Processes Used in Public Consultation
There are a number of processes that can be utilised in a public consultation. Typically government in the UK has used only written responses as its main method of collecting responses from interested parties. Relying on one process does not enable full participation and involvement in the process and will, by its nature, exclude certain groups.
We believe that a suite of processes should be used which should be designed to ensure that the specific consultation is as effective and inclusive as possible.
Public Consultation processes
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Workshops
Facilitating Change has over ten years experience in delivering stakeholders workshops in many different contexts. Our ability to design, deliver and report on workshops on many different subjects using commensurate styles has ensured that we deliver the outcomes that our clients and their stakeholders have agreed.
Workshops offer face-to-face interaction between stakeholders and the client organisation. They allow a great deal of depth and understanding on the issue at hand. Workshops are however relatively expensive and are limited in the numbers that can be involved in each event so it is important to combine this method with others that are able to reach greater numbers.
Facilitating Change has been involved in the delivery of many different workshops involving up to 200 participants.
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Public meetings
These meetings are one of the traditional methods of communicating with communities. Facilitating Change has facilitated such meetings. The advantage of this method is that they are normally “open” to all in the community rather than being by invitation. As participatory processes are difficult to incorporate into such events they are often better used as a communication rather than consultation tool. A big issue is that they can easily become adversarial.
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Exhibitions
Facilitating Change has helped design and run exhibitions as both a consultation and communication tool. They allow participants to interact on a more flexible and less confrontational basis than a public meeting. However as participants are engaging individually the ability to share views and opinions is limited and it is difficult to gain consensus in decision-making.
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Focus groups
Focus groups would normally comprise of smaller groups of participants. We have used this method of engagement to gain a further level of detail on particular issues. A key element is the recruitment of the groups to ensure that they are representative. We have successfully recruited and delivered focus groups on a number of contentious energy projects.
We are also able to offer telephone-based focus groups (t-groups). This new capability combines the traditional techniques of face-to-face and telephone interviewing with the latest online research technology. It delivers research that is as full and living as 'ordinary' qualitative research, with all the convenience and cost benefits of online.
The ease of access to the sample group means that the same respondents can be brought in on a repeat basis to take part in group or individual sessions. Everyone participates from where they want to be at home, at work or out and about.
As with workshops the number of people that can participate limits their effectiveness.
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Face to Face interviews
With key stakeholders it is vitally important to engage them at the early stage of the consultation and to a great depth. Facilitating Change usually identifies key stakeholders as those who will:
- Be most influential in making project decisions;
- Be most impacted by the project.
These interviews are essential in understanding views and opinions of key stakeholders. Usually Facilitating Change would ensure that these interviews are used to inform a wider consultation process therefore they need to be undertaken prior to the ‘main’ consultation commencing. We are experienced in incorporating these interviews into the main engagement plan. They may become mandatory as part of the legal framework governing the development of the project. As has been noted they would be a method employed early in the consultation process and would be one of a number of engagement methods used.
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Written consultations
Facilitating Change is experienced in incorporating written consultations into wider consultation processes. It is a relatively easy method to deploy but care needs to be taken that those responding represent the wider community. Checks need to be in place to monitor participation.
Telephone surveys / polls
We are experienced in using telephone surveys / polls as an engagement method. A key advantage is that it is one of the best methods of ensuring representative involvement. This method allows the targeting of key demographic groups which may have been missed earlier in the engagement process. It is also a good method to use when trying to gain consensus on particular views or opinions. Time constraints on each call usually limit the depth of response.
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Newsletters
Newsletters can be used as both a consultation and communication tool. They are particularly useful when working with a specific community. On the Viking consultation Newsletters were distributed as a supplement with the local weekly newspaper. They were used at the start of the consultation to communicate the details of the project. This edition included a response form, which allowed consultation on a number of issues.
A second edition was produced towards the end of the consultation to update the community on the project and also feedback on the results of the consultation.
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Media articles
A well thought through media campaign will be an important element of any communication strategy. Communication needs to be pro-active and reactive.
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Interactive websites
Facilitating Change has experience in using the web as both a consultation and communication tool. It allows information to be disseminated to large numbers of people and allows the public to easily participate in a consultation process. Web forms / surveys allow both quantitative and qualitative data capture and analysis. In practice they may only be used by a small number of people and care has to be taken to ensure that any output is representative of the wider community.
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New media
In many engagement programmes younger sections of the community are not engaged. We have experience using new media such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to engage these groups.
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Facilitating Change uses different decision-making processes in its stakeholder engagement work and has helped many groups make difficult decisions.