Embedding engagement
Managing expectations: project design
It is vital that participants have a broadly positive experience of the community engagement process. You therefore need to think about the implications for the issues in the perceptions box above on your choice of design for community consultation. Bearing this in mind, here are a few ideas for countering negative expectations:
Not being listened to
- Have one on one conversations
- Divide meetings up into smaller groups
- Give people a chance to feed back comments through writing/text/phone hotline as well as in meetings - a variety of opportunities to engage
- Really take on board people's comments - do not immediately justify your organisation's position and say why things can't be done
People dominating the process
- Ensure sufficient expert facilitation
- Encourage all people to take part in the process - a range of meetings and opportunities
- Consider not involving certain people in the process if they have annoyed or intimidated others in the past, or making separate arrangements (consider this especially if there is an existing imbalanced power relationship between people)
All views not being taken into account, and at least acknowledged
- Provide a full report with all points of view clearly set out
- Rationale given as to why certain themes are important (e.g. more people giving them, stronger reasoning, relevance to the topic under discussion)
- Explain that you are letting partners know about issues raised which are their responsibility.
Insufficient/inaccessible information
- Provide information throughout the process - before, during, after a meeting for example, and in a variety of formats to allow people to take it in (e.g. reports, flyers at meetings, video/audio, posters and exhibitions). Think about how products and services are marketed today - can you use any media or advertising tactics?
- Write clearly and avoid jargon: why invite people formally to a community police consultative committee when you can put fliers out and posters up to ask them to come and give their views about policing, crime and feeling safe?
Ultimately, decisions and plans going against community views
- Including decision makers in the consultation and engagement process itself is useful to show commitment and demonstrate to decision makers the strength of community views. It may mean that decisions are different from those that would have been taken without this close involvement.
- In reporting and feedback, give the rationale for decisions and detail of all consultation and data considered up to the ultimate decision being made. Also include some reporting on the decision making process itself.
Wider communications issues
An effective communication strategy for your community engagement strategy or project can help create buy-in across a community. There will be several distinct audiences for community engagement activities, including the following:
It is important that messages are communicated in an appropriate way for different audiences. It is likely than more than one method of communication will be needed, particularly for projects involving a wide range of communities.
Different levels of interest and involvement
- Those immediately affected by a proposal or activity
- Those with a stated direct interest
- Those who do not have an interest at present, but have a stake as a taxpayer or resident of an area
Or people can be classified in a variety of other ways for communications purposes:
Different stakeholder groups
- Participants/potential participants
- Service users
- Residents generally
- Partners (statutory, business, voluntary and community groups)
- Citizens/taxpayers
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