Keeping community voices at the heart of your Council chamber
There’s just been an election.
A group of local people now have the job of making Council decisions on behalf of the communities they represent.
To win their seat in the Council chamber, they have no doubt been heavily engaged in their communities. They have been actively attending community events, speaking on community radio, door-knocking, meeting one-to-one with community leaders, posting regularly to social media and more.
But now what?
One of the most critical matters to incorporate into the induction of both new and returning Elected Members is the role of community engagement as part of their decision making.
This includes -
Compliance with legislative Local Government Act requirements to engage, and
Opportunities to go beyond the minimum legal obligations to engage by incorporating contemporary community engagement practice.
Why get community engagement right?
People with a lived experience of something have a valuable perspective to add to decision making processes.
For Elected Members to be able to make good, considered decisions on behalf of their communities, they need to undertake community engagement beyond simply ticking a box.
The risk of not engaging well greatly outweighs the cost of proactively engaging with communities. A recent University of Melbourne study found that, in the last decade, $20 billion of Australian road infrastructure projects were put on hold, delayed or cancelled because of community outrage. And that’s just road projects!
Start your new Council members off on the right foot, helping them to make the best decisions, by including one of our expert-led Elected & Engaged workshops or strategy sessions as part of their induction.
Fundamentals of Community Engagement in Council Decision Making workshop
2-3 hour workshop, delivered in person
(Australia & New Zealand) or online.
This workshop provides new and returning Elected Members with an introduction to the fundamentals of community engagement.
The highly participatory session includes roles and responsibilities, compliance with legislative requirements to engage, principles and models of engagement (influence and power), understanding who needs to be engaged, and contemporary tools & techniques to engage.
Planning for Community Engagement
in Council Decision Making
1-day workshop, delivered in person
(Australia & New Zealand)
Includes Fundamentals of Community Engagement in Decision Making workshop, plus organisational planning for engagement.
Tailor made organisational planning for high quality community engagement. Workshop can include scoping for legislatively required community engagement regarding Strategic Plan development, Annual Business Plans, Budgets, Asset Management Plans and/or identifying collective priorities for ongoing engagement approaches (development of Engagement Frameworks, toolkits, etc.)
About your trainer
Becky Hirst is a well-respected leader in community engagement across the world.
Beginning her career in the late nineties during the early-Blair years of social inclusion and community development, over two decades, Becky has worked with multiple communities, on multiple topics, across two continents.
Becky’s clients include countless local, state and federal Government agencies, as well as non-government organisations and private enterprise.
Her leadership experience, working with senior executive teams, boards and politicians is vast.
Someone recently referred to Becky’s community engagement work as fingerpainting. But there’s absolutely nothing childish, soft or fluffy about what she does.
Becky possesses the HARD skills that many political and business leaders find challenging: compassion, authenticity, the ability to genuinely listen and putting the needs of people first.