The Involve Insight is your new go-to resource for insights, strategies, and tools to enhance public engagement in decision making and participatory democracy!
Thank you for signing up to The Involve Insight, Involve’s brand new training newsletter, your go-to resource for insights, strategies, and tools to enhance public engagement in decision making and participatory democracy.
Each edition brings you expert guidance, case studies, and practical tips drawn from over two decades of experience in delivering successful participatory and deliberative processes.
Whether you’re facilitating discussions, planning a participatory process or shaping engagement strategies, The Involve Insight will keep you informed and inspired. Stay connected with the latest trends, innovative methods, and opportunities to deepen democratic engagement.
CWD: Dom, let's start off by you telling us a little bit about your experience as a facilitator.
DW: I have been facilitating group discussions at deliberative processes that Involve runs for, I would say, for five years. I was lucky enough to observe a number of other skilled facilitators early on in my career and learn how they approached the role and what they thought was important. I've done a lot of group facilitation, table facilitation, breakout group facilitation, online facilitation — and across a whole range of processes like Citizens’ Assemblies, Citizens’ Juries, with groups of people with lived experience and workshops.
CWD: Brilliant, thank you Dom. And what do you enjoy most about being a facilitator, would you say?
DW: I enjoy most the feeling of a group of people working together well where I get to joke with people that they don't need me there at all, and that they've actually figured out how to self manage, they're supporting each other and the group is working harmoniously together.
CWD: So on the flipside, what would you say you find most challenging?
DN: I would say responding in the moment to harm being spoken. This will often be careless language, like leaning on a stereotype without realising it, rather than someone intentionally trying to hurt someone else's feelings by what they're saying. How do I make sure that I'm looking after the needs of everyone in the group without jumping in with some kind of saviour complex, or interpreting or assuming that someone is feeling harm or feeling threatened when they’re not? It's those grey areas where you feel like someone might need some support or an intervention that I struggle with.
If you're interested in reading the rest of the interview, click here!
Help Us Shape Involve’s Training – We Want to Hear from You!
At Involve, we’re always looking to improve the way we support facilitators and public engagement professionals. That’s why we’re asking for your input! Whether it’s the best time for training to take place, specific facilitation challenges you might be struggling with, or any burning questions you want answered, we want to know!
Your insights will help us create a training offer that meets your needs. Take a moment to share your thoughts by filling out our quick Google Form here. It only takes a few minutes, and your feedback will help us design training that works for you.
When you're designing a participatory process, how do you make your activities more accessible and inclusive? Do you often think about the barriers people face when taking part in your activity, and do you struggle to find solutions?
Sometimes, if you think about removing barriers rather than trying to overcome them, you may find it ends up benefiting more people than you first thought and contributes to a more interesting, accessible and fun process.
I’ll give you an example. Imagine someone who is struggling to focus on things. For them, sitting at a table for a long period of time is a nightmare.
If we tried to overcome this barrier in our design, we might put certain things in place such as encouraging short breaks or providing a print-out of the presentation they are listening to. To us, this might feel like we have met the individual ‘additional’ needs of this participant, which is of course very important. If you look at it another way, we haven’t changed the system that can make this person feel excluded in the first place.
To design more holistically accessible and inclusive processes, in addition to catering for specific support needs we can incorporate approaches that remove barriers in the first place. In this case, design changes could look like:
building in gentle stretching exercises between speaker presentations,
incorporating walk and talks for group discussions,
encouraging people to capture their thoughts using drawing, paint or playdough alongside writing.
By thinking through ways to remove barriers as well as overcoming them we can work to change the system itself by creating space for different ways of learning and communicating for everyone. Not only does it make the process more inclusive, it makes it more fun and dynamic for all involved!
Finding this newsletter useful?
Then why not take a look at our upcoming masterclasses, which are packed full of insights, tips and tricks like this, and much more!
As facilitators, we’re constantly evolving our practices, exploring new tools, and adjusting to shifts in public engagement. SessionLab is gathering insights for their third State of Facilitation report, and they want to hear from you!
Whether you’re incorporating AI into your sessions or working in a new sector, your experiences can help build a clearer picture of where facilitation is headed in 2024.
Take a few moments to reflect on your facilitation journey and join a global community of practitioners by completing the survey. The insights gathered will be shared in a free report, available early 2025.
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Did you know that it is a statutory requirement for Scottish local authorities to allocate at least 1% of their budget using Participatory Budgeting (also abbreviated to PB)? PB is a great example of how an institution can ‘empower’ members of the public in decision making (using the IAP2 spectrum of public participation).
So how does it work in practice? Take 2 minutes to check out the video below!
Would you like to advance your skills to lead meaningful discussions or enhance democratic engagement in your community?
Involve is hosting two comprehensive training masterclasses in Autumn 2024 - Facilitation 101 and Deliberative Democracy 101 - designed to equip you with the tools to guide effective group interactions and strengthen democratic processes.
Develop your skills and understanding of equitable engagement principles and tools from leading industry experts.
This masterclass will develop your understanding of the underpinning principles of facilitation and the role of a facilitator. It also aims to build your confidence in setting up the conditions for constructive conversations.
Develop your skills and understanding of deliberative engagement principles and tools from leading industry experts.
This masterclass will help you to build your awareness of deliberative democracy: what it is, why it is important and how to develop your engagement brief.
“I was really pleased that I attended the Facilitation Training Session organised by Involve, run by Carly and Maddie. It was really well packaged as I felt equipped with solid learning in respect of understanding dialogue, deliberation and participatory methodologies. We also looked at different facilitation styles and how we could utilise various tools and techniques but doing so in an Involve Way or style.
Being a visual learner, a standout for me was the visibility line diagram, it’s really helped me to understand about aligning interests and values during conversations, communication and engagement. Finding that “biting point” can be really key to the purpose of what we are trying to achieve as a facilitator. Having this as a mental note I’ve been able to utilise this in my day-to-day role but also in work I’ve supported Involve with.
Carly and Maddie brought a lot of energy and made the session fun and engaging, particularly the Breakout room activities such as what are the do’s and don'ts in our roles as a facilitator. But also looking at scenarios exploring techniques we would use to facilitate the session and why. It was really helpful to explore practice with fellow colleagues but also learn from one another including receiving feedback on how we approached things. I certainly ended the session wanting more.”
Involve, Community House, City Link Business Park, 6A Albert St, Belfast, BT12 4HQ, Northern Ireland and Involve, Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, London, E2 6HG,United Kingdom
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