Public and community engagement, involvement and participation is what we are doing as consultants. It is also what we help others do most effectively. We work with teams, companies and agencies on reaching consensus through public participation and collaboration. We usually find ourselves bridging divides by creating spaces where people are willing to participate to build solutions. Community engagement builds consensus. And below you have some of the best of the news and tips that we have found about how to engage communities. Or what happens when you do not. The latest news handpicked by our public sector consultants, all wrapped up with a sometimes snarky – yet always informed – perspective. Enjoy!
I really do try to steer clear of the pure politics of public policy issues but it’s impossible to ignore the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the gutsy response of the #NeverAgain surviving students and now the blowback of people demonizing those courageous,articulate kids online and ...
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Digital communication has truly transformed public participation but it’s not an automatic or comprehensive solution to working with the public. It does not solve everything. Thus, it is important to choose your digital tools wisely in order to promote the collaborative process.
When I look at ...
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Public policy and politics have vastly different objectives, but are now obviously mixed in the minds and perceptions of voters and citizens. Authentic public participation is the path to recovery....
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| Engaging people starts with communicating and connecting and that’s just not easy or intuitive for a lot of people. You might think that it’d be easier to do with people that you know and work with everyday, but even that isn’t necessarily true, so imagine how tough it is for |
The title above is one of those cute, arrogant bumper sticker quips that people sometimes wish they could say to a difficult person they’re dealing with. Dumbing it down is a term that you hear from a lot of professionals describing the same basic process of reluctantly simplifying something complex ...
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We’ve talked a lot in past newsletters about the nuances of facilitating groups toward conclusions, but we haven’t yet said much about the first order of business – getting people to actually show up. If they’re already mad at you, it’s pretty easy. But, otherwise, just because your little gathering ...
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Consensus is, arguably, the true essence of effective democratic public policy. Crafting decisions that most people can live with isn’t easy or quick, but usually beats simple majority voting when 51% wins and 49% of people become losers. Of course, there are people who see consensus as the naïve and ...
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Running better gatherings of people is an exercise in understanding human behavior. Here are the simple basics....
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Meeting facilitation can be a complex art and science when the issues themselves are comparably complex. As we teach in our meeting facilitation training, learning to do meeting facilitation well requires paying attention to nuances, one of which is getting the right people in the room. The room, of ...
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| If this doesn’t make you want to shotgun a tall boy, nothing will. |
