Originally published 6 November 2007. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
Developing strategies is not unlike having children. Many are conceived from committed parentage, and are nurtured in a loving and learning environment. But others are what we call orphans, the product of enthusiastic if short-lived liaisons, and then abandoned to compete for attention alongside others who face a similar fate.
With the current fashion for writing strategies for just about anything that public bodies need to do, it is not surprising that we turn to those who have a talent for such tasks. The classic strategy-writer is probably a policy specialist of some sort with a reasonable turn of phrase and a gift for liberally sprinkling the text with in-vogue buzz-words. He or she also has the political skills to take the pulse of opinion-leaders so that it eventually gets rubber-stamped, published on the internet, a mention in the paper ...and then ....what? Consultation strategies are probably no better and no worse than other documents which have emerged from such a creative process. But any embarrassment from their patchy implementation has been obscured by the regular arrival of new Government initiatives for yet more strategies. In recent years, we have had Community Strategies (according to MORI’s Ben Page, it has led to some Councils having more visions than Mother Theresa!) followed by Statements of Community Involvement – SCI’s.
And now, we are to have Comprehensive Engagement Strategies. Only this time, the idea is to replace (or is it to supplement?) all those ineffective documents with one over-riding approach to dialogues with citizens and stakeholders – and that on behalf of all locally-provided public services, not just the Council. These can only work if they are developed in close co-operation with all the local partners; the old method of finding a talented author won’t work.
Ruth Kelly’s White Paper, and the Bill currently going through Parliament contains many provisions for greater public engagement. Some of these such as the proposed new arrangements for patient and public involvement with the NHS – local involvement networks associated with Council Overview & Scrutiny committees have huge implications. To build a strategy that takes account of all these will be a real challenge.
Give the next strategy a good home!
Trigger points
- Consider how to approach the task of developing the required Comprehensive Engagement Strategy
- Look at existing strategy documents. Have they a current “owner” with responsibility for up-dating and implementation
- Attend The Institute’s specially prepared training course on Comprehensive Engagement Strategies.
This is the 85th Tuesday Topic; a full list of subjects covered is available for Institute members and is a valuable resource covering so many aspects of consultation and engagement