Examining current agency practice

An assessment of current practice, systems and processes that support and facilitate community engagement, along with an assessment of staff engagement capability, will inform agency community engagement improvement strategies.

Assessing agency engagement practice

In order to improve community engagement across the public sector, agencies should assess current practice. In doing so, agencies should examine the range of mechanisms that support and facilitate community engagement and assess their function, value and effectiveness. These may include:

• advisory boards and committees
• community engagement programs and strategies including community engagementunits or designated positions to coordinate engagement activities
• formal or informal engagement policies
• guidelines, tools or resources
• community engagement-related training and development programs.

Some Queensland Government agencies have established community engagement units or designated positions to coordinate engagement activities. Those community engagement units and designated offi cers are often tasked with assessing and reporting on community engagement activities in relation to the agency’s strategic direction, performance measures and core business outcomes.

The Queensland Government has adopted the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (www.oecd.org) engagement model, using the following definitions:

• Information - A one-way relationship in which government delivers information to citizens
• Consultation - A two-way relationship in which citizens provide feedback on issues defined by government
• Active Participation - A collaboration in which citizens actively shape policy options, but where government retains the responsibility for fi nal decisions

In assessing agency engagement practice, consideration should be given to activities and programs relating to all levels of engagement — information sharing, consultation and active participation. Some of the considerations are included in the following table.

Information sharing (e.g. awareness activities and programs)

• Accuracy and relevance of the information
• Appropriateness of the information and delivery mechanism for the target audience
• Equity of access to the information
• Target audience evaluation of the usefulness and suitability of the information measured against the information’s objectives

Policy lesson for government:

• Information is complete, objective, reliable, relevant, easy to find and understand

Consultation (e.g. focus groups, public forums, surveys, online interaction)

• Level of community involvement in the activity
• Level of satisfaction with the process
• Sufficiency of time and resources allocated to the activity
• The effectiveness and appropriateness of feedback throughout the consultation process
• The extent to which the consultation outcome informed decision making
• Heightened trust and confidence in government processes

Policy lesson for government:

• Consultation has clear goals and rules defi ning the limits of the exercise and government’s obligation to account for its use of the input

Active participation (e.g. deliberative processes, steering committees, partnerships)

• The effectiveness of government–community deliberative networks
• The extent to which the capacity of citizens to engage is strengthened
• The extent to which participants fulfil their roles and responsibilities
• Increased community understanding of government processes and the complexities of policy making
• Increased government understanding of the needs, expectations and aspirations of communities
• The extent to which governmentcommunity deliberative networks informed government decision making processes
• Heightened trust and confi dence in government processes

Policy lesson for government:

• Participation provides sufficient time and fl exibility to allow for the emergence of new ideas and proposals by citizens as well as mechanisms for their integration into the government’s policy making process (www.oecd.org)

Improving engagement skills and knowledge

The underlying human qualities of the engagement process are important to its success. This means agencies must make informed decisions about who should manage or facilitate engagement activities or programs and the level of skills, knowledge and training they require to design and undertake effective engagement.

Establishing relationships, building trust, working with formal and informal community networks and seeking and facilitating involvement of citizens in government engagement processes requires a broad range of skills and a level of capability, as well as knowledge and understanding of effective community engagement principles and practices.

Some of the skills required by those undertaking and managing effective community engagement include:

• effective written and oral communication skills
• the ability to listen to and understand the opinions and perspectives of a diverse range of stakeholders
• leadership skills
• negotiation and partnership contracting skills
• knowledge management skills
• interpersonal skills
• networking skills
• relationship-building skills
• research and analysis skills
• conflict management skills
• risk management skills
• facilitation skills
• the ability to scope, design and implement community engagement activities/programs, including, where relevant, project management, time management and budget management.

Some of the knowledge required by those undertaking and managing effective community engagement include:

• principles of cross-cultural awareness and cross-cultural communication
• equity and diversity principles
• effective community engagement principles;
• effective engagement practices, methods and techniques
• process management in the context of community engagement
• relevant government/agency policies and procedures
• public sector values and codes of conduct.