Max Hardy Consulting

Results through collaboration

twitterlinkedinmailby feather
  • About
  • Authentic Co-design
  • Services
  • My experience
  • Courses
  • Links
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
  • Newsletters
  • Contact

Learning from Covid-19. How what we are learning now can transform how we engage into the future!

30/04/2020 By Max Hardy Leave a Comment

Engaging communities at a time of physical distancing presents some real challenges for local government. In an earlier article, I asserted that doing sophisticated engagement online, even deliberative community engagement, is possible. I really believe it, but I am not pretending it is straightforward, nor that it is adequate on its own. It does mean doing things differently though and seizing the opportunities that exist.

Let’s face it, community engagement is never perfect. It is never perfectly representative; the processes are not perfectly supported by organisations, nor is the output perfectly considered. It is always a matter of making trade-offs with our processes, limited by budget, time-frames, and the capacity of communities to be involved. But we have come a long way in the last 20 years. Here are some things that I’ve noticed are much better.

  1. Organisations no longer consider a once-off public meeting as being an adequate community engagement process.
  2. There is more effort made to connect with the ‘harder-to-reach’.
  3. Organisations no longer focus their efforts on just trying to placate those who are well organised and most vocal.
  4. Organisations provide a broader range of opportunities for communities to be involved; we don’t usually just provide one way to contribute.
  5. Organisations are generally clearer about genuine parameters and constraints; and open to putting more ‘on the table’ that can be influenced by the process.
  6. Organisations ask better questions, and scope engagement more thoughtfully.
  7. We make more space for deliberation to occur, where complexities can be appreciated, and well-informed, considered judgments can be made by a diverse range of participants.
  8. Organisations are more confident of citizens rising to the occasion, generating great ideas, exercising sound judgment, and being central to building solutions – they view communities as an asset rather than a problem to be solved.
  9. Organisations make more of an effort to explain how engagement has influenced decision-making, strategies and plans. They close the loop better than before.

We do not want to lose these gains at this time. In fact, I would suggest it is even more important we engage authentically right now. But what are some of the challenges? Here are a few.

  1. Not all councils have IT systems that allow staff to collaborate in online platforms (such as Google docs, Basecamp and Trello).
  2. Councils have often invested in one online platform (such as Engagement HG or the Hive) and are reluctant to spend money on different ones. As a result council officers may not be able to offer the range of digital opportunities they’d like.
  3. Not everyone in the community has access to reliable internet services, or the skills to use digital platforms. Whereas previously support could be provided by library staff, that service is not available right now due to physical distancing restrictions.
  4. Transitioning existing community engagement processes to digital only engagement is proving to be more time consuming than expected. Practice sessions, revisions to presentation material, negotiating authorisations from IT, and requiring multiple people to be available during video meetings (in case someone has a bandwidth problem), all take time.

My recent experience has shown that worthwhile engagement can still be undertaken. It is important to remind ourselves that people can adapt; we can be creative, we can experiment and we can rise to a challenge. One of the ways to proceed has been to invite stakeholders, community members and project teams to work out the process together. Staying humble and asking; “How can we continue to work on projects that are important to keep progressing? Let’s learn to do something different together. Let’s not aim for a perfect process, just one that we can help us to keep moving in the right direction.”

This asks for a special kind of leadership too, and leaders can be found all over the place. It involves holding the space within which we can work things out together. It certainly means being gracious when things don’t work out as planned – avoiding the blame game, and seeing what we can learn from every experience.

What is evident with this kind of approach and leadership is it is the same kind of approach that works best in a pre and post Covid-19 world too. Let’s make sure we take these kinds of attitudes and mindsets when we have more options available to use for future engagements.

Filed Under: Community Engagement Tagged With: Community Engagement, COVID-19, Engaging Communities

A dialogue about dialogue

17/12/2019 By Max Hardy Leave a Comment

Written by Max Hardy and Paul Waite

Paul Waite

It’s my pleasure to interview a new friend and colleague Paul Waite who is a ‘dialogue practitioner’ amongst other things. Paul, I know you sometimes refer to this as ‘dialogue for understanding’. Can you tell us what that means?


Thanks Max. As you know, dialogue means different things to different people. Some people think a simple chat to be dialogue, whereas others think dialogue is more formal and focused. By dialogue for understanding, I’m talking about a process which supports a group of people to safely explore their differing perspectives regarding a tricky or contentious issue. It’s not intended to change participant views on the issue, but rather to enable participants to understand how the views of others have been informed by their personal experiences and values. The process can help to build empathy and understanding and, in this age of othering, can help us to reconnect with our shared humanity.

Yes, with so many polarised debates in evidence ‘dialogue for understanding’ is something quite novel, even counter-cultural. I do hear project managers/public servants saying they are pressed for time and need to find solutions fast for a range of issues. How do you respond to people who say that we just don’t have the time for dialogue?’

Yeh, there’s often a sense of urgency and a need to demonstrate action. And that’s fine when you’re dealing with a simple issue or even a complicated issue. However, it is unlikely to bear fruit when dealing with complex or contentious issues. In such cases, dialogue can help to build the relationships and the trust necessary for the participants to work well together. Often, tackling complex or contentious issues requires a diversity of people to work together: community members, service providers, businesses, academics, policy makers and others. Each person brings their own values, experiences, assumptions, priorities and perspectives along – their own ‘truth’. Dialogue can help to create an environment where people are more willing to share their own ‘piece of the truth’ and, more importantly, where they are more willing to listen and synthesise the truth of others. It’s only then that the group has a real chance to break through ‘same old same old’ thinking. So, time invested in dialogue is time well spent.

Speaking of ‘success’ what kinds of benefits or impacts can dialogue make possible? How can it be helpful to an organisation or community? Do you have an example you could share?

The relationships, mutual understanding and trust which can be created through dialogue are valuable in and of themselves. However, dialogue can also provide a foundation for cooperation and collaboration, particularly when it occurs across multiple sessions over a period of time. For a polarised community, the new conversations which emerge can provide renewed hope and the opportunity to work together towards a different future. For an organisation, dialogue invites staff to bring their full self into the room. This can be especially helpful when exploring issues such as diversity and inclusion in the workplace, or how an organisation’s values translate into culture.

One example of where dialogue can be helpful is urban growth, which often leads of the construction of new housing estates on the urban fringe. Visual changes to the landscape, large numbers of new residents and competition for limited resources like schools and doctors can create growing pains, particularly when the established community liked things the way they were. In addition, increasing cultural and religious diversity may be unfamiliar and some may feel threatened. Dialogue for understanding can create an environment where newer and older residents are able to meet, share their stories, and to learn more about one another. Relationships are formed and common interests identified which can help to address some of the challenges, and to provide a platform for future collaboration.

It seems now there is a lot of interest in deliberative processes, but precious little interest, at the present time, in dialogue. Deliberative processes are fabulous for providing a space for randomly selected participants to arrive at recommendations on complex issues, but where communities are highly polarised something different is required as a response. What in your own journey brought you to dialogue?

I worked closely with Melbourne’s Muslim community over a number of years which was an immense privilege. However, the media narratives and political discourse at the time created an environment of fear and distrust of Muslims among the wider community and I know many people who experienced verbal abuse and worse. I remember thinking that if I could just get people together in a room to share food and talk then, perhaps, things might change.


Outside of work, a few like-minded folk and I were facilitating community conversations – but the tools we were using didn’t seem to be appropriate for situations where there was fear, tension or distrust. I started looking for alternatives, and came across the work of the Public Conversations Project in Boston. We began a conversation and in 2017 I was able to spend time in Boston learning more about their approach, shortly after they rebranded as Essential Partners (www.whatisessential.org ).


Is your organisation or community grappling with a situation or issue where dialogue may be helpful to build mutual understanding? Feel free to reach out to Paul or Max to explore further.

Filed Under: Dialogue

Community engagement – definitions applicable to systems change

21/10/2019 By Max Hardy 2 Comments

I’ve been pondering how we understand this term ‘community engagement’ and realising how important it is that we develop an agreed understanding of it before designing a community engagement process. There is no single universally applied understanding of the terms, community engagement, public participation, or citizen involvement. The terms are used interchangeably. Perhaps, the most widely used definition comes from The International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) definition is widely used.

“Engagement, or public participation, is a process for making better decisions that incorporates the interests and concerns of all affected stakeholders and meet the needs of the decision-making body.”

The IAP2 Spectrum describes five different levels of engagement, Involve, Consult, Involve, Collaborate and Empower. Each of these levels refers to the extent to which participation influences decision-making. Even the term ‘empower’ in the IAP2 context, is about delegated decision making; it does not align with the community development concept of empowerment.

Although a useful framework for decision-making, the IAP2 definition and the Spectrum, do not relate well to systems change. It is more than just influencing a decision; and one that is set largely by a single sponsoring organisation.

Here are some other definitions:

‘Simply put, community engagement seeks to engage the community to achieve sustainable outcomes, equitable decision-making processes, and deepen relationships and trust between government organisations and communities.’ Crispin Butteriss, Bang the Table (who also writes about this in his article ‘What is community engagement, exactly?’.

‘Community engagement seeks to better engage the community to achieve long-term and sustainable outcomes, processes, relationships, discourse, decision-making, or implementation.’

Center for Economic and Community Development

And how about this definition for employee engagement.

‘Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company.’ Kevin Kruse, Forbes

We know that community engagement is not only about decision making. Capire developed the engagement triangle to show that engagement can also be about capacity building, and strengthening relationships. This is helpful, and yet when working on a suicide prevention strategy it was apparent to me that we did not only want to engage the community to merely inform decisions, build skills or strengthen relationships. The engagement itself was the solution. We were seeking to help communities to discuss the taboo subject of suicide; and thereby enable everyone to get the help they need, or offer the support required, in a new way. It was about changing a system, and engaging people in conversations about this topic was the vehicle. So, we reframed ‘Engaging the community to help prevent suicide’ to ‘a Citizen-led strategy for suicide prevention’. The engagement was the means and the end. Engaging communities to transform how we talk about, think about, and behave regarding suicide ideation, means something quite different to engaging a community, for instance, about a new parking policy. The kind of engage is different. Engaging that primarily informs a decision or policy may not require ongoing engagement. Once the decision is made and is implemented we just get on with our lives. For systems change the engagement is ongoing; it is iterative, and it informs behaviours, attitudes, builds social capital, and become synonymous with the solution itself.

The Tamarack Institute definition of community engagement is one that sits better for this kind of engagement:

… people working collaboratively, through inspired action and learning, to create and realise bold visions for their common future. (Tamarack, 2003)

This definition works better for ‘systems change’, and for ‘movement building’. There is an opportunity to flesh out this nuance; so that it is clear when we refer to engagement or participation it is this kind of meaning and aspiration.

What is important is that we don’t say one definition is superior to any other. It is simply getting agreement about what it means for a particular situation. No definition works for every kind of engagement. Perhaps the big lesson here is that we don’t just assume we share the same meaning or intent when we talk about engagement. One way to help do that is to ask the question, what might be the most positive legacy this process would leave us with? For the engagement that informs a decision it might be, ‘participants know their input has been valued, understood, and have clarity as to how their input has contributed to decisions made’. For a suicide prevention strategy, the legacy might be ‘a community is more capable and confident in talking about suicide; and that people are better connected, less isolated, and better able to support each other and ask for help’.

What are your thoughts? Have you ever found yourself talking at cross purposes with other people when discussing community engagement?

Filed Under: Community Engagement Tagged With: Community Engagement, community engagement process, IAP2 Spectrum, public participation

Citizens at the Centre: A Journey with my Tamarack Institute Colleagues

12/06/2019 By Max Hardy Leave a Comment

It was hectic. Five workshops, in five cities, over eight days – Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. A weekend glamping in the Rockies in between, followed by two nights at Tofino before returning to Melbourne Australia.

Find out what it was all about!

Filed Under: Citizens Jury

Rethinking Democracy: Strategies That Put Citizens at the Centre

25/02/2019 By Max Hardy Leave a Comment

Thrilled to be part of the Tamarack Learning Centre Rethinking Democracy: Strategies That Put Citizens at the Centre webinar with Sylvia Cheuy. The recording of the session is now available online from their webpage. Or you can see it directly here: .

You can also download the presentation slides.

Please share these links freely with your networks, colleagues and friends.

Take Your Learning Further:

  • Learn more and register for Citizens at the Centre: A Community Engagement Thought-Leader Series
  • Watch a previous webinar Co-Design in Collaboration: Moving From Buy-In to Shared Ownership
  • Read Sylvia’s paper Community Engagement: A Foundational Practice of Community Change

Learn more about the examples and case studies from the Webinar:

  • Australian Citizen’s Parliament
  • The Queensland Plan
  • The Dandenong Creek Program
  • The Brimbank Youth Council

I also mentioned the Synthetron Platform for online citizen engagement

Citizens at the Centre

Citizens at the Centre

May 1-7 | Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver

The Tamarack Learning Centre is planning a trip to five cities across the country, and I’ve been invited along to help you bring new and innovative tools and methods for meaningfully engaging communities and citizens back to your organisations. Join us to strengthen your community engagement practice throughout the lifespan of your project.

Filed Under: Community Engagement

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 12
  • Next Page »

Search

Authentic Co-design

Deliver better projects, build trust and involve multiple stakeholders productively…

authentic co-design

Find Out How

Subscribe to my newsletter

Sharing

twitterlinkedinby feather

Max Hardy TEDx St Kilda

Recent Posts

  • How do you learn? 16/03/2021
  • 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

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

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!'

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Amy Hubbard, Capire

“Max is a trusted and respected colleague and friend of Capire. He is always able to provide us with a sound, strategic and independent perspective – even on the toughest projects in very complex communities” Amy Hubbard CEO, Capire.

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

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  

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

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

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

Eugene McGarrell, FACS

'Max Hardy has worked with my senior executive team and local stakeholders to facilitate the co-creation of social wellbeing strategies. Max’s style is both collaborative and supportive and he gets the best from people involved. I highly recommend Max to anyone who is embarking on a process of co-creation.' Eugene McGarrell District Director, Northern Sydney

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

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

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

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

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

Copyright © 2021