This article was written by Andrew Miles, Engagement Specialist for Transport for London. Do you have a response to his view? Send your response to becky@mytci.org and we will publish the responses in next week’s newsletter.Â
Article:
I’d like to start with a proposition: everyone everywhere has an opinion. You’ve probably got an opinion about whether or not people have opinions. Granted, that opinion might be: ‘I never want to hear about [subject x] again, ever’, but in the context of our work that’s just as valid an opinion as any other. Nobody would willingly admit that they could not think of a single thing to say about a subject; any subject.
So why is it then that we talk about consultation fatigue? We have this concern that every audience has a finite capacity for being engaged. Pass beyond that undefined threshold and risk fewer replies, jeopardising the legitimacy of any subsequent decision. But I say that consultation fatigue is a myth: it does not exist. Audiences might sometimes feel disinclined to engage with us, but that’s nothing to do with how often we ask them for their opinion.
Think about our audiences for a moment: in almost every case we’ll want to reach a range of stakeholder organisations. Sometimes we’ll also want to reach ordinary people: residents in an area or users of a service. Think about all the myriad demands on your attention.  Now think about all the demands on theirs … Our voice; that one asking for something as enticing and natural as an opinion, is one in a million others, all of which are clamouring for attention and action. It’s a wonder that we get any responses to consultation at all…
We all know how vital planning is to the success of a consultation. Identifying in advance who you want to reach, and how; what information you’ll give them and what views you’ll ask for. But there’s something much more fundamental to the success of a consultation than good planning. If ours is one voice in a million, then we have to make sure our voice stands out. We have to make sure that our voice is compelling and accessible: that our audiences can do nothing except listen and engage.
Of course, that’s easier said than done. Authors’ careers are made on the basis of a compelling voice. I think my point isn’t to describe how to find that compelling voice, it is to encourage us all to continually strive to find it – regardless of whether it’s about a local scheme or a major policy affecting millions of people.
