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Results through collaboration

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Engaging to make a difference. A conversation with Ben Neil.

01/02/2021 By Max Hardy Leave a Comment

I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with a wonderful community engagement practitioner, Ben Neil. He has so many stories from his wealth of experience. Here is some of what we spoke about.

Max: Ben, give us a really brief description of your role at Capire and professional background?


Ben: I have been at Capire for almost four years and am an Associate and Sector Lead for Social Inclusion and Housing. The role allows me to work on projects that I find really rewarding and that are a perfect compliment to my skills and experience.

My professional background is very varied. I’ve held senior roles in Government, the not-for-profit and charity sectors and now the for-profit sector. I was previously CEO of Cultivating Community who are a not-for-profit specialising in urban agriculture services through supporting community gardens and food security projects. This gave me a deep insight into the everyday lives of people who live on the public housing estates of Melbourne.

While at Mission Australia I was Social Enterprise Manager for Victoria. This was a really rewarding role as I looked after Charcoal Lane, a restaurant specialising in using native ingredients whilst providing training and employment opportunities to young Aboriginal men and women. I also ran a smash repair shop that aimed to reduce recidivism by working with young people involved in vehicle related crime, then supporting them to obtain apprenticeships in the industry. Both projects provided high levels of wrap around support to maximise the chances of success for the participants.

In Government I managed a large housing office on an estate that was going through a renewal process. Managing a site with large scale construction and 1,650 tenancies certainly honed my skills at dealing with complex conflict situations and outrage.

Max: As a consultant at Capire, what kind of work gives you the most
satisfaction?


Ben: There are many elements of my role at Capire that give me a very deep sense of personal and professional satisfaction.

From the perspective of working with clients I really enjoy advising and supporting in a collaborative manner. Working closely to solve complex and challenging issues really excites me, especially when the outcomes have a positive impact on the community. It is especially rewarding when our engagement has a positive impact on the participants. Whether that’s increasing their capacity to engage in the process, gaining knowledge on a particular topic or growing their confidence levels and willingness to participate in democratic decision making in the future.

Max: Do you have a story, or example, you can tell us about, that illustrates this?

Ben: One of the most satisfying experiences I’ve had at Capire was a project in a large inner-city estate in Melbourne. It was a significant project which included six weeks of engagement that gave us multiple opportunities to work with the community. We worked closely with the local community centre who were running a course for people to become interpreters. A couple of the students were tenants and keen for some work experience prior to completing the course and becoming NAATI accredited. We invited them to help out at a few pop-ups and an informal community meeting. One in particular was incredibly impressive managing to hold a conversation in three different languages at the same time! She was genuinely interested in what we were doing and actively reached out to members of her community to encourage them to participate. It was amazing to see her confidence grow and I was touched to receive a letter of thanks a few months later. This person now works as a professional interpreter and was incredibly thankful for the opportunity that we had given her as it helped grow her confidence in pursuing her career.

We stayed in touch and a few months later I was running one of our Learning Labs on the benefits of taking a social inclusion approach to engagement. I asked her to come along and share her experience. It was very inspiring to have been part of her journey from student to effectively teaching 25 engagement professionals about how best to work with interpreters.

In many ways our involvement was small but I love it when we can think outside of the square with our approaches and passionately believe this benefits the engagement process, the individuals involved and leads to better outcomes.

Max: Wow. What a great story. So, tell me, what do you believe you bring to the engagement profession or practice?

Ben: I’d like to think there are many things I bring to the engagement profession but the key one is to try and embed social inclusion into all my projects no matter how big or small. I feel very privileged to have had many roles in my career that have let me elevate the voices and opinions of our most disadvantaged. We need to make sure engagement is accessible and all people are genuinely supported to participate.

Max: I know you pay lots of attention to the experience of people in being engaged. How do you believe this attention can transform the outcomes of engagement processes?


Ben: I honestly believe, as an engagement practitioner, we really need to think about the impact of our work both relating to the project and the legacy that it leaves. I think a key deliverable for all engagement practitioners is to make sure we build people’s capacity through positive participation so it encourages them to participate in the future.

Having a community wanting to participate in civic decision-making leads to better outcomes for all of us. It is easy to underestimate how positive engagement experiences can impact other aspects of people’s lives.

Max: What advice would you give to organisations that want to take their engagement to the next level?

Ben: This is a tricky question as it depends very much on where the organisation is in its engagement journey. Things like core principles about how they or their consultants develop and deliver engagement strategies are incredibly valuable. This can really help communities who are asked to participate regularly and prevent the same mistakes being made over and over again.

I guess my two most practical pieces of advice are be open to opportunities to build the capacity of participants and to draw on their strengths, and most importantly, if you’re not going to take notice of what people say, then don’t bother asking them the question!

Max: Well, there it is. Engagement that makes a difference – and not just by improving decisions. Thanks Ben!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Community Engagement, Engaging Communities

It’s time to do stakeholder mapping differently!

28/10/2020 By Max Hardy Leave a Comment

A recent blog by Richard Delaney put forward the merit of doing impact analysis as opposed to issues identification. Worth a read!


I’d like to offer another suggestion for improving the way we plan community engagement processes; stakeholder mapping. The classic process used is the 2 x 2 matrix of plotting stakeholders according to their level of interest and their level of influence.


The matrix is meant to inform how much effort should be put into differently classified stakeholders, and how we should approach them. Key players demand the most attention – we ignore them at our peril. We should also make sure we meet the needs of those regarded with strong influence, but with less interest. We should be ‘considerate’ of high interest stakeholders who have less clout, and we needn’t waste much time with those with little interest, and not much influence.

It looks systematic and rational. So, what’s the problem? Here are a few unintended (possibly intended) consequences of this approach.

1.You are ignoring potentially useful input; children and young people, for example, see things differently; and they may not currently be interested, and probably not powerful. Check this article from Robyn Mansfield for more on this and also this statement on the ACT Human Rights Commission website.


2. We continue to focus most attention and resources on those individuals and groups who are already highly engaged, and will continue to be. It both amuses and disturbs me that organisations who focus most of their attention on these groups also complain they only ever hear from the same people. Go figure!

3. Mapping stakeholders in this way reinforces the tendency to regard stakeholders more as risks to manage, as opposed to assets to work with and utilise. This habit shapes an unhelpful mindset; one more akin to preparing for battle.

The typical approach to stakeholder mapping is counterproductive. So, if working constructively with stakeholders is something you are really serious about, then I suggest mapping these things instead.

1.What is the interest this stakeholder has with regarding this project or initiative (as opposed to the position they have on the project)?
(Interest here means, why does this matter? It does not refer to how much the stakeholder is interested; you may wish to refer to the seminal work of Ury and Fisher, Getting to Yes, which explains the difference between ‘positions’ and ‘interests’)

2. What interests might this stakeholder have if this project or initiative is fully understood and explored?
(This is useful to ponder for those who may be affected, but not yet engaged, or previously disengaged)

3. What knowledge and insights might this stakeholder have to share in relation to this project or initiative?
(It is important to recognise there are different kinds of expertise; mapping this will encourage the project team to be curious about what others could bring, perhaps uniquely bring)

4. What methods of engagement might work well for this stakeholder?
(If you don’t know then this will encourage you to find out!)

5. What networks and other resources might this stakeholder have to bring to this process?
(They may be able to share information with their networks, or even have a meeting room you can use – you don’t know if you don’t enquire)

6. What else is important to appreciate about this stakeholder?
(They might have some important demands being made on their time; they may have other activities planned that you could ‘piggy-back’ upon, there may be some history with the sponsoring organisation that should be recognised/reflected upon)

This will provide you with lots of very useful data you can draw upon, to help with your planning. It is essential, I’ve found, when planning a co-design process for complex issues. You can’t co-design any solutions unless you are drawing on the strengths of your community.

Unfortunately, these questions won’t give you a matrix. So, how about this one?


Importantly, such a matrix focuses your effort on building relationships with stakeholders and enquiring into how they might become a valued part of the process. I invite you to give this a try and to share what difference it makes to our approach, and to the outcomes derived from it.

What other improvements to community engagement planning processes have you come across, or created? For more ideas about co-designing solutions with your communities go check out Authentic Co-design.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: authentic codesign, stakeholder mapping, stakeholders

Common objections to committing to collaborative (co-design or deliberative) engagement processes

30/09/2020 By Max Hardy Leave a Comment

We know not all projects require, or are appropriate, for co-design (to find out when this is appropriate check this blog and short video). But let’s imagine your situation ticks all the boxes. You have a complex, even a potentially controversial project, and there is quite a lot of uncertainty about the best way forward. There is every chance the project could be delayed, abandoned, or just one of those really drawn out, painful projects to implement.

Yet, there are objections with the sponsoring organisation to giving it a go. They are not uncommon. Here are a few of them.


1. “We shouldn’t go public until we have worked out a solution ourselves; and when we have an answer to nearly every question, we are likely to be asked, or able to defend any accusations that might come our way.”

2. “The public can’t really add much value to this process. It is one for the experts.”

3. “Every time we engage the public we just hear from the same people banging on about their favourite issue, or just giving us a hard time for the sake of it!”


4. We have not got the time or money to do something as resource-intensive as co-design. Imagine if we did this for every issue? All we’d be doing is engaging, as opposed to delivering?

What other objections have you heard? Let us know!


Here are some of my very short responses to these objections – feel free to use them!

1. “We shouldn’t go public until we have worked out a solution ourselves; and when we have an answer to nearly every question, we are likely to be asked, or able to defend any accusations that might come our way.”


Taking this approach will mean your engagement is more likely to resemble ‘marketing your solution’. Once you believe you have figured it out, you are more likely be preparing to defend. It will reinforce views in the community that you are not really committed to engaging in a meaningful way. You will also miss out on what the community could bring to the process. Which brings us to ….

2. “The public can’t really add much value to this process. It is one for the experts.”

Ok, so how do you know that? It is important to recognise there are different kinds of expertise. There is always something to learn from others and local knowledge guarantees a different perspective than a technical expert working from a distance. It is not about either/ or. It’s about both. It’s about tapping into the collective ‘smarts’ of the whole ‘community of interest’. I can honestly say I have NEVER engaged a community on a complex issue when nothing worthwhile has been contributed.

Some projects are merely complicated, in a technical sense, and are not complex in terms of social/political/cultural issues. That is true. If that is the case you would not invest on a co-design process. However, if you think there is a reasonable chance you won’t be able to implement the project due to community concerns, then it is not only a technical issue you are trying to address.

3. “Every time we engage the public we just hear from the same people banging on about their favourite issue, or just giving us a hard time for the sake of it!”


Well, that is probably because you have only designed the processes in the past to suit the ‘hyper-engaged’. You have probably designed perfect processes for alienating the ‘harder to reach’, or people who simply haven’t been able to participate because of methods being offered. You can design processes in such a way that you’ll get much more diverse participation. In fact, designing the process with the help of community members will help achieve this more effectively.

4. We have not got the time or money to do something as resource-intensive as co-design. Imagine if we did this for every issue? All we’d be doing is engaging, as opposed to delivering?


You don’t need to collaborate or codesign with everyone, all the time, about everything. However, if you have a complex project you run the risk of projects blowing up and blowing out. Have you had projects like that? Ones you thought would be relatively straightforward that end up taking 5 times as long and cost you up to five times as much? It may be that investing in a process that builds trust will not only be the most cost-effective way of delivering a project; it will also help you to do ‘business’ with those communities more efficiently in the future.

For more information about addressing challenges and objections you may like to check out our website. Sign on to being part of our ‘community of practice’ for starters! We also have a Linkedin page for Authentic Codesign.

Any other objections you’ve had to deal with? Or have you expressed another objection not listed here.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Filed Under: Co-design

Facilitating Public Deliberations

28/08/2020 By Max Hardy Leave a Comment

public deliberations

Recently I was a guest on the newDemocracy Foundation podcast where I shared some of the important lessons that I have learned over the last several decades. Click here to listen to the podcast.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Deliberation

How safe is it to participate?

27/07/2020 By Max Hardy Leave a Comment

Something we don’t discuss much is the importance of the ‘do no harm’ principle when engaging the community (especially relevant now with the Covid-19 pandemic). Anthony Boxshall and I identified ‘people feeling unsafe’ as one of the key challenges to co-design. We rely on bringing together a diverse community of interest, but what do you do if alternative views are not welcome, or indeed people fear the consequences of participating and expressing unpopular or inconvenient points of view? This can be even more challenging than just ensuring physical distancing at this time.

People do feel unsafe to participate – for a variety of reasons.

Before considering potential tactics to address this, it’s important to understand that fear can be well-founded.

While working in Northern Queensland with agriculture extension service providers, I heard of a farmer who decided to get more serious about sustainable agriculture practices, only to be shunned by other farmers in the district. She became known as the ‘witch on the hill’, and many would no longer talk to her. They believed she left their tribe; a very sceptical tribe when it came to acknowledging climate change impacts, or damage to the Great Barrier Reef their farming practices may have been contributing toward.

On another project, about 7 years ago, which involved exploring options to secure power supply to an inland region, two shop owners decided to support a particular option that others were concerned about. The result was that their township turned on them, to the extent that people would not shop there, and young people were warned not to apply for work there. Ultimately it put them out of business.

On another occasion, I managed to talk a council officer out of his plan to overwhelm opponents of his ‘pet project’. He wanted the council to construct an off-road cycle path from a seaside town to a village in the hills. The only difficulty was that the path would go through several farms, and the farmers had never been spoken to about it. The council officer wanted me to facilitate a large town-hall meeting, because there were several hundred cyclists who would attend, and they would ‘drown out the voices of those farmers’. We ran quite a different process, of course, but this could easily have led to divisive, unpleasant consequences.

There have been other projects where people have been physically threatened. On one occasion, at a public meeting, I attended as an interested citizen (not as the facilitator, for a change), there was a punch-up between two young men who had opposing views. Although not much damage was done physically it had the effect of dissuading community members to continue being involved. It felt scary and polarising.

During a Core Values Renewal process for the International Association for Public Participation, for which I was the process team chairperson in 2008, Australian members proposed an additional core value, one that said something like this:

During a Core Values Renewal process for the International Association for Public Participation, for which I was the process team chairperson in 2008, Australian members proposed an additional core value, one that said something like this: “Public Participation aims to leave a legacy of a stronger and more cohesive community of interest as a result of the process.”  I was surprised when we failed to gain the support of the majority of members attending the session, held in Montreal. Members from the USA in particular felt it was going too far (code for, it sounded a bit pink – or socialist!?!?!). I left scratching my head, thinking, ‘surely it is not ok to engage communities and leave them more polarised, feeling less safe, and less confident to be able to shape the world they lived in.’

Of course, many thought such a Core Value had merit, and it is something I know that many community engagement practitioners pay attention to. There are quite a few practical measures to improve safety, though we can probably never guarantee it will always feel safe to be involved. Being involved will change things, and choosing not to participate will also come at a cost, let us not forget that.

Of course, many thought such a Core Value had merit, and it is something I know that many community engagement practitioners pay attention to. There are quite a few practical measures to improve safety, though we can probably never guarantee it will always feel safe to be involved. Being involved will change things; and choosing not to participate will also come at a cost, let us not forget that.

So what can we do to help participants feel safer?

Here are nine tips I have learned along the way.

  1. Meeting with individuals and small groups on their turf is a good way to start. Learning what they care about and how comfortable they feel mixing with people with different views. This is still possible in a COVID world by arranging a call or video call at people’s places at a time that suits them.
  2. It’s worth doing some research to consider what has occurred before. Not just reading about it, but also talking to people who have worked with the community previously.
  3. ‘Dialogue for understanding’, something a colleague Paul Waite specialises in, can be really worthwhile. You can read about this approach here. It’s a process that does not aim to reach agreement, or to see who can win a debate. Dialogue provides a safe space for people to share their view of the world, and to listen to others. Listening for understanding can help prepare people to participate in a co-design process; they may even find they have more in common than they first thought.
  4. Involving randomly selected participants in a process to work through a controversial issue, can moderate the behaviour of those with more extreme views. It is not uncommon for participants to call out the aggressive behaviour of others if deemed inappropriate.
  5. As a facilitator I have found it much more useful to encourage the participation of more people than to try to ‘manage’ or ‘control’ those who are trying to monopolise a conversation and behaving aggressively. Focusing attention on how to elevate the participation of all seems to be a more effective way of not giving too much power to the most aggressive participants.
  6. There are methods that make it safer for people to express their views; digital polling methods, using applications like Poll Everywhere, Menti and Slido, record and display collective results while ensuring individual anonymity. Jason Diceman’s Feedback Frames is another method for making it safe to express feedback on different ideas.
  7. Using video so people can share their views (their faces can be hidden and voices altered) is another way for people to share views and stories, in a way that doesn’t require them to be in the same physical space with others who disagree.
  8. We are not more accustomed to using Zoom and other online meeting tools, which can also help people to feel safer. This can also be used in conjunction with digital polling tools, and other programs. It is one of the benefits derived from Covid-19 restrictions.
  9. Finally co-designing the process with a range of people will help to factor in safety measures. There is no ‘one-size fits all’ process when it comes to community engagement. Working it out together helps to prepare the space where people can deliberate safely, and work toward enduring solutions.

Now it’s your turn. What are your reflections on safety issues related to community engagement, especially co-design processes?

If you are interested in joining our Authentic Co-design Community of Interest, then sign up here.

If you want to hear about how Anthony Boxshall, Susan Carter, and I have responded to a range of other challenges you may like to tackle our self-paced online training course, Authentic Codesign. More information about that here.

Filed Under: Co-design, Community Engagement Tagged With: authentic codesign, codesign, Collaboration, Community Engagement

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Recent Posts

  • Engaging to make a difference. A conversation with Ben Neil. 01/02/2021
  • It’s time to do stakeholder mapping differently! 28/10/2020
  • Common objections to committing to collaborative (co-design or deliberative) engagement processes 30/09/2020
  • Facilitating Public Deliberations 28/08/2020
  • How safe is it to participate? 27/07/2020
  • Debunking myths about ‘deliberation’ 14/07/2020
  • What is your approach to consulting? And… which one best works for co-designing solutions with the community? 06/07/2020

Contact Details

Max Hardy Consulting
Email: max@maxhardy.com.au
Phone: 0418 217 261
Twitter: @maxchardy
Skype: maxhardy
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/max-hardy/11/339/a4b

Testimonials

Courtney Brown, Director, BDR Projects

'I have known and worked with Max for about two years, however I have been very aware of his career and engagement experience applied to major projects across industry sectors for a much longer period. Max has been at the forefront of pioneering new mechanisms and methodologies for genuine engagement and this resonates for his

Ian Dixon, Dixon Partnering Solutions

'I have worked with Max on many occasions and have great respect for his skills and knowledge around community engagement and collaboration. He is an expert trainer and a strong advocate for Appreciative Inquiry approaches.' Ian Dixon, Principal, Dixon Partnering Solutions

Jessie Keating

Working with Max is a delight. Max’s facilitation, collaboration and problem solving style is respectful and calm, along with being both accessible and professional. The most significant project we have worked on with Max was the planning and undertaking of a community symposium, focused on the drafting of our city’s 20 year strategy, MV2040. We

Amber James

'I have known Max for more than ten years. I was a student of his doing the IAP2 Certificate, engaged him as a consultant for in-house work in local government, and then worked alongside him on a consumer engagement capacity building project at the Royal Brisbane Womens Hospital. He is great to be around and

Vivien Twyford

'I worked with Max for 17 years and appreciate his honesty, integrity and ability to connect with people at all levels. I learned much from him, particularly around Appreciative Inquiry, the appreciative approach and the value of deliberation. While I miss him, I have confidence that he will continue to be a wise advisor and

Lara Damiani

'I had the wonderful opportunity to watch Max in action facilitating the Citizen's Jury for People With Disability Australia in Sydney last month which I was filming. Max's tagline "results through collaboration" is spot on. It was pure magic watching Max create collaboration and results from a randomly selected jury - 12 very unique personalities

Carol M Anderson

'If one were to ask me who was the best facilitator and facilitation trainer in the world, I would unequivocally answer “Max Hardy.” As the public involvement manager at one of the largest U.S.-based environmental engineering firms, I often took along my notes from Max’s facilitation class to meet with clients and, on their behalf, with the public.

Moira Deslandes

'Max is a democracy enthusiast. He finds ways to enable, empower and encourage every voice to be heard and designs processes that foster the principle: every voice is worth hearing.' Moira Deslandes Director, Moira Deslandes  Consulting  

Amanda Newbery, Articulous

'Max Hardy has a unique ability to build the confidence and capacity of teams working in engagement. He brings a wealth of experience and insight. We have worked together on a number of deliberative projects and he is a delight to work with!' Amanda Newbery Articulous

Beatrice Briggs

'Max Hardy brings to his work a delightful combination of common sense, integrity, experience, laced with a sly sense of humour.'   Beatrice Briggs Director International Institute for Facilitation and Change (IIFAC) Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico

Crispin Butteriss, Bang the Table

'Max is a long time colleague, mentor and friend. He has a deft touch as a facilitator and collaboration strategist due his deeply developed empathetic listening skills, along with the experience and wisdom of many years of working on thorny problems with people from all walks of life'. Crispin Butteriss, PhD Co-founder and Chief Practice

Becky Hirst

'Max is one of the leading superstars of community engagement and collaborative governance in Australia. Since I first met him as my trainer in Adelaide back in 2007, I've admired his approach. He's passionate, dedicated, admired in the field and I look forward to seeing the next steps of his career unfold. Watch out world!'

Kellie King

'I have had the pleasure of both being a participant in a fantastic training session run by Max, and also as a client. Max was of tremendous assistance navigating through a challenging engagement process with great support, advice and good humour. Thank you Max.' Kellie King General Manager – Community & Corporate Services, Wannon Water

Craig Wallace

I have worked with Max Hardy on two complex projects which took deliberative democracy and applied it to new problems. In 2007 at a ceremony in Arizona, USA Max along with the ACT Disability Advisory Council was awarded the IAP2 (International) Award for "Project of the Year" for our Citizens Jury project which provided scorecard

Lisa Rae

I first encountered Max in Auckland when he delivered IAP2 training I was attending. Many years later, I’ve had the opportunity to work with him on two significant local government projects in Melbourne using co-design and deliberative engagement approaches. Max’s great strength was helping council decision makers understand their role in the engagement process and

Barbara Dart

Max recently facilitated a two day course for us at Council about tackling the internal and external challenges of community engagement. Max is an exceptional facilitator and his ability to draw on experiences across such a broad and diverse background in CE is invaluable to those before him. I would highly recommend Max to anyone

The Honourable Andrew Powell MP

'I have always been impressed with Max’s ability to navigate and resolve the thorny issues through collaboration.  He involves all participants right from the beginning: asking “what’s the question that needs answering here”? His efforts alongside John Dengate in the journey that was The Queensland Plan were stellar and he was a significant contributor to

Liz Mackevicius

'Max worked with us to design and execute a series of workshops based on the citizen jury principles, to enable a conversation between community members about the growth and change expected to occur in a challenging inner city municipality. Max understood the key issues at hand, gave expert advice and worked with us to tailor

Lindy Fentiman

'I have had the pleasure of working with Max when he ventures up to sunny Queensland!  He is a generous, insightful and highly skilled professional who absolutely practices what he believes in.  Nobody understands the importance of collaboration, engagement and the challenges this brings for organisations better than Max!  He is an excellent coach, facilitator

Anna Kelderman

'Max's extensive experience with deliberative engagement, as well as his uniquely calming facilitation style, has helped bring about a step-change in the type of public engagement expected in Western Australia. It has been an absolute pleasure to partner with and learn from the best in the business, and I continue to look for opportunities to

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