Engaging people around the issues and decisions that affect their lives
Community consultation. Stakeholder engagement. Public participation. Consensus building.
Many words that really mean the same thing. In the sense that it is all about conversation, listening, building and strengthening relationships. Understanding and responding to people’s points of view on decisions and issues which affects their lives.
Bluegrass has a particular expertise in stakeholder engagement around major projects and major issues –we have played a role in some interesting projects - airports, ports, town centre revitalisations, housing developments, automotive safety.
Along the way, we’ve learned that the most effective engagement strategies are those where there has been genuine participation from stakeholders in the decision making process
Here’s a few insights we’ve gained over the years to achieve the right outcome:
Grasstops + grassroots
In many of our campaigns, we advocate a “Grasstops + grassroots” approach – that is engage not only the local key opinion leaders, community organisations and ‘activists’ but also encourage the broadest possible participation from local people at a grassroots level. As we do that, we engage and build a community of interest and mobilise grassroots constituents around an issue.
Start early
We can’t emphasise how important it is to formulate your engagement strategy in the preliminary stages of a project or when an issue develops. Often we have received a distress call from someone neck deep in controversy, media pressure or community outrage. In many cases there are effective issues responses, but often the opportunity to allow stakeholders to engage and participate in the process has been lost. The most effective strategies are those where stakeholders have been “taken on the journey” through the formulation right through to execution of your project or issues based campaign.
Be up front and honest
Transparency, honesty and integrity are paramount. Be honest about your promise to the public and about the role they will play in your process. Paying lip service will only come back to hurt you when the process is placed under scrutiny. But of course expect that in return form those involved in the debate as well.
Be inclusive (Yes talk to them too…)
Around any issue or project, there are always one or two (or more) individuals who try to force their opinion on everyone else by being the loudest or most aggressive. The temptation is often to leave these individuals outside the process, on the grounds they are too uncompromising or extreme in their views. The better course is to bring these individuals ‘into the tent’ and make them feel part of an inclusive process. But use common sense – not everyone has a constructive agenda.
Look to build ongoing partnerships
The best outcomes on any project or issue is when a genuine working partnership is created between business, government and community to produce better outcomes. Stakeholder partnerships are the natural evolution of engagement strategies, and we at bluegrass would like to help you strengthen yours.
Why not talk to us about it.
