Closing the 'feedback loop' and providing a report to both participants and decision makers is key in an engagement process.
It allows decision makers to:
- see who has participated in an engagement process
- understand the breadth of feedback and stakeholder opinion.
It allows participants to:
- receive a summary of the range of information received
- know how their feedback is being considered.
Providing feedback to participants
Providing feedback to participants can result in increased motivation to participate in future engagement processes and helps to:
- build trust and confidence in the engagement process
- provide transparency and accountability
- clarify whether community issues have been accurately understood
- improve relationships
- confirm whether the original engagement goals and objectives are being met.
The concept of the feedback loop can be broken down into the 3 simple elements:
- We asked
- You said
- We did.
What should be included in an engagement report
An engagement report should include the following basics:
- a summary of the process (what you did)
- a summary of the findings (high level/common themes)
- we asked (key questions)
- you said (use graphs, images and verbatim comments)
- we did (a response to comments and feedback is being used)
- next stages of your project (how to stay involved/informed, contact details).
Use the Better Together Reporting Template (DOC, 130 KB) to help you get started. Adapt and modify the template as required for your project.
Examples of good engagement reports
Stolen Generations Community Reparations Fund - summary of consultations (PDF, 2.18 MB)