Delaney and Associates Inc.
  • Home
  • Story
    • Our Story
    • Meet the Team
    • Careers
  • Services
    • Engagement
      • Online Engagement
    • Facilitation
    • Communications
    • Training
  • Specialties
    • Health
    • Federal Government
    • Local and Provincial Government
    • Renewable Energy and Environment
  • Training
    • Overview
    • Schedule At A Glance
    • Introducing the Promise of Engagement
    • Foundations for Authentic Engagement
    • Facilitating Engagement Plans
    • Producing Virtual Meetings
    • Communicating for Engagement
    • Evaluating Engagement
    • Designing Engagement Surveys
    • IAP2 Training
    • Register for IAP2 Courses
    • Fundamentals of P2 and Engagement
    • Designing P2 and Engagement
    • Applying Methods
    • Custom Training
    • Online Courses
    • Meet Your Trainers
  • Courses
    • IAP2 Techniques for Effective Public Participation
    • IAP2 Planning for Effective Public Participation
  • Blog + Newsletter
    • Blog
    • Newsletter
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Are You An Engagement Imposter?

May 4, 2016/in Engagement Planning/by Emina Dervisevic

(Note: This is the first installment of a two-part blog.)

Are you an engagement imposter? I know I was! Here is my story and what I have learned on my journey so far.

I’m new here at Delaney + Associates and as a communications professional with several years of experience under my belt, I’ve done a fairly good job at times convincing myself and others of my “robust” efforts to engage stakeholder groups and the public. I’ve identified and nurtured relationships with stakeholder groups, considered them while developing communications plans, invited them to meetings to hear their thoughts, gathered intelligence, conducted interviews, visited stakeholder websites, and developed strategic considerations with results from public opinion research reports in mind etc, etc, etc.

“I know my audiences and exactly what messages they need to hear and how to reach them.” My work here is done, right?

Does this ring a bell? If so, I fear that you are in for the same rude awaking I received a little over a year ago. But don’t fret – you’re not alone. Many of us are guilty of spending a good portion of our career operating under these assumptions – not to mention that authentic stakeholder engagement is still a relatively young field and way of doing business.

Let’s begin by addressing a harsh reality.

Engagement is not public relations or social marketing.

It is not developing a communications plan to reach your audiences with the messages and activities you think they want to hear. It is not “strategically” communicating a difficult issue to the public in a way that makes your organization look favourable. It is not convincing people that they need to modify their behaviour. And it is most certainly not orchestrating an event or series of events to attract attention to your brand, cause, or the “right decision”.

Don’t get me wrong; some of the things I mentioned above can be important to the work we do as communicators. There is often a valid business case for doing them; otherwise, the vast majority of us would be unemployed. Many of these functions, in fact, when done properly, do play a part in the bigger picture of an authentic engagement process and help us build credibility with our stakeholders.

Building these relationships is important! They help stakeholders put some “stock” in the organization we represent and any engagement processes we want to carry out – if and when the time comes. The fact remains, however, that although these activities can support engagement processes, we often use them as stand-alone activities to tell stakeholders and the public something, or to achieve our own organizational objectives, not to help them simultaneously achieve theirs.

If there is no decision to be made, or the public cannot be not involved to some extent or be included in the decision-making process, it’s not engagement – period.

And so the question: “How do I avoid being an engagement imposter?”

I’m glad you asked!

In my next post, I’ll be considering how authentic engagement processes can lead to better outcomes for your organization and, by contrast, how staged or unauthentic engagement processes can tarnish the reputation of your organization.

Tags: communications, consultation, decision-making, public engagement, public relations, stakeholders
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Share on Vk
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
https://www.rmdelaney.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/16-057-311-websize.jpg 875 1225 Emina Dervisevic https://www.rmdelaney.com/wp-content/uploads/FullLogo2.png Emina Dervisevic2016-05-04 11:37:502016-08-29 13:51:10Are You An Engagement Imposter?
You might also like
Three Big Themes We’re Seeing Right Now
#CPRS2015
Want to Join Delaney + Associates Team? We Are Hiring!
Jennifer Miller Joins Delaney + Associates Team
Are You Really Listening?
We are Hiring: Engagement and Communications Specialist Job Posting

Search Blog Posts

Followon TwitterSubscribeto RSS Feed

Latest posts

  • Communicating for EngagementMarch 24, 2023 - 8:57 am
  • The Luck of the Engaging IrishMarch 17, 2023 - 8:56 am
  • March Break and Government Fiscal: Competing Forces for Our AttentionMarch 13, 2023 - 8:40 am

Categories

  • 20th Anniversary
  • 25th Anniversary
  • Careers
  • City Conversations
  • Community
  • D+A News
  • Engagement Planning
  • Engagement Techniques
  • Facilitation
  • Forecast
  • General
  • Training

Archives

27 Years of Engagement Excellence… Helping governments, business and NGOs build relationships with their say help build relationships with their communities since 1996.

Latest News

  • Communicating for EngagementMarch 24, 2023 - 8:57 am
  • The Luck of the Engaging IrishMarch 17, 2023 - 8:56 am
  • March Break and Government Fiscal: Competing Forces for Our AttentionMarch 13, 2023 - 8:40 am
  • Designing Engagement SurveysMarch 7, 2023 - 8:12 am

IAP2 Training Schedule

  • Upcoming iap2 Courses

© 2023 DELANEY AND ASSOCIATES INC. All rights reserved
Helping Boards to Get EngagedRichard M. DelaneyAre You an Engagement Imposter? (continued…)
Scroll to top