The third principle of engagement is to know the history. Research background information on the issue and find out what previous engagements have occurred.
Engaging communities and stakeholders too much, or failing to build on previous engagement activities, can be as bad as not engaging at all.
'We told you all of this when you were here six months ago', the farmer complained loudly to murmurs of agreement from around the hall.
We often hear high-profile examples of communities and stakeholders complaining of not being engaged, but in reality there’s a lot of engagement going on and it’s important to be aware of this.
Nothing seems to rile people more than being asked for input time and time again, yet not being able to see the impact of their previous contributions.
Determine what we already know
Knowledge of previous government involvement in a community or with stakeholders is vital. This should include activity by:
- all tiers of government (often people do not distinguish between the three)
- all government agencies (their names often change and this can be confusing for the community).
Often, a lot of uncoordinated engagement activity occurs which contributes to consultation fatigue - where communities are over consulted. This gets worse when their previous feedback has not been included in or has not influenced past decisions.
To avoid community ‘disengagement’ identify previous projects, how they intersect with the current process and decide if a new process is required. Where possible, build on the outcomes of previous engagements. Corporate knowledge of previous engagements can be hard to obtain. To help:
- look for significant government projects undertaken in the recent past which may have spurred engagement
- identify practitioners who have worked in the community and have existing knowledge
- find reports and outcomes based on those engagements and use these to influence your own work.
Identify how previous projects intersect with the current process and decide if a new process is required. Where possible, build on the outcomes of previous engagements.
Research background information
Other ways to find out the history of the issue you are engaging on can include:
- Access the YourSAy website - where you will find important information from previous government engagements.
- Connect to other agencies - talk to your peers as well as the communication teams who will be a good source of corporate knowledge.
- Access the State Government Archives
- Talk to consultants that run engagement processes for government who can provide new perspectives of projects they may have worked on.