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’m thinking about the deplorable dissolution of respect and empathy for other people in our country these days. Who isn’t, right? Here’s a brave conflict resolution strategy from our northern friends that we could do well to take seriously.
I’m exceedingly fond of Canada, having grown up a slingshot distance ...
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For the past thirty years, I have specialized in angry people. As a public participation specialist, I am often called in to communities that are hurting. People are facing real problems—living next to hazardous and radioactive waste sites and other environmental issues, seeing property diminishment from development, loss of jobs ...
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“Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.” ― John Wayne
One of the hardest things for people – individuals or organizations – to do is say “I’m sorry!” Think about your closest personal relationships. Something you have done or said – intended or not – has hurt a person ...
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Some quick thoughts about what we saw and heard at the September IAP2 North American conference in Montreal about capturing and responding to public opinion – specifically related to online engagement. As you may know if you attended or signed up to get our updates, we released the results ...
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This summer, we surveyed IAP2 leaders and practitioners about the condition of our field in 2016, and the public participation survey results are in.
In fact, we presented those today during our 2016 IAP2 North American Conference session, titled “Over Our Dead Body.”
If you were in attendance, ...
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Our partner, Dr. Marty Rozelle, recently wrote an article on dialogue in community involvement and the importance of listening to others. Well, I consider myself a professional listener, so I thought I’d expand on that.
With my community involvement work, I do a lot of listening to others … ...
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The dictionary defines the verb trolling as making “a deliberately offensive or provocative online post with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them.” We all experience this and the more we use online dialogue and public input in community involvement, the more doors we open ...
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“Houston, we have a crisis.” –Crew of Apollo 13
Actually the Apollo 13 crew had a PROBLEM as well as a crisis. Have you ever noticed that people tend to define a problem by its solution? “The problem is … we need a stoplight at this intersection!” “The problem is ...
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