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Are your Co-design projects still waiting for the Green Light?

February 26, 2023 |

If you follow the work we do here at Authentic Co-design, you’ll know that one of the things we are passionate about is understanding and supporting organisational readiness before jumping into a co-design project. Last year Susan Carter wrote a blog describing what ‘being ready’ looks like (click through to read Ready, Steady, Co-design) and…

Get Unstuck in Your Engagement Career – New Mentoring Opportunities Available.

October 20, 2022 |

I’ve built a career on knowing how to deal with complex problems and helping organisations get unstuck, skills that can also be incredibly valuable for helping you develop a career that works for you and your needs. Community engagement is no easy job and mid-career engagement practitioners can come up against a variety of challenges…

Democratic Innovation and Beyond the Vote (Guest Blog by Dr Wendy Russell)

September 18, 2016 |

Thanks to Max for having me as a guest on his blog. It’s been a pleasure to know and work with Max overthe years, as I know it has been for a large number of people. I want to talk today about innovation. Innovation is one of the over-arching themes of Open State, this exciting…

If citizens’ juries are the answer, what is the question?

August 12, 2016 |

It’s been so long since I blogged. I can’t recall a busier time as a consultant. Mostly, this has to do with the surge of interest in deliberative engagement processes, such as citizens’ juries. I’ve blogged about this before, but now I’m going to attempt to write to organisations, executives and politicians about what they…

Musings on plebiscites

March 21, 2016 |

There is growing debate in the Australian parliament and media circles about the planned plebiscite concerning the potential legalisation of same sex marriage. Opinion is divided as to whether the plebiscite is necessary, whether it is worth the money, and whether it is likely to do more harm than good. There is growing debate in…

Seven ways leaders can channel Bowie

January 25, 2016 |

A lot has been written about new forms of leadership. There’s a mounting pile of evidence pointing towards the merit of an adaptive, collaborative approach to leadership. But shifting into this kind of behaviour and approach invariably proves to be more than difficult. Many leaders I’ve worked with have gone so far as to say…

Opportunities to maximise impact – 2016

January 8, 2016 |

It’s another year. Last year I blogged about ‘Aiming at average’. It worked so well I think I should do the same this year. Maybe that’s too boring, or I’m being lazy. To remind me, and perhaps you if you read it last year, it was basically about not aiming at perfection all the time.…

It takes courage to build trust

December 6, 2015 |

You may recall from the British series ‘Yes, Minister’, Sir Humphrey would use the term ‘courageous’ as code for ‘politically stupid’ – usually having the effect of dissuading the Minister to follow his stated intentions. It provided great comedy as well as demonstrating a powerful technique of influencing someone who is risk averse. However, I…

Beyond Slogans – How politicians can restore trust with the public.

October 7, 2015 |

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…

QandA. The review that is REALLY needed!

July 4, 2015 |

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…