Dan Popping: 10 Ways To Embed Engagement Into Your Organisation

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Something very interesting is happening in Adelaide.

For engagement professionals like me, there’s seems to be a certain ‘buzz’ in the air. I’m not sure if it is excitement for the upcoming IAP2 conference to be held in Adelaide, the new local collective gaining momentum called ‘Engage2Act’ or the great work being undertaken by all levels of government to improve the way we make decisions with our communities. (Think State Government’s commitment – Better Together and Adelaide City Council’s – Engagement Strategy)

This ‘buzz’ however is not just about a new document or upcoming conference. Over the last few years I’ve seen a steady increase in the level of interest and commitment from organisations to improve the way they consult with their stakeholders and local communities.

It doesn’t really matter what your organisation is calling it (engagement, consultation, partnerships, collaboration, co-creation or place making) what really matters is that the time is right. It’s a great time to influence your organisation.

Change often starts from within, and many organisations in SA are working internally to build their understanding, capability and capacity to deliver meaningful engagement activities.

For those like me who are driving this change from within – it’s both challenging and exciting.

In the spirit of sharing, here are ten tips for building organisational capability and embedding engagement into your organisation.

1) Increase organisational awareness by using a range of communications tools. These can be guest speakers at a leadership event, monthly reports, an internal blog, staff induction, 1:1 mentoring or sharing a good news story over a shared lunch. Consider the uniqueness of your organisation and modify your tools to reach all teams, departments and staff.

2) Recruit your own team of Engagement Champions, especially if you work in a large organisation. Focus your 1:1 training and support to key staff who are self-motivated or have been nominated by senior management. Your champions will work with their respective teams to educate and identify approaches that are suited to achieve their outcomes.

3) Deliver staff training and provide ‘engagement ‘101’ sessions for your organisation. Place emphasis on your overarching engagement principles as well as practical ways to plan for engagement activities. I have found that using a real life project to complete a ‘Project Engagement Strategy’ enables staff to see how important the planning stage is.

4) Develop a Corporate Brand for all your engagement opportunities. This will provide a consistent look and feel for all your engagement projects, whilst providing a standard ‘call to action’ so when people see it, they immediately know they can get involved and influence an important  decision.

5) Design a flexible engagement process that supports the widest variety of projects that your organisation undertakes.  Engagement is complex and will be different for each project. Break it down into stages or a step by step approach (eg Plan, Do, Report) so it doesn’t feel too overwhelming to follow.

6) Develop a range of staff resources to support the planning, delivery and reporting of engagement activities. Not sure what they need – well why not ask them? I have found that an engagement planning template, staff guides and toolkits (methods) are likely to be requested.

7) Provide a variety of online opportunities for feedback by a creating a dedicated place on your website or with an ‘off the shelf’ engagement platform. It will improve transparency in your processes, allow you to report back final decisions and provide the potential to re-engage participants on other decisions important to them.

8) Build an internal ‘one-stop-shop’ intranet site which outlines your new engagement process, staff resources, training dates and an engagement planning calendar. You and your champions can build this site over time to include other things like new resources, case studies and best practice examples.

9) Provide ongoing project support, but focus your energy during the planning stage. Planning is where you will have the greatest level influence to ensure engagement is meaningful and robust. Don’t forget that each time you provide support it’s an opportunity to educate staff and  build their confidence and capacity.

10) Celebrate and share your success stories internally via case studies and lunchbox sessions. Leverage projects that went well or had positive outcomes by curating them a case study and/or hosting a casual discussion over lunch with your champions. You will be surprised how much an informal chat can draw our key learnings for your organisation.

Don’t forget that each organisation is unique and different, and so will your engagement journey. I hope these tips have given you a few ideas of how to embed engagement into your organisation.

What tip do you like and do you have any others to share?

Happy travelling, Dan.

Dan Popping is the Community Engagement Officer at Adelaide City Council.