Secrets of effective consultation€¦ · Secrets of effective consultation. About Elton Consulting...
Transcript of Secrets of effective consultation€¦ · Secrets of effective consultation. About Elton Consulting...
About Elton Consulting • Leaders in community engagement and stakeholder consultation• Design, facilitate and manage consultation processes• Private sector, government, community groups
Contacts
Darwin - Martin Klopper [email protected] 0406 955 766Sydney - Brendan Blakeley [email protected] 0412 686 026
What is engagement?• Brings diverse perspectives together• Inclusive, transparent and collaborative• Helps to build new solutions• Balances competing needs• Communicates the ‘why’ to stakeholders• Usually a formal process• Keeps stakeholders informed• Makes reform and change easier – when done successfully• Requires careful planning• One of many inputs to an eventual decision
Handing over decision-making or control to stakeholders About creating universal consensus –even around the best project or policy ever planned!A one off eventAbout asking people what they want?
The key to successful engagement: be clear from day one which decisions can and cannot be influenced – what’s negotiable and what’s not.
What stakeholder engagement isn’t…
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
If well planned and well executed - you will get a result !!
Plan for the worst but don’t limit potential opportunities and positives by focussing solely on what could go wrong.
It is usually a poorly chosen technique or bad timing that generates confrontational situations.
Around 90% of our engagements - even on really tough issues are constructive.
What does conflict and anger usually mask? – Depth of values/attachment, Fear of change, Loss of control , Misperceptions, Need for recognition.
How would I feel if it was me ?Empathy is a good starting point to understanding how stakeholders may react and what their needs may be.
It doesn’t have to get in the way of the job you have to do.
You can be empathetic and be firm - if there is no room to move on a decision you can talk about process for implementation and how to best manage the impacts of decision
Assuming the standpoint of the other a great starting point and good bulls&@# detector. Questions to ask yourself are:
• How would I like someone to have that discussion with me
• What kind of environment / approach is most conducive
to having that discussion
1. Purpose, purpose, purpose!! Keep front of mind
2. Wrap the engagement around the project
3. Find a champion and high-level support
4. Figure out what you’ll need to do and when
5. Respect the community and stakeholders you’re speaking with
6. Make sure your stakeholders understand why you’re talking to them
7. Work with key influencers
8. Involve the ‘usual suspects’ but don’t let them dominate
9. Monitor and review how the process is going
10. Engagement is step by step – you’re in for the long haul
Top ten tips
Key steps in stakeholder
engagement for shopping centres
Be clear about what you are planning, the purpose of public engagement and extent of stakeholder influence
Step 1 – Understand what engagement isThe processes by which agencies, stakeholders and the general community are invited to contribute to the developing and implementing strategy, policies, programs and services.
Encompasses a wide variety of interactions, formal and informal.
From information sharing to more active consultation through to collaboration in decision making processes.
Allows us to tap into diverse perspectives and new solutions to improve the quality of its decisions.
Is open, transparent and participatory. and ideally occurs over time
Is proactive and defensive
Can create connections that enable communities and stakeholders to better understand the reasons for proposed strategy and reform.
Can build understanding and mandates for change that are more sustainable than when we drive these agendas alone.
Is not always the solution?
Step 2 – Establish contextUnderstanding the project’s scope, purpose, context, timing and deliverables is critical to determining the engagement requirements of the project and integrating them to add value to the project. Key questions to consider include:
What is the background to the project?
What are the drivers for the project and how urgent are they?
What is the purpose and objective of the project and role of engagement
What is the external environment in which the project will take place?
How will engagement add value to the project? In some cases it may not!
Step 3 – Purpose and Objectives Determining engagement objectives should be from your own requirements as well as from a community and stakeholder perspective. This will include considering:
Why is the engagement being undertaken? - to educate, to introduce notion of change and rational for change , to understand range of views, seek community input into how to manage change,, collaborate with community in delivering change
What will success look like for your organisation? How will we know if it has been achieved?
How will the results of the engagement be used by your organisation?
What are the existing engagement mechanisms being used by your organisation?
What commitments have been made to stakeholders about engaging them?
Remember to consider both content /issue at hand and the ongoing relationships with stakeholders . A short term gain or expediency can alienate stakeholders and cause longer term problems .
Step 4 – Who will need to be involved?The types of people and organisations to be engaged will vary depending on the scope and objectives of each project .An environmental scan is a common starting point. Questions to consider include:
Who will have an interest in the outcomes of the project?
Who will be directly impacted? Who could be indirectly impacted
Who holds knowledge that could be of value to the project?
Whose views could influence the outcomes of the project?
Identifying the types of stakeholders who may need to be engaged will help to determine the most appropriate engagement approach for the project.
• Government – elected representatives
• Departments and agencies• Regulatory authorities• Peak bodies, NGOs, advocacy
groups• Landowners and businesses • Clients/customers• Academics and educational
institutions• Media
Activity: Identifying stakeholders
Elected representatives in all three tiers of
government
Federal Government departments
Landowners and businesses Local Councils
Regulatory authorities
NT Government agencies and
utilitiesClients and customers
Peak bodies and advocacy groups
Community and local organisations
Regional and local communities
Academics and educational institutions
Media
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Identifying communities and stakeholders
Questions to help identify communities and stakeholders and their interests include:
• What else is happening out there that could intersect with your project, potentially impacting stakeholder interest or causing confusion?
• What is the history of engagement in this area? Have they ‘heard it all before’? Is cynicism or consultation fatigue likely?
• Is there media or political heat around the policy area, if so where is it coming from?
• Are there community members or stakeholders who will be impacted by the change, but who until now have had limited opportunity for input?
• Will the impacts of a change of policy be different in urban, regional and remote areas?
• Are there gaps in the team’s knowledge of specific community or stakeholder interests that can only be filled by direct communication with them?
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Finding them
Ways to find your stakeholders
• Brainstorming with team members to build a map of stakeholders and current knowledge about them
• Contacting Councils and peak bodies
• Reviewing previous community submissions
• Searching the media for relevant stories and reports
• Identifying relevant websites and stakeholder blogs
• Searching existing stakeholder databases to identify individuals and organisation contact details
• Advertising and notification
• Mapping an area of impact – BEWARE - geographical proximity may not be the only criteria.
Engaging project champions
The role of a project champion is to advocate for the project. They can:
• Help provide a consensus building framework for the process, providing a greater partnership with your organisation in the engagement process
• Can be internal to your organisation or external
• Have many roles – from promoting a proposition to taking no position other than encouraging other people to participate in the engagement process.
The media
Like it or not, the media is a key stakeholder which can impact the success of a project. If there will be a high level of interest, a media strategy integrated with an engagement plan may be useful. A media strategy can help to:
• Publicly communicate the project’s objectives and desired outcomes
• Ensure consistent messages are delivered to the media
• Build relationships with journalists.
• Promote key messages even in an atmosphere of crisis, correcting misleading information and rapidly managing potentially controversial issues before they escalate.
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Preparing media responses
Questions that help guide thinking about media engagement include:
• Are the views of a wide range of community members being sought, or will the engagement be limited to a targeted group of stakeholders?
• What is the nature of the policy or project? Could promoting the project to a broad audience deliver positive outcomes? Or is a low key, risk managed approach more appropriate?
• How will the public respond to the news? Is there ‘heat’ around this issue?
• How have the community and key stakeholders reacted to similar projects or policies?
• What other relevant events or issues are currently attracting attention in the media?
Step 5 – Selecting the right techniqueThe most important steps are to:
Match engagement techniques with the project objectives, timing and resources
Discuss potential techniques with key stakeholders or experts within your organisation
Consider the varied time, resources and abilities of community and stakeholders to participate in the process – sometimes you may need to hasten slowly
Use a variety of techniques to maximise participation
Techniques can be formal and informal
Beyond the “town hall” public meeting• Public meetings are not the only engagement technique available
• Other techniques can be used as part of transparent, constructive and beneficial engagement processes
Consider the following when choosing your engagement techniques:
• Amounts of time community members and stakeholders are likely to be able or willing to commit to the process
• Availability of community members and stakeholders to attend events or participate in activities at different times of the day and week
• Abilities of community members and stakeholders to access and use technology
• Needs of particular groups including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with a disability and small business owners and operators.
• Ability and experience of the project team in utilising the various techniques.
Step 6 – Identifying timing and resourcing A timeline of the engagement techniques should also be prepared. It should incorporate:
Project deadlines
Key project ,engagement and communication milestones, to provide guidance to activities as well as sequencing the “landing” of a project or process
Detailed staffing and financial resources required to support the identified engagement techniques
Internal resources available to assist with delivering engagement activities
External resources i.e. technical experts, independent facilitators, event managers, direct mailing companies and graphic designers
Developing an online presence and social media
Managing invitations and notifications
Process for recording feedback and registrations of interest
Particular needs groups
• Brainstorming with team members to build a map of stakeholders and current knowledge about them
• There are particular challenges when engaging with a number of categories of stakeholders including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with a disability and small business owners and operators.
Advisory Group
Advantages• Brings diverse stakeholders with a
high level of interest in a project ‘in the tent’
• Captures diverse expertise• Is an opportunity to build
understanding, relationships and consensus over time
• Members will often formally or informally champion the process and the project
Generally 12 members, comprising representatives from external stakeholder groups, non government organisations, individuals, and government representatives
Disadvantages• Can require strongly opposing views
to be carefully managed• Not statistically representative,
although if members are carefully selected can represent a variety of views
• Needs to be well chaired• Ongoing resourcing required• Manage actual and perceived conflicts
of interest
Briefing
Advantages• Focused engagement with
stakeholders who are likely to be highly interested in, and influential to, project outcomes
• Deliver project information to be directly to key influencers
• Flexible venue• May obtain sensitive information
that would not be provided more publicly
Used to inform key stakeholders about the engagement process, and opportunities to be involved. Can either be collective, involving a group of stakeholders with similar interests, or one-on-one
Disadvantages• Limited opportunity to gain input
from participants• Only engages a small proportion of
community and stakeholders• Can be perceived as privileging
some engagement participants• Informality can be a disadvantage
Information and feedback session
Advantages• Opportunity for a project team to
interact on a one to one basis• Can be held at the same time as a
community event, ‘drop-in’ • Diffuses the risk of groups
mobilising or vocal people dominating
• Individual feedback captured• Participants can provide contact
details to project team
Drop in session for several hours where the community and stakeholders are invited to view displayed material and provide verbal and/or written feedback to members of the project team.
Disadvantages• Setting a suitable time• Some stakeholders want a more
structured, group opportunity for their views to be heard
• Can be expensive to prepare information materials for a one off session
• Can generate a large amount of material (eg feedback sheets) requiring analysis
Workshops
Advantages• Participants need to grapple with
complexity• Creates informed views • Very active techniques • Diffuses the risk of groups
mobilising or vocal people dominating
• Individual and group feedback captured
• Builds working relationships
Deliberative workshops aim to develop a shared understanding of an issue and to build consensus around a solution. Often undertaken as a series of workshops with experts presenting information for debate and consideration. Can combine small and large group discussions and utilise representative sampling.
Disadvantages• Setting a suitable time• Resource and time intensive • Can be expensive to prepare
information materials for a one off session
• Can be seen as exclusive • Better done with groups < 100
Public meetings
Advantages• People are familiar with this
technique• Seen as very transparent and
public• Time effective • Can accommodate large numbers
of people • Formal record • Can take questions on notice
A formal structured proceeding usually involving presentations followed by questions and answers . May or may not include formal motions from the floor.
Disadvantages• Forum for grandstanding - usual
voices may dominate • Not very effective at shifting views • Difficult for dissenting views to be
aired and intimidating for some members of the public
• Not conducive to developing solutions
• Can be captured and hijacked• Requires strong facilitation and
presenters comfortable with conflict• Often only yields minimal new
information • Not inclusive
Informal Engagement
Advantages• Information can be delivered directly
to key influencers – and initial views to be sought
• Often highly valued by stakeholders• Good for getting to hard-to-reach
groups • Can improve the effectiveness of
other, more formal forms of engagement
• Can be a very effective risk management tool
• Inexpensive
Informal engagement can take many forms. It builds understanding and relationships among key stakeholders and allows parties to ask specific, and potentially sensitive, questions in a confidential forum. Crucially, it can also be used to help negotiate an outcome between key stakeholders with divergent views.
Disadvantages• Can depend on relationships
between individuals: if an individual leaves or moves , the relationship can be lost
• Informality can increase risk of later misunderstanding or misrepresentation of views or committments
• Transparency
Focus group
Advantages• Can reach groups with special
needs or interests eg young people, people with a disability, CALDcommunity members or homeless people
• Less threatening for people who don’t like to talk in large groups
• Maximise participation• Provides finely grained information
A small group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes by a facilitator.
Disadvantages• Need skilled facilitation to engage all
group members• Groups are not large enough be a
fully representative sample of a population: insights are indicative only
• Often time consuming to recruit participants
Media
Advantages• Easily transmittable to a wide
audience across a range of platforms
• Integrates well with other engagement techniques
• Combining traditional media with social media can increase response rates
• Can be used effectively at all stages of engagement
Media covers print and online journalism, television and radio. Media can take many forms including advertisements, articles, interviews, media releases and public appearances.
Disadvantages• Timing and context for the
distribution of information is determined by media outlets
• Interests of media outlets and of the project may not always be in alignment
• Resource intensive process
Summit
Advantages• Provides focused engagement with
stakeholders who are likely to be highly interested in, and influential to, the project outcomes
• Formality of a summit valued by some participants
Also known as a round table, generally between 20 or more invited stakeholder representatives and decision makers. Participants will have a good understanding and strong perspectives.
Disadvantages• Can perpetuate existing dialogues• Needs to be well chaired• Can be perceived as privileging
some engagement participants
Online forum – ‘have your say’
Advantages• Transparent• Allows interested people and
organisations to express views directly and interact with each other
• Users may make posts in their own time
• Gives ability to intervene if misconceptions are gaining credibility
A topic or series of questions is posted online to a project website for comment and discussion by stakeholders and the community. Levels of moderation may differ.
Disadvantages• Not all community members are
comfortable participating in online forums
• Can be time consuming and expensive for to maintain
• Moderator may inappropriately censor comments
Advantages• Easy to use• Diverse users• Create online communities to share
content, opinions and ideas• Can reach people who may
normally be apprehensive about committing to a group
• Can involve people who are time poor or who travel frequently
Facebook can be used by businesses, brands, organisations and public figures to create pages and interact with the Facebook community.
Disadvantages• Content is the property of Facebook • Complex privacy settings\• Must be kept up-to-date constantly• Potential for issues and discussion
to escalate and attract significant attention very quickly
• Can involve high staffing costs • Non-users may require lots of
support and encouragement to use this medium
Advantages• Offers similar benefits to Facebook
in a simpler format• Provides an easy platform to
disseminate real time information and updates online
• Useful to support other online activity such as the project website
• Functionality is evolving
Offers a social networking and micro-blogging service. Users are able to follow people, organisations and issues.
Disadvantages• Must be kept up-to-date constantly• Tweets cannot be retracted and
interactivity cannot be moderated• Can involve high staffing costs• Number of characters able to be
used to convey a message is limited• May reach a younger demographic
only
For further tools and techniques, see:http://iap2.affiniscape.com/associations/4748/files/06Dec_Toolbox.pdfhttp://www.digitalengagement.info/http://participedia.netFor other examples of good practice engagement, see:http://www.businessofgovernment.org/report/using-
online-tools-engage-publichttp://www.iap2.org.au/awards/cid/31/parent/0/t/awa
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