Recently we met with a regional council to discuss their engagement requirements for their resource management plan.

As the conversation progressed, it became clear they had a lot of work to do on their objectives:

• They weren’t yet clear how much influence people could have over decisions.

• They hadn’t decided what would be in and out of scope for the topic in question.

• They weren’t sure what level and type of engagement their communities wanted.

• They hadn’t spoken to other teams in their organisation about the project.

Yet their main question for us was: “How can we be more innovative?”

Innovation holds the key to better engagement

Isn’t working for the government or community sector a tough gig sometimes?

You’re time-poor and resource-stretched. Regulations restrict your options. And you’re terrified of a front-page disaster. At any moment, somebody in your organisation could throw any of these 6 objections to engagement your way.

So it’s understandable that you want to find a better way of engaging with the people you serve.

And that’s why innovation holds such promise.

It creates the vision of faster, easier, more effective working relationships with the people you serve.

What’s not to love?

But innovation is so much more than a sparkly new method

Business Lab has had a lengthy affair with innovation. 

You can see that in our name. When we talk about “business” we mean the archaic definition of “purposeful activity”. And the word “lab” speaks to our belief in experimentation and learning.

Over the years, we’ve noticed the different levels of innovation in the field of community engagement.

But many councils and government agencies have a skin-deep understanding of how to be innovative with their engagement approach. They look for a silver bullet - a new method that will solve all their engagement challenges. 

But we advocate for a deeper understanding of what it means to “be innovative” with your engagement.

How innovative is your approach to engagement?

Level 1: Being innovative with METHODS

One way of defining innovation is as a noun. As a new thing or creation.

The Apple iPhone - that’s an innovation.  So too is Uber’s app. Or Xero’s cloud-based accounting software. 

This is the most shallow way of classifying innovation. The focus is on the output. It’s a visible thing that people interact with.

The equivalent for community engagement is to use new and innovative methods.

And this is really common. 

We often meet with government agencies and councils who want to “be more innovative” with their community engagement. 

This means they want us to suggest some different methods to use. But when we ask them what methods they have already tried - well, the lists are usually pretty extensive!

 If you want to be truly innovative, you can forget about talking robots and citizens juries.

Forget about interactive online maps. Fancy pop-up shops. Forget Instagram stories and Facebook Live.

Forget citizens juries and collaborative budgeting.

Forget all those shiny new methods. For now.

Throwing another new method into the mix will not make any difference if you don’t change things at a level deeper.

Level 2: You’re innovative with your PROCESS

A deeper way of defining innovation is as a process. It’s a systematic series of actions to solve a problem.

How can you tell when a government or community organisation is being innovative with their engagement processes?

One obvious sign is their engagement will be done by a “design team” or “ innovation unit”, not just the communications team.

Or there might be a Communications and Engagement Unit, but with an even number of communications jobs and engagement jobs.

Sometimes we see councils dipping their toes into innovation processes, but in lower-risk contexts. 

The Nelson City Council, for instance, recently invested strongly in an innovation process for a youth development strategy. Christchurch City Council invested heavily in a new process for its Heritage Strategy, which involved strong partnership with iwi leaders. As far as we are aware, neither of these councils have invested in the same kind of innovative process for their Long Term Plans or Resource Management Plans.

The limitation here is that innovation is not embedded in everything the organisation does. It’s a process used in certain special situations, rather than being a way of working embedded in how your organisation works the people it serves.

Level 3: You embrace innovation PRINCIPLES

When an organisation embraces innovation, it becomes a set of principles that influences every interaction with others.

Your team spends more time "out there" talking with the community and far less "in here" on internal meetings. They are supported to take risks because your organisation understands that this leads to better outcomes for the people you serve.

Engagement is done right through the whole life cycle of your projects. Not after you’ve defined the problem or issue. Not after you’ve come up with the options. But right the way through and beyond the project in question.

Engagement is a pledge from the whole organisation to continually work with your community. You’re not a gatekeeper, but an enabler. You know you don’t hold a monopoly on the solution.

A strong examples is Thames Coromandel District Council’s devolution of council operations and governance to community boards.

The Model was developed and implemented in 2012 by the Council team led by Chief Executive David Hammond - now a Business Lab Director.

The Community Empowerment Model was innovative at a principled level, not just at a process or methods level. The Council started from first principles, with a presumption that decisions and resources should sit as close as possible to the local people they impact. This was championed from the Mayor down.

And the results? The Model garnered national attention a year later when the Taxpayers Union noted TCDC as having the lowest operating costs per property in the Waikato Region, following two consecutive years of rates decreases. Plus, satisfaction in council decision-making improved 15% since the 2012 change and is now 10% higher than the national average.

What level do you want to play at?

Is your council or agency dipping its toes in at Level 1? You’re trying new innovative engagement methods and getting frustrated when you don’t seem to achieve the impact you desire. You keep hearing one of the 6 objections to engagement from senior leaders in your organisation.

Maybe you’re up to your waist at Level 2? You’ve using innovative engagement processes for particular projects, but it’s not embedded in everyday activity across the organisation.

Or do you want to set a new standard at Level 3? That way you’ll meet the future before it hits you.

The reality is most councils and government agencies are stuck at Level 1.

Innovation in its nature is uncertain; it requires trial and error. This goes against the natural instinct of public agencies, which are structured to manage and minimise risk.

Many agencies see innovation as a new method they might drop into an engagement project, without any deeper change in how they work with their community.

If that’s your organisation, we should talk.