Three Questions for More Meaningful Engagement
Far too often in planning exercises, you can anticipate exactly which stakeholders will show up, participate and be heard. Even with latest technologies and tools in our outreach toolkits, we are still missing the vital contribution of many of our fellow community members who are simply not in the room during these conversations about the future of our cities.
To effect meaningful change, we must be more intentional in how we facilitate these conversations from the very onset of the project.
Of course, there are many underlying reasons why we see these same stakeholders time and time again: they are already engaged and therefore know the role they can play in shaping plans; they are always invited and easily accessed through low-cost and traditional channels (e.g. they are on that email list already); or they have experience in being heard and feel welcome in participating. Of course, these stakeholders are vital to the process but it is important that their perspective and priorities do not overshadow the interests of those not always heard.
At Cityfi, we are often facilitating engagement efforts as public agencies seek transformation in the digital age. We often see internal stakeholders unintentionally excluded from these processes as they are not considered true stakeholders in the strategic planning process. It is our responsibility as professionals to ensure that seats at the table are filled by more than just the usual suspects. To design an effective and inclusive engagement process, we suggest starting with these three clarifying questions:
- What is the ideal stakeholder universe?
Think broadly about who might be considered a “stakeholder.” Who might be impacted by the desired outcomes of this process? It is important to consider how different stakeholders might participate in both the planning process and plan implementation. For instance, if you are developing a smart city strategic plan, you may naturally invite public sector stakeholders from public works, finance, transportation and IT to the table but what about public health agencies, schools and libraries? These stakeholders have a very human-centered business model and are often in the direct service to our communities making them a great addition to the dialogue about smart cities. Additionally, it is important go beyond just management of these agencies and invite the people working on the front lines to the table.
When planning for broader community outreach, look at the data and understand the composition of your city, district or neighborhood and brainstorm a list of participants that would reflect the city itself. Take a holistic, systemic view of the issues to be addressed and consider who might be working on these issues in their own capacity.
Be exhaustive when making this stakeholder list — even if there is a marginal connection, diverse engagement will create a much better plan.
Consider diversity from many different angles: geography, socio-economics, race and ethnicity, gender, age, etc. Write it all down and then begin identifying who you know, how you might reach them and the “why” they should get engaged. This is a messy first step but it can serve as a meaningful catalyst to inclusion. You may not be able to include everyone in all aspects of the entire process but consider building key touch points to ensure that you have broad, diverse engagement and outreach.
2. What are the existing channels for effectively engaging more marginalized communities?
Once you’ve curated a broad list of stakeholders, consider the various channels available to you to reach out and pull more people to the table. This must go beyond the standard practices of launching of a project website, sending out a survey, hosting a workshop or open house, etc. While these are all valuable tools, they can be very one-dimensional in terms of the type of feedback you’re able to gather. Plus, we cannot assume these stakeholders will be comfortable attending an event on your terms so we must make a more concerted effort to reach out.
So, if you cannot get marginalized stakeholders to a meeting at city hall, consider where they might be already and go meet them there.
Where might they be? Shopping for food, dropping children off at school or daycare, paying their utility bills, going to work, attending church — these activities are all part of our daily lives and present an opportunity for engagement. Leverage existing community networks and resources to raise awareness and interest in your efforts. You will likely have to customize your message to be sensitive to the context (e.g. a 15-minute survey is not practical when picking up an infant at childcare) and audience (e.g. be sensitive to cultural norms) but you can prioritize what information is most critical and offer to follow-up for more thorough feedback.
Technology offers a lot of potentially powerful tools in reaching large audiences in different languages and with customized content. However, it is important to recognize the limitations of these tools — particularly in bridging the digital divide. Mapping the various tools and outlets for engagement to your stakeholder list (see above) will help you with identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement.
3. What standards will you uphold as part of your engagement effort?
In being intentional in outreach and engagement, it is important to hold yourself to the highest standards. These exercises are definitely designed to glean meaningful feedback from stakeholders but they also serve in building trust and accountability within communities. As stewards of these processes, it is important to design standards to ensure that everyone is treated with respect and compassion. Here are a few considerations to factor into the standards for your outreach efforts:
- Content. The presentation of information can be complex and it is important to stay away from jargon and specialized language. Graphics and visual tools can help convey complicated ideas simply. Explore multiple content avenues as different audiences will respond via the channel they understand the best. Equally important is to consider how to accommodate multiple languages or the hearing impaired throughout the process. Consider onsite translation services for in-person meetings and closed-captioning or multi-lingual communications for digital outreach and messaging.
- Venues. How will you choose venues for engagement? Be intentional in choosing places that are central to the stakeholders you are eager to reach — make sure there is access to transit (and even consider providing transport to the event with free bus passes or vouchers for shared rides) and vary the timing of activities (daytime, evenings, weekends). Walk the neighborhood and consider how signage and wayfinding can help grow your audience. Consider co-locating with other community events in lieu of hosting your own event.
- Audience. Reaching out to new groups requires some creativity and recognition of the barriers to involvement. Who in the community can help you get the word out? Partner with these folks and organizations to reach into their networks. How will you get families involved? Consider offering onsite childcare and food to encourage participation. How might you engage youth? Create volunteer opportunities for students or coordinate with local schools to integrate your planning efforts with their curriculum.
There are many possible outreach standards and the list above is by no means exhaustive. Additionally, it’s important to refine these standards throughout the process and evaluate impact at the end of the project for continuous improvement. Holding yourself to these standards will help you ensure that engagement is accessible and effective.
Generally, engagement requires a more concerted effort to bring more marginalized community members to the table. Budgets should be designed to reflect the scale and complexity of this essential element of the planning process. Asking ourselves how our engagement efforts can be more representative of our community is essential to inclusivity, creating more buy-in and forging a path for success. A better process = better outcomes for the community.
