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Community Engagement – Getting to the Heart of the Matter

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This site from Australia shows how a council is using online forums to engage with at least some of their constituents on a range of matters including:

  • plans for varying local rates
  • council strategy for trees and
  • the development of community and cultural facilities

This particular council has a resident population of around 74 000 and participation on the forums is relatively low.  Unsurprisingly perhaps, rate variations has got by far the most traffic almost certainly because of its direct impact on the self interest of local people.

There is no doubt that the forums have surfaced a wide range of opinions that may not otherwise have been heard – and some clearly offer clues to the council on areas where its own performance may benefit from a review.  The forums provide an interesting case study in the potential and limitations of such online engagement tools for informing decision making and policy.

However the point I wish to make is not about the medium of engagement (in this case online) but on the content of engagement.  In this case we have rates, trees, community and cultural facilities, a planning application and integrated planning strategy as the topics for engagement.

My question is this.

Of the 74 000 residents of this council, how many have their own progress genuinely held in check by any of these issues?

How many people cannot make progress in their own lives until the council sorts out its strategy on trees? Or integrated planning?  Or even business rates?

The answer is very few.  In most cases perhaps none.  These are examples of what I call lowest common denominator issues.  Most people will agree that they matter and need thinking about.   They are also impersonal enough to be safe topics for discussion.  But for next to nobody will they be the really critical issues that hold back individual talent or community potential.

Many of those 74 000 people will have ideas about how they could make a better life for themselves, their families and the community.  And most of them will have a pretty good idea about what is stopping them.  Instead of engaging local people in the somewhat ‘removed’ priorities of the council, the council could design engagement processes that enable people to engage with each other, the council and other stakeholders, in their real priorities for making a better life.  To uncover the real issues that act as barriers to real people making progress in real lives.

If people are to be open and honest about what is stopping them from making progress we need to have a relationship with them that is trusted, confidential, competent and compassionate.  I suspect that such relationships cannot generally develop entirely online.  That they still demand an element of face to face conversation.  That they will need real people working in the community with good engagement and development skills.  They may also need additional reserves of social capital, community networks and ‘brains trusts’ that can be accessed to provide support and expertise as and when it is needed.

Until we start to engage large numbers of individuals and groups on the real issues that they feel are preventing them from pursuing their aspirations then we will not get to heart of the matter.

Perhaps we should stop seeking to engage the people in our strategies and plans, but instead seek to engage ourselves in theirs?

Lessons from Bogota for Leeds?

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Great film showing the impact of cycle routes, public spaces and other aspects of the ‘public realm’ on the development of the city.  Benefits accrue in all sorts of areas including:

  • inclusion and access
  • health
  • economy and
  • social capital

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGycx75mqRk]

Could it work in Leeds with our weather and hills?  The investment would certainly create jobs.

You can read more about the development of Bogota, a city being developed with happiness as a central theme, here http://shareable.net/blog/can-we-design-cities-for-happiness

Definition of Community

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This via Leeds own Max Farrar

By community I mean something that goes far beyond mere local community. The word, as we find it in much nineteenth and twentieth century thought encompasses all forms of relationship which are characterised by a high degree of personal intimacy, emotional depth, moral commitment, social cohesion, and continuity in time. Community is founded on man conceived in his wholeness rather than in one or another of the roles, taken separately, that he may hold in a social order. It draws its psychological strength from levels of motivation deeper than those of mere volition or interest, and it achieves its fulfillment in a submergence of individual will that is not possible in unions of mere convenience or rational assent. Community is a fusion of feeling and thought, of tradition and commitment, of membership and volition. It may be found in, or given symbolic expression by, locality, religion, nation, race, occupation, or crusade.

Nisbet, RA (1967) The Sociological Tradition London: Heinemann

Person Centred and Responsive Service Delivery

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I am thinking about developing a workshop to explore what is involved in developing a person centred and responsive mechanism for high quality service delivery.  Relevant to public, private and third sector organisations, this workshop will help to understand the challenges of adopting person centred and responsive methodologies and the very real benefits that come from meeting them head on.

Drawing on both theory and practice I would see the session covering:

  • Why person centred – what does it mean – how does it help?
  • Responsive versus strategic service delivery
  • At the point of engagement – what do we do at the front line?
  • Managing boundaries, outcomes and expectations
  • Building responsive networks
  • Making the financial dynamics work – if we don’t guarantee outputs who will pay?
  • Person centred, responsive and local
  • Moving in the right direction – next steps

Would you be interested?  What else would you like to see covered?

Feedback and comments welcome!