- Why are you engaging?
What method fits your purpose best?
- What are the aims?
How much influence will the engagement have on the decisions made? Be clear and set it out in communications to those you are engaging with. Identify key members of your project team, based on the skills you need to carry out the engagement. This will determine the key services or partners involved.
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- Ladder of participation – examples and tools and case studies
- Consultation Toolkit includes detailed advice on planning consultations, designing surveys tailored to different audiences, timeframes and process for planning, and analysis for consultation.
- Consultation app review findings from other engagement, avoid the risk of consultation fatigue and asking similar questions and co-ordinate engagement activity.
- Who are you engaging with?
- Identify key audience and stakeholders
- Identify any challenges/ barriers
Discuss ideas with the project team and consider stakeholders and audience for the engagement. It is best practice to plan engagement for seldom heard groups, as well as those who regularly engage. This can be different groups of people depending on the subject or theme of engagement.
Identify challenges or barriers to engaging with protected characteristic groupings in the Equality Act 2010 to help you identify potentially hard to reach groups.
Due consideration must be given to equalities considerations under the Equality Act 2010 and an Equality and Socio Economic Impact Assessment (EqSEIA) carried out if appropriate.
Consider obligations and legal duties around: Fairer Scotland Duty, island communities, consumers, and children’s rights. Under UNCRC legislation, children and young people should be consulted on all matters that affect them. Key messages should be framed in a way that is relevant to the audience.
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Once you have decided on a method of engagement from the ladder of participation you can then identify tools and techniques. There are a range of communication tools and facilitation techniques available, based on types of engagement and target audiences- a range of different approaches may be required.
Visit venues where people already meet (local shops, community hubs, existing groups, launches or events already happening). Offer face to face and online options for digital inclusion purposes.
In all cases it is important to plan for the engagement method used and to make it a positive experience, removing barriers to participation where possible.
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A communications plan is a useful tool to have as part of your overall engagement project, templates are available from the Communications Team. Clarity of communication is key, using positive and accessible language.
Let people know how the information they have provided through the engagement activity will be used and how they will be kept informed. Manage expectations about next steps timescales by being open and honest.
- Pictures, information and diagrams to get your message across
- Range of audiences – tailor your communication so that children and people with visual or hearing impairments can understand. Read the communication guidelines and make your content available in other languages if needed.
Refer to:
- Communications team
- Engaging with People
- Use of clear language
- LEON modules – Be a Creative Communicator and Plain English
- Communication guidelines
Share relevant information on other services or activities at your engagement event and provide information about upcoming events that may be of interest.
Invite officers, subject matter experts and elected members along to answer any difficult questions, particularly for controversial topics. Consider peer involvement from other groups.
- Promote other events and services
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Share information on the results and thank participants. The Communications team can do this for you on social media.
Provide feedback on the consultation and honour any promises made of what happens next.
Update your network and contacts, ensuring you seek GDPR permissions.
- Avoid jargon and keep messages simple.
- Share pictures of the events as these are helpful reminders when sharing future updates.
- Share information and feed back key findings, to your organisation and also to participants.
- Use a variety of methods and media to present information, for example, ‘Telling a story with data’
- Contact the Insight and Research Officer to upload your results to the Community Engagement App, so that the findings can be shared.
- Summarise feedback and outline how the council will act on the results of the engagement process. It is important that participants know how it will influence policy development or service delivery with a timeframe for next steps.
- Feedback results to participants and tell them what happens next and remind them why this engagement exercise was important. We recommend using a You Said, We Did format.
- Arrange for the results of the engagement to be published on the council website via the webteam.
- Feedback the results to other individuals who may be interested in this information, for example, councillors appropriate committees, directors, service managers and partner organisations.
- Determine your evaluation criteria and how you are going to evaluate, including short and long term criteria and based on the engagement methods used.
- Examples could include surveys and anecdotal feedback. Carry out your evaluation and report on the findings and key lessons learned to inform future processes.
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