Designing Consultation Processes for MSSs

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Designing Consultation Processes for MSSs Mike
Scott Director, Planisphere
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Designing Consultation Strategies for MSSs
The Talk

• The Challenge
• Practical Hints The Basics
• Practical Hints The People
• Practical Hints The Process
• Practical Hints Communication
• Pulling It All Together

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The Challenge

• The Challenge of Community engagement with MSSs

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What MSSs Mean to People Top Down vs Bottom
Up Thinking MSSs are Top Down / Planners think
Top Down Issues occur Bottom Up / People think
Bottom Up Example sustainability Important
lesson pose the right question
The Challenge
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DSE Brief for MSS Reviews Practice Note The
MSS and Three Year Review in October
2001 Step 1 Review Step 2 Report to
Council Step 3 Submit to DSE Five key
components of the Review Consistency with
State Planning Policy Strategic performance
of schemes Strategic gaps Links with the
Corporate Plan Format, consistency and
useability
The Challenge
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Why Consult? NOT NOT to achieve
consensus NOT to get the community to
agree NOT just so you can say youve done
it NOT just to engage (Macrame
Workshop) NOT just to educate (Arrogant?
Moi?) BUT To gather useful information or
knowledge To provide opportunities for
particular groups to influence policy To
build mutual understanding about specific
issues To improve the acceptability and
practicality of planning policy
The Challenge
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Practical Hints The Basics

• Be Clear What the Question Is
• Match the Means to the Ends
• Design Tight, Simple, Open Processes

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1. Be Clear What the Question Is Think clearly
what kind of answers, from whom, would provide
you with useful / useable information
(otherwise its tokensim / time
wasting) Examples New development must be
environmentally sustainable Do you agree?
(And what about world peace?) What are the
benefits and costs of a more sustainable city?
(Presumes knowledge most people dont have) How
can we make the city more sustainable? (Got any
ideas??) Here is a preliminary agenda of
sustainability issues would you add / subtract
/ amend / prioritise ? (Good) How much extra
would you be prepared to pay for
(Good) Implications for MSS Reviews Precision
needed in relating to target audience
Practical Hints The Basics
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2. Match the Means to the Ends Dont just set
out to consult the community Establish
objectives Then generate ways of achieving the
objectives Examples We need to hold a public
forum (Why?) (Are you mad??) Lets do a
survey (Why?) We want to involve people who
dont normally get involved (Why? Who?
How?) We need to find out what concerns
residents would have about increased development
intensity at this type of location (Good!) We
need to get ideas from informed opinion leaders
in this locality about how to best tackle this
issue (Good!) Implications for MSS
Reviews Consultation exercises need clear
objectives
Practical Hints The Basics
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3. Design Tight, Simple, Open Processes The
consultation process should Be an integral
part of the planning process Have a small number
of clear steps in a given timeframe Make clear
how the end product will be arrived at Show how
consultation inputs will influence the
result Examples Now, what shall we ask them
next? (Fatal!) First, well consult on values,
then on vision, then on goals, then on
objectives, then on (How much time have you
got??) Its simple - 1 Issues 2 Draft 3
Final (Good) Implications for MSS
Reviews Construct a sound, compete process Dont
make it up as you go along
Practical Hints The Basics
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Practical Hints The People

• Welcome Diversity of Perspective
• Target Opinion Leaders
• Go to the People

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4. Welcome Diversity of Perspective Avoid love
ins Seek out representatives of the diversity of
opinions that exist Bring them together - dont
separate them Expose and debate Examples Reside
nt, Business and Developer stakeholder
groups (Council becomes the meat in the
sandwich) Split into tables by topic (Can feel
manipulative) An open forum will only
degenerate into a bunfight (But let people get
things off their chest) Find the right forum /
process to tackle really hard issues dont
gloss over them Implications for MSS
Reviews Representative committee, sound process
well facilitated, hard debates
Practical Hints The People
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5. Target Opinion Leaders Involve people
critical to the political success of the
process Dont just go for the quiet, reasonable,
easy to handle types Examples The process
that went nice n smooth until it got to
Council The public revolt after the Council
decision Ocean Grove Implications for MSS
Reviews Include opinion leaders in the balance
Practical Hints The People
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6. Go to the People Reach out into the
communities you want to engage Examples Sunbur
y and Hume, Williamstown and Hobsons Bay
etc. The local scout hall The elderly
citizens club Carefully set up the room to
fulfil the purpose of the forum Implications
for MSS Reviews Devolve the geography as well as
the issues
Practical Hints The People
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Practical Hints The Process

• Allow People to set their Agenda
• Give People Some Power
• Report Back

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7. Allow People To Set Their Agenda Allow
people to add to, or disagree with, the agenda of
issues Examples Not often a blank sheet of
paper, but Be clear about the scope, be
flexible about the content Careful crafting of
Issue statements is vital Implications for
MSS Reviews Consequences of excessive agenda
control frustration, disempowerment,
disengagement
Practical Hints The Process
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8. Give People Some Power Allow people to take
charge of some tasks Examples Disposable
cameras Reporting back to an open
forum Discussing issues / drafts with local
groups Providing Local Information Implica
tions for MSS Reviews Include well-defined
opportunities for people to take charge
Practical Hints The Process
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9. Report Back Tell people what has happened as
a result of their contribution Examples Summar
ies of public comments and the Councils
response included in Newsletters Press
releases Displays Draft and final
report Implications for MSS Reviews The value
of public input needs to be demonstrated
Practical Hints The Process
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Practical Hints Communication

• Communicate in Their Terms
• Listen Actively
• Be Prepared to Lead

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10. Communicate in Their Terms Communicate in
the language of the audience Examples Neighbou
rhood character or public safety? Words, maps,
diagrams or pictures? If words Spoken?
Written? What style of language? If
illustrations Folksy cartoons? Computer 3D? Arch
renderings? Graphs? Videos? Implications for MSS
Reviews Understand peoples motivations Communicat
e in media they are comfortable with
Practical Hints Communication
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11. Listen Actively Listening is more than just
hearing! Examples Give people the time and
space to let it all come out Look into their
eyes, listen intently, try not to interrupt Say
what you think you heard Occasionally clarify,
extend, question summarise Implications for MSS
Reviews Ensure your facilitators have good
listening skills
Practical Hints Communication
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12. Be Prepared to Lead Offer leadership at key
points in the process Examples Audience gets
frustrated that its all talk and no
action Committee goes round in circles unable
to decide how to proceed on an issue The answer
to the question youve asked is obvious - its
what happens next thats the issue Someone
proposes a completely inappropriate action (NB it
could be a Councillor or the new CEO
!?!) Implications for MSS Reviews Just
listening is not enough - always have a
hypothesis to test about what the next step
might be Try to anticipate the difficult points
that may arise
Practical Hints Communication
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Conclusion

• Pulling it all together

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Pulling It All Together Do a complete
project program Keep to 3 simple steps
(milestones) if possible Integrate the
consultation into these steps Always
consider Communication Participation C
onsultation Prepare a Communication Strategy
Conclusion