The practice of engagement, and the landscape it sits within, has shifted significantly in New Zealand over the last five years.
When I founded Frank Engagement in 2020, there were some standout national leaders in the engagement space, but most organisations were still getting to grips with what engagement was, let alone what good looked like. Now some organisations have entire engagement teams with deep knowledge of their communities and nuanced strategies for engaging them.
Five years ago, central government, local government and infrastructure organisations were shifting from consultation to partnership with tangata whenua, iwi, and hapū, and some were starting to reach beyond the traditional methods of engaging key stakeholders and communities.
Over those five years we’ve worked with public service organisations which have led the way, setting a strong foundation for engagement – such as requiring communication and engagement teams to train with the International Association of Public Participation or IAP2 (now thankfully rebranded as The Engagement Institute – much sexier), having clear engagement strategies and setting expectations for how project teams work with the communities they are operating in. Engagement has become more innovative and tailored to local needs. Organisations have invested in digital solutions to ensure they reach broad audiences effectively. There is a New Zealand community of engagement practitioners demonstrating how good engagement can forge not only great project partnerships but meaningful, long-term relationships.
Projects have increasingly required communications and engagement professionals be on the project team, not an adjunct just before consultation or when the project “goes public”. Good governors and project managers leading transformational projects are seeing how investing in robust and strategic engagement can not only build social license but reduce project risk. This kind of risk management is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’ but a fundamental in ensuring projects get a resource consent, are completed on time, or come in under budget. Teams see that engagement improves project design, so they serve communities more effectively and reflect who those communities are.
While the need for engaging our communities in how we build resilience, strengthen our economies and develop the world we live in remains as strong as it’s ever been, the context engagement practitioners are operating in has become more and more challenging.
Post-Covid and after the devastation of Cyclone Hale, the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, inflation and infrastructure costs are hitting Central and Local Government budgets hard. How they spend what they do have is under more scrutiny than ever. Cost cutting has put pressure on projects and there’s temptation to reduce engagement. Infrastructure organisations have large and often complex programmes of work ahead of them and, while they want to work alongside communities to do that, they’re competing for space with many others wanting to do the same. All while households face their own increasing pressures.
Pulling back on involving communities in decision-making is not an option. Engagement is a must-have tool in helping communities understand the challenges we face, why building resilient infrastructure or supporting community services is vital, and that their voice is critical in helping regional leaders prioritise where their hard-earned tax or rate dollar gets spent.
Engagement practitioners supporting central government, local government and infrastructure organisations need to work in lockstep with governors, executive teams and project leaders to help them understand what good engagement looks like and what the benefits are – not only to those organisations, but the communities they serve.
While there are real challenges, by going back to first principles we can continue to deliver good quality, meaningful and authentic engagement (within tight budgets). Keep it simple by identifying:
- Who: Who does your mahi impact and what do they value?
- Why: Ask why this work is important to them – why should people step out of their day to participate? Remember the old journo adage about how to grab the reader – “heart, head or wallet”.
- Where: Meet them where they are not where you want them to be. If you don’t know how they want to be engaged – ask.
- How: Be open and honest about what people can genuinely influence. And make engagement…well…engaging – people want to have fun as well as having their voice heard.
And after all of that, show them how their input has influenced the process or project. It builds trust that you’ve listened and makes engaging easier over time.
Remember engagement moves at the speed of trust.
