Today’s Morning Buzz is brought to you by Matt Horn, the Director of Strategic Growth and Development for MRB Group – once described as “the worst audience participant Cirque du Soleil ever had”. Check out his stoic musings on LinkedIn.
- What I’m Watching: The Ambassador on Netflix. Who knew Kerry Russell was still around?
- What I’m Listening to: 21 Days of Abundance with Deepak Chopra. Trying to slow the incessant chattering in my mind.
- What I’m Reading: The Constitution of the United States of America by James Madison, et. al. I got called up for jury duty this week and realized how much I need to brush up on.
If you clicked onto this installment hoping to merely just be informed or entertained, you’re in for trouble. Many times, I have used this forum to dazzle you with idioms, puns, and pop culture references (find the Arrested Development reference in the opener, and I’ll send you an autographed photo of yours truly); but today, I am using this column to source some new ideas.
I often write about the virtues of robust, authentic, and meaningful public engagement. I believe this to be a foundational element of good policy and good government generally. I try to score public engagement efforts on a balance between the “try” (which is to say – how well you executed on your engagement plan) and the “application” (i.e. did you incorporate the feedback into the resulting policy, project, etc.).
But something’s missing in that two-variable equation…effectiveness. Did people actually show up and contribute?
I’ve entertained devoted readers with my foibles of inadequate public engagement from my early career. Poorly timed, opaquely communicated, clumsily executed efforts are, at best, ineffective; and in the worst cases, cause damage to otherwise valiant project pursuits.
As I grew older, I learned from really passionate, smart, committed professionals about the elements and virtues of great public engagement efforts (h/t to folks like Quint Studer and Susan Charland). Simple, savvy things like:
- Timely opportunity to participate (at key project milestones)
- Strong communication about the project and opportunities to participate
- Removing/mitigating barriers like language, transportation, family concerns, etc.
- Reporting out on engagement results and how they influenced your project
In the best cases, these elements will improve public participation, and make your project, policy, initiative, etc. that much better.
But…what happens if they still don’t show?
Last year, I was working with a community on their comprehensive plan. We had a public forum early in the process to share out some data findings and get the public involved in visioning for the project. The event was held at a local fire hall and was admittedly sparsely attended. I was sitting at the check-in table with a member of the steering committee, and a resident came in.
“Gee, not many people here. I wish you had advertised more…,” said the concerned citizen.
As the project facilitator, and co-author of the public engagement strategy, I was sheepish. Suddenly, the committee member piped up.
“How did you find us?” the committee member asked.
“My neighbor called me,” the wayward resident responded.
“I’m so glad,” said the committee member. “I wonder if your neighbor heard about it from the newspaper article…or maybe she saw it on the website…or our Facebook page. Could have been the mailer that we sent to every property owner in the Town. Possibly saw the big sign out front on the highway. Hard to say, I guess…”
In short, we did all the right stuff. We had a well-timed, widely distributed, clear, concise, diversely communicated message. Traditional media. Social Media. Highway signage. U.S. Postal Service. And we still got fewer than 20 people.
So, for the purposes of this article, I’m not asking what we should have done to get more people out. I am confident that we went over and above to let residents and stakeholders know about the project and the opportunities to participate.
No, for this exercise, I am asking…what would you do now? Now that you’ve executed on your strategy and you’ve heard from less than 5% of the community?
I have no sharply written, eloquent bullets to offer…yet…I have some ideas, but I want to hear yours.
Send them to me (matt.horn@mrbgroup.com), and I’ll include them in my next Morning Buzz offering. I’ll also share what we did do in this case (and others), and how it turned out just wonderfully.