Stakeholder analysis, community consultation and workshop facilitation that produces decisions rather than attendance lists.
Consultation fails in a predictable way. People are invited to comment on something that has already been decided, they work that out within about ten minutes, and what was meant to build support instead builds resentment that outlasts the project. The attendance sheet still gets filed, and the report still says consultation took place.
Doing it properly is mostly a question of preparation rather than facilitation skill. Who is genuinely affected, and are they in the room? What is actually still open for decision, and is that being said honestly? What happens to what people tell you, and how will they know? Get those right and the session largely runs itself. Get them wrong and no amount of skilled chairing recovers it.
We design and run engagement for programmes, institutions and businesses where the outcome depends on people accepting it — community consultation, partner workshops, participatory planning and independent facilitation where the subject is contested and neutrality matters. Because we also work in evaluation, we design consultation so that what people say becomes usable evidence rather than a separate report nobody reads.
Anyone affected by what you are doing or able to affect whether it works — beneficiaries, staff, funders, regulators, local authorities, community leaders and the groups who will object if they are not consulted. Mapping this properly is usually the first thing we do.
A meeting produces attendance. Engagement produces decisions, and a record of how they were reached. The difference is in the preparation — who is in the room, what they are being asked, and what happens to what they say.
Often, yes, though it is slower the second time. Consultation fails most commonly because people were asked for views on something already decided. Being straightforward about what is genuinely open is usually the way back.
Yes. Some clients have the plan and want an independent facilitator in the room, which also helps when the subject is contested and neutrality matters.
Directly. Stakeholder views are evidence, and consultation designed alongside your evaluation framework produces findings you can use rather than a separate report nobody reads.