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Malcolm Turnbull, in announcing his challenge to then Prime Minister Tony Abbott, said Australians ‘deserve more than slogans’. Music to my ears – but then I thought, hang on, isn’t that just another slogan? It seems politicians are well trained to deliver repetitive, short ‘slogan-like’ messages, in the belief this will help their messages to…
The ABC recently announced that a review, or audit, of the show QandA will take place, led by veteran broadcaster Ray Martin. This follows the recent controversial incident when an individual, who was convicted of threatening the lives of ASIO officials, was allowed to participate in the show’s audience. I’m not going to discuss this…
Having been involved for over 20 years (yikes) doing this strange thing called community engagement, I thought I’d offer my assessment of how things have changed and are changing. Obviously not a complete list – that is why I’d like your thoughts about trends. There are a few obvious ones – less reliance on public…
Many professionals know how to engage and collaborate with communities, and with workforces. There are many courses available to learn how to do this too. Yet not so much attention has been given to how to engage and influence decision makers, despite recognition as to how crucial this is. This workshop will assist participants’ understanding…
I’ve recently had the pleasure of getting to know Diana Renner, co-author of the award winning book ‘Not Knowing: The art of turning uncertainty into opportunity’. I’ve also read the book and I’m now re-reading it, as one does when there is too much to absorb first time around. During a recent meeting where we…
It seems that is becoming more common for governments at all levels to entertain random selection of citizens to enable an informed judgment on controversial or complex planning matters (one form being the Citizens’ Jury). As an advocate for, and facilitator of, such processes this is exciting and most welcome. There is a growing weariness…
After many years working in the community engagement arena I realised that whilst I was fairly competent at engaging communities I had a lot to learn about engaging decision-makers, especially politicians. We know that communities often react when they see through espoused consultation – you know when it is really a ‘rubber stamp’ exercise (ie,…
After enjoying several conversations with Micaela Drieberg, 3 Hills Consulting, mostly around leadership, collaboration and community engagement, we decided to put together two courses. The first we are calling Engaging with Communities, which is designed for leaders, including elected representatives, about their role interacting and engaging communities around complex or controversial issues. The second course is Infuencing Decision Makers.…
This goes against the grain somewhat, being a fan of Appreciative Inquiry. But sometimes it just feels good to name some things that we know don’t work – and to state the ‘bleeding obvious’. The systems mantra is helpful to get us started, being that ‘our systems and approaches are perfectly designed for getting the…
Reflections on the IAP2 (International Association for Public Participation) Spectrum I remember well how thrilled I was to come across a thoughtful framework for community engagement, the IAP2 Spectrum, in the late 1990s. Developed by some highly skilled and generous practitioners in North America, it has since become the most recognizable brand and image related…