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Fair Process and Empowerment
What to Do If We Really Want Community
Involvement in Site Cleanups by Mary A.
Wenska Black Veatch Special Projects Corp.
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Presentation Outline

• Fair Process--A Definition
• Fair Process and Public Involvement
• Benefits of Fair Process

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Primary EPA Public Involvement Goal

• Foster a spirit of mutual trust,
• confidence, and openness between the Agency and
  the public.

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EPA Public Involvement Policy Goal

• To have excellent public involvement
• become an integral part of EPAs culture,
• improving all Agency decision making
• (U.S. EPA, May 2003)

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WHICH OUTCOME DO YOU WANT?
Clarity Cooperation Commitment
Resentment Resistance Revenge
Communication
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Definition of Fair Process

• Engagement
• Explanation
• Expectation Clarity
• (Definition based on research of Dr. W. Chan Kim
  and Dr. Renee Mauborgne, as reported in Fair
  Process Managing in the Knowledge Economy,
  Harvard Business Review, January 2003)

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Engagement

• Involving persons in decisions that affect them
• by asking for their input and
• allowing them to refute
• the merits of one anothers ideas and assumptions
  

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Explanation

• Inform everyone
• how a decision will be made and the rationale for
  the
• decision making process

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Expectation Clarity

• Once a decision is made,
• clearly state what the decision is and how it
  will be implemented.

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Cardinal Rules of Risk Communication

• Accept and involve the public as a legitimate
  partner
• Plan carefully and evaluate your efforts
• Listen to the publics specific concerns
• Be honest, frank, and open
• Coordinate and collaborate with other credible
  sources
• Meet the needs of the media
• Speak clearly and with compassion
• (Developed by Dr. Vincent Covello and Frederick
  W. Allen, U.S. EPA, OPA-87-020, April 1988)

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Trust Determination Theory

• When people are stressed and upset, they often
  distrust that others are
• Listening, caring, empathic
• Honest, open, hard working
• Competent, expert
• Center for Risk Communication, Dr. Vincent
  Covello

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Trust Theory

• Belongingness (we, us, our instead of I, me, my
• Listening empathy
• Passion perseverance
• Support from credible third parties
• Constructive dialogue
• Center for Risk Communication, Dr. Vincent
  Covello, excerpted from Winston Churchill

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Trust Determination Factors

• Most important listening, caring, empathy
• Other factors technical expertise, dedication
  or commitment, and honesty/openness
• Center for Risk Communication, Dr. Vincent
  Covello

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Communication and Trust

• Trust is the highest form of human motivation.
  
• Dr. Stephen Covey

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Risk Perception (Outrage) Theory

• Perception Reality
• Virtually no correlation between expert ranking
  of threats and public ranking of threats
• Factors that matter most include perceived trust.
• Center for Risk Communication, Dr. Vincent
  Covello

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Risk Perception (Outrage) Factors

• Perceptions of Control
• Knowledge
• Trust
• Voluntary
• Voice/Input
• Participatory Actions
• Center for Risk Communication, Dr. Vincent
  Covello

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Risk Perception (Outrage) Factors

• Trust is twice as important as control or
  benefits
• Major factor in conveying trust listening,
  caring, empathy
• Center for Risk Communication, Dr. Vincent
  Covello

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Accept and Involve the public as a legitimate
partner

• Who is the public in your community
• How do you know if you have included everyone in
  the communication loop who needs to be included

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Plan carefully and evaluate your efforts

• Community assessment
• Information needs
• Follow-up

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Listen to the publics specific concerns

• Environmental issues are often tied to other
  community issues establish context
• Actively seek out residents views
• Learn specific concerns of each stakeholder group

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Be honest, frank, and open

• Environmental issues are typically seen as
  public issues
• People believe they have a right to know about
  contamination, emissions, and other aspects of
  environmental performance
• Building trust requires integrity

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Coordinate and collaborate with other credible
sources

• Who are credible sources in the community
• Stakeholders look for confirmation that the
  information you provide is true

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Meet the needs of the media

• News media are an important source for
  communicating with stakeholders about an issue
• If you fail to work with reporters, you have less
  control over what appears in the news

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Speak clearly and with compassion

• They never listened to us, is a common
  complaint
• Appropriate to show compassion and empathy when
  people are upset
• Empathy is not agreement empathy is
  acknowledginghonoringthat people are upset

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Trust and Credibility

• Caring/Empathy
• Honesty/Openness
• Commitment/Dedication
• Competence/Expertise

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Actions that Build Credibility

• Display competence
• Possess expertise
• Behave appropriately
• Align with respected entities

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Listening with Empathy

• Listening with the intent to understand anothers
  point of view . . .
• . . . rather than what we intend to say next.

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Interaction Ground Rule

• State your position
• on a topic
• only
• after you have listened to the other
• and repeated back to that person,
• not only the CONTENT,
• but the FEELING
• the person expressed to their satisfaction.

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Options That Dont Work

• Overdoing the Golden Rule
• Ill be nice to you and youll be nice to me
• An eye for an eye
• You were mean to me so Ill be mean to you
• (Getting Together, Fisher Brown)

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What Does Work

• A successful strategy is independent of
• Disagreement
• Concessions
• Partisan perceptions
• Reciprocity
• Permanent sides
• (Getting Together, Fisher Brown)

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An Unconditionally Constructive Strategy

• Do only those things that are good
• for the relationship
• and good for us, whether or not they reciprocate
• (Getting Together, Fisher Brown)

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7 Cardinal Rules of Risk Communication

• Accept and involve the public as a legitimate
  partner
• Plan carefully and evaluate your efforts
• Listen to the public specific concerns
• Be honest, frank, and open
• Coordinate and collaborate with other credible
  sources
• Meet the needs of the media
• Speak clearly and with compassion

33
Primary EPA Public Involvement Goal

• Foster a spirit of mutual trust,
• confidence, and openness between the Agency and
  the public.

34
EPA Public Involvement Policy Goal

• To have excellent public involvement
• become an integral part of EPAs culture,
• improving all Agency decision making
• (U.S. EPA, May 2003)

35
Communication and Trust

• Trust is the highest form of human motivation.
  
• Dr. Stephen Covey

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WHICH OUTCOME DO YOU WANT?
Clarity Cooperation Commitment
Resentment Resistance Revenge
Communication