Consultation and Engagement - I was asked to produce this for a company working with tenants on resident engagement - but you may find it useful too.
All the
following points are drawn from my experience in delivering consultations and
engagements for different clients over the years. Some will seem like common sense – but you
would be surprised how often these things are overlooked.
Why are you consulting or engaging?
A good idea
to take a long hard look at motivation here.
There is a scale here – with tokenism at one end and genuine participation
at the other. You are probably familiar
with Hart’s Ladder of Participation.
But those who you are working with or for may not be. It does make a difference. People can detect when they are being asked
to endorse a decision already made and when they are being approached with an
open mind. So honestly placing yourself
on the ladder is a good start.
Consultation may not be the practical response, for example when
legislation limits options or funding is very tight.
Who do you want to consult?
Are you
seeking a cross-section of views from a representative sample of the general
population. Perhaps there are specific
groups who will be impacted. Equality
Impact Assessment methodology might be the way to go.
How much time do you have?
There are
guidelines in place as part of the Compact arrangements in some local authorities
– and these define what good consultation is.
Typically a timescale of six months is required for an effective
consultation. This enables you to go
through the stages of testing hypotheses, focus groups to explore the
accessibility and relevance of questions and to employ a variety of qualitative
and quantitative methods.
How much money do you have?
Budget will
impact on your choice of consultation method.
Telephone interviews can be expensive in high numbers, but provide a
richness of data that questionnaires may not.
Common mistakes
-
Relying
on one consultation method eg an open meeting, an on-line survey. Best practice is to use at least two methods,
so that there is a choice of ways to engage.
Open meetings assume that people have transport and childcare and that
caring, employment, education and training commitments can be overcome in order
to attend.
-
Assuming
that trust exists between those asking the questions and those responding. A historical perception that consultations
were just paying lipservice to opinion gathering will taint any future
activities. For example, a consultation
I was involved in with parents, on behalf of the local authority, where we had
to get past feelings of anger over service cuts in another part of the council.
-
A
confusion between representing and being a representative. To genuinely represent the views of others
an individual needs to have a means of gathering a range of opinions – and
setting their own aside to voice those opinions. A representative is a sample of one – and may
give a personal view that resonates with others in a similar position – but do
you, and they know the difference?
Beware of activists who claim to represent others.
-
Cultural
insensitivity in the choice of venue, or timing of consultations. Check your religious calendar first – or even
better, speak to people locally. Your
local Multi-Faith Forum should be a help in interpreting and advising.
-
Boiling
everything down to numbers on a scale – and losing the variety of responses and
opinions!
Good practice
-
Use
of ambassadors or community representatives in peer led consultations. For example, a consultation with families
with disabled children included training disabled young people to interview one
another on film. Peer to peer, this
generated really rich information. One
borough recruited parents on short term contracts to go out to universal
settings such as shopping centres, GP surgeries, libraries etc as well as
toddler groups and schools to talk to other parents. Recruit and influence people in leadership
positions – for example church leaders, imams, leaders of community groups,
those providing voluntary services. This
is all about social capital – and building strong networks before
consulting. Some LINk organisations
train people from different local communities so that they are skilled in
gathering information and views.
-
The
best practice elements here include thinking carefully about where the target
groups could be found – and going to them, rather than making them come to you. Drop-in events for disabled adults are a good
example. And expect to spend a few
sessions building relationships and trust – and providing people with
sufficient time to reflect on their views before presenting them.
-
Use
of symbols and images to support consultations with people with low levels of
literacy or with communication difficulties.
So easy to put a confusing question, requiring a verbal response. Use image banks that are familiar – and test
your questions with individuals so that your meaning is clear. Could the use of drama or art enable a
different level of communication – with a more open question – what makes you
happy? Be careful of asking people,
especially those on the autistic spectrum, to conceptualize changes – in these
instances experiential consultation works well.
For example in the decisions around the design of a play space at a
special school – visit other playgrounds, try things out, what works, and what
doesn’t. Be careful about asking people
to imagine.
-
Involve
people who are independent, and very clearly have no stake in the outcomes or a
preferred finding. This objectivity,
especially if accompanied by anonymity, will lead to more open communication
and honesty. For example the local
authority who commissioned the CVS to undertake a resident consultation on
library use.
-
Consider
the change equation and cover each element – to achieve change there will need
to be an acknowledgement that the status quo is not working. Consultation falls down when there is no
agreement on this point. There also
needs to be a shared vision for the future, and confidence that the first step
is a positive move towards that vision.
-
Providing
accessible feedback on the findings, in a form that can be understood by the
target groups. Including specific
versions for eg children, young people, in different languages.
-
Invest
in confidence building support for community representatives – for example a
London borough that targeted Asian mothers as school governors found that they
needed support to speak out in meetings run by professionals. The environment was alien and created a
barrier to genuine consultation.
-
Use
of technology – flipcameras are a cheap way of capturing vox pops – as are many
mobile phone. Surveymoney for on-line
questionnaires is worthwhile if you are going to want to do this frequently, or
if you have a small number of questions.
LinkedIn and Facebook discussion threads can draw people in – but may
need a moderator to avoid abuse.
Eventbrite is a good tool for managing attendance at events. There are ipad apps – though I haven’t used
them. Also remember that some of your
population will not have access to technology or will uncomfortable with
it.
