citizen’s standpoint:both holding self-Interests and being able to see beyond them?

• How are we creatingconditions where people take ownership of community?



_____________

Engage people as citizens,not consumers

• How am I thinking about who should be engaged and where we can engage them?

• How can we bring people of different perspectives together?



_____________

Discover voices,not simply

demographics

• How do I leave roomfor people to engage on the tensions inherent on the publicchallenges they’reworking?

• To what extent do I assume that we shouldnot engage people ontensions if we want them to stay attached?



_____________

Seek common ground,not consensus

• Why am I providing information to people,especially when I believe they may not know enough about an issue?

• How am I askingpeople to be citizensin relationship to knowledge, as opposed to consumers of information?



_____________

Provide knowledge, not more information

Create New Pathways

• Imagine how people livetheir lives - the paths theycreate

• Understand the pathways you create

• See how you can connectpeople to other pathways

• Know that people are onan unfolding journey


“Relevance and Significance”


More

Harwood Institute

Resources

www.theharwoodinstitute.org

• E-letter and Blog

• Videos• 5 Principles ofAuthentic Engagement

• Public Innovators Lab (Austin, TX)• February 5 - 8, 2008

Contact:

The Harwood Institute

for Public Innovation4915 St. Elmo Ave, Suite 402

Bethesda, MD 20814

(301) 656-3669 (w)

(301) 656-0533 (f)

www.theharwoodinstitute.org


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