If you read my posts regularly, you’ll know that I do a lot of community engagement. When doing interpretive master planning or exhibition design, it’s becoming standard to consult with your partners and other communities. Generally, we engage anybody who fits into these categories:
- Anybody whose lives are affected by what we’re building or doing (neighbours, business owners, Indigenous communities, staff, partners, and so on)
- Anybody whose stories figure in our exhibitions and programs (and these vary according to the subject)
As a planning consultant, I’ll often hear the client say, “We need to do some community engagement here.” And so I always ask, “OK—what questions would you like answered?”
Usually, the client knows exactly what they need to investigate. Recent responses?
“Well, we’re still looking for stories and memories to feature in the exhibit, so let’s start there.”
OK, done. (And that’s a fun engagement.)
Another one:
“We’re going to be doing a building upgrade, so people will be worried about closures and construction vehicles on the roads. We need to see how that sits with them and if there’s anything we need to know as we do our planning.”
OK great. Done.
But here’s the thing: sometimes the client has no idea what they want to learn from their communities. They just say,
“Well I don’t know. I just want them to feel consulted.”
Red flag. Red flag.
Yes, of course we want our communities to feel consulted. That’s part of being a community. But if you haven’t thought it through any further than that, it’s possible you’re just ticking a box.
Need to consult? Check.
Community gets a nice warm fuzzy? Check.
Done.
But that ain’t how it works.
So I ask them—and I think you should ask your boss too—“What would it take for you to feel consulted? What would need to be in place before you said, ‘Oh wow. They listened to me.’”
Think about it. Few things are more frustrating than hollow consultation—that feeling when you showed up, prepared your responses, and learned they weren’t listening to you at all.
For me to feel consulted?
I would need to show up and say my piece.
I would need to know somebody was listening and recording.
I would need to know how they were planning on using my comments. (Our comments—the community’s.)
I would need to see some kind of feedback document saying, “OK, here’s what we heard from you and here’s how we’re putting it to use.”
And then, as the project takes shape and I get ready to go visit on opening day, I would want to see some kind of evidence that they were listening.
I get that they might not be able to accommodate my particular pet priority. That’s OK.
But I’d need to see that what people were saying during consultation—at the meeting, in the survey, wherever—had an impact.
That’s what it would take for me to feel consulted.
What about you?
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