Choosing to Engage () von Rebecca Dahl

Introduction 1

The role of stakeholder engagement in policy and service delivery 1

What problem are we solving? 1

A different approach to engagement planning 3

Part 1: Reframing stakeholder engagement 5

What is engagement? 5

Understanding modes of involvement 6

Why we can’t use the term ‘consultation’ 8

Our definition of engagement 8

Evaluating engagement 8

The benefits of good engagement 9

Improving research and evidence gathering 9

Reducing risk 10

‘Wicked’ problem-solving 10

Rekindling public trust 11

The consequences of poor engagement 11

Missing a key risk 11

Participants are more angry/frustrated/disengaged after engagement than before it 13

Participants do not connect with, or support, your recommendations 14

You don’t get any useable feedback 16

The current state of engagement in the Australian context 18

What we found 19

Achieving good engagement 22

Engagement isn’t a once-and-done activity 23

Connecting the cycle model and engagement 25

Understanding the ‘outcomes’ of engagement as they relate to policy or service design 27

Prioritising engagement in the planning stages 30

Collaboration isn’t scary once you know when to plan for it 31

Documentation provides transparency 33

Supporting engagement planning 34

Information on possible engagement techniques 34

Better information about suppliers and pricing 34

Better data processing and the evolving role of technology 35

Part 2: The Scaffle method for engagement planning 37

Building your scaffold 37

Identifying your rounds of engagement 38

Assigning timing to rounds 43

Assigning outcomes to rounds 46

Choosing and sequencing engagement activities 48

Getting the right outcome 49

Using involvement modes 50

Timing the activity 51

Sequencing activities 52

Tuning for risk 53

Doing it yourself 55

Planning for reporting 55

Completing our example 56

Planning and running an engagement activity 58

Why it’s best to engage from the outset 68

Contextual analysis 69

Risk identification and analysis 70

Stakeholder identification and capability assessment 71

Testing/checking your plan 74

Bringing it all together 74

Part 3: Delivering great collaboration 77

What is collaboration? 77

What does this mean for collaborative engagement? 80

Designing and delivering great collaboration 81

Part 4: Engagement techniques 97

Codesign process 98

Collaborative problem definition 100

Advertising 102

Factsheet 104

Free call / 1800 numbers 106

Information kit 108

Interactive e-conferencing 110

Media event 112

Press release 114

Trade show or exhibition 116

Citizens’ panel 120

Community mapping 122

Community or public meeting 124

Consensus conference 126

Consensus forum 128

Consultative interview 130

Focus group 132

Issues conference 134

Polling 136

Survey 138

Unconference 140

Advisory committee, board or council 142

Charrette 144

Ideas challenge 146

Policy wiki 148

Roundtable 150

Search conference 152

Citizens’ jury 154

Deliberative polling 156

Delphi process 158

Nominal group process 160

Call for submissions 162

Computer-assisted participation/democracy 164

Constituent assembly 166

Bibliography 169

Acknowledgements 173