The Golden Rules of Public Engagement/Consultation
Does such a thing exist? Yes certainly there are golden rules for everything, yet the golden rules for engagement are a mix of simple to complex, and arguably include a lot of patience, compassion and understanding.
Here are a few Golden Rules of thinking about public engagement:
> “Meaningful engagement takes work.”
> Engagement is not uniform.
> The process to engagement is a way of thinking.
> Stakeholders and partners must be at the center (human centered design).
> Know your goals and expectations before engaging the public but don’t let these expectations overwhelm the story they are giving you.
> Ensure the public knows what they will have influence over and ensure there is an opportunity for future feedback (if possible).
> Understand your audience and their needs.
While there are many other golden rules that cover exactly how to run a consultation (like this amazing IAP2 Spectrum), the first steps are in the way you think about the engagement process itself. While in this blog I talk about both engagement and consultation, these rules often apply to both.
When we are thinking about engagement or consultation, it is not only the end product or ‘solution’ that is valuable, but the process itself. The entire process of engagement can be more meaningful than the end product, but if the end product neglects taking the process into account — it won’t be a meaningful solution.
Consider this example (and one we did in class). If you wanted to re-design the gift-giving experience for a person (effectively), you would probably ask them about their reality and their experiences, capture their lived experiences, utilize them to create a solution for the user’s needs, accept feedback and create the new and improved gift-giving solution. When scaling this example up to a neighborhood, municipality, province or country the essence remains the same but how that process is managed becomes more complex.
In this increasingly complex world, it is important that the form of consultations and engagements take on new approaches and techniques in order to ensure participation by the most marginalized and not just the loudest in the room. This could be in the form of drop-in spaces like Evergreen offers, through ongoing consultation spaces where people can leave thoughts for a specific issue/topic when able (like in crisis spaces), 100in1day or other means. The importance is in reaching those who your ‘solution’ or policy is going to be impacting the most in an appropriate way.
I once read wisdom from an Indigenous elder that said, if you feel uncomfortable, stay in that space and use that opportunity as a time to grow and learn. If my experience attending a public consultation (explained in a blog to come) confirms anything, it’s that consultations can get uncomfortable. There may be a lack of trust, there will be personal stories and opinions, some voices may shout louder than others, and what you thought the ‘story’ or ‘foundation of the issue was, may turn out to be something different.
“Meaningful consultation takes work.”
