The stories we tell ourselves determine our actions and define the future. Public leaders have told me the following stories about public engagement:
If we ask the public about that, they will only complain, and we will waste our time.
The public always says the same thing every year so I never learn anything from them.
People are selfish and don't want to compromise.
People don't understand the big picture or the tough decisions I face.
The public has bad ideas that I must shoot down for 90 minutes.
However, if leaders held different beliefs about the public, their approach to and benefits from public engagement would radically change.
The foundational belief for good public engagement is that people are everyday experts. By living the issue, the public understands what experts usually can’t: how a policy works on the ground. Seeing the public as experts changes our perception, so we will look for insights beneath the anger and insults.
A belief in everyday experts also helps us value their stories. All policies have context; without it, data is meaningless. For example, a student might be failing on her report card, but the right solution won’t emerge until we hear the larger story: her parents divorced and mom got custody just before mom took a challenging new job that kept her from home. Researchers call stories “warm data” that help us understand cold facts; leaders can use engagement to generate warm data.
Below are some useful beliefs about public engagement; they aren't facts, but these stories allow you to take a stance that will improve working relationship with the public.
The public has insights on every issue I can get nowhere else.
If public feedback isn’t valuable, I'm asking the wrong questions.
Collaboration with the public will lead to more innovation.
The public can help professionals create programs that better meet the public's needs.
Public engagement is necessary to build support for innovative change.
Public engagement will lead to more volunteering and in-kind contributions.
Those affected by a decision should be engaged in making it.
Engagement will help heal and reconcile the community over past disputes.
Engaging the public early in the decision-making process reduces anger and push-back.
Many people have never felt heard by those in power so my listening will build trust.
I can build trust by discovering and addressing the source of the public's pain.
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