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
    • Register for iap2 Foundations
    • iap2 Foundations Courses
    • 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

Day 3: Hope is not a Strategy

December 12, 2016/in Engagement Planning/by Richard Delaney

Today’s D+A principle is one of my personal favourites: Hope is not a Strategy. You may have thought this when you heard someone say, “Let’s just hope for the best”… without planning for the worst. In fact, not having any strategy is worse than a bad strategy – because even with a bad strategy, you have at least given future possibilities some thought.

What does it mean?

We say that if you can’t do engagement well, then don’t do it at all.

Why? It’s simple. Engagement done well is one of the best ways to manage risk. Done poorly, it creates risk. Imagine that: Investing time and money in the hopes of reducing risk, only to have it blow up in your face – and yes, that still happens when you simply hope for the best.

When we first heard ourselves telling clients that hope is not a strategy, they were usually saying things like, “let’s just hope nobody cares, nobody notices, or nobody shows up.” That’s rarely the case. If it’s legally required, or media pressure is pushing you to engage, your stakeholders will actually start engaging you, so preparation is the only substitute for hope.

We never simply hope that people will show up to public meetings, and we absolutely never hope they have read the background and come prepared to engage productively. We never hope that participants will play nicely together either, or, frankly, that the client knows everything they need to know about community and stakeholder engagement. We actually assume the reverse, and plan accordingly. That’s our approach to risk management.

What does it look like?

This engagement truth connects directly to the last. Because we never guess, we don’t have to rely on hope.

For example, when we extend a public meeting invitation, we never hope that stakeholders will be interested enough to show up. We always establish an RSVP mechanism and monitor it relative to the communications “pulses” we broadcast or direct. We never assume the “right” people will attend – instead, we go and get them.

During a recent engagement, after a stakeholder mapping exercise, we knew that many of the stakeholders who were indirectly and negatively impacted didn’t know it, and, therefore, wouldn’t engage. This group, often referred to as the “silent majority” was important to balance the conversation and to make sure the squeaky wheels didn’t carry the day.

Our strategy to reach these stakeholders was to, in our communications plan, identify direct channels to communicate with these people, and create messages that would attract their interest and assure representative participation. Representation was so important to this conversation that we even identified peoples’ stakeholder groups with colour-coded name tags during in-person events, and  it was the first thing we asked during online components. All participants truly appreciated hearing many perspectives, and it definitely changed the decision outcome.

This is part of an ongoing series exploring Delaney + Associates’ Company Creed. Check out the introduction piece here.

Tags: consultation, decision-making, dialogue, evaluation, facilitation, planning, public engagement, techniques
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/2013/04/16-057-015-closeup-websize.jpg 875 1225 Richard Delaney https://www.rmdelaney.com/wp-content/uploads/FullLogo2.png Richard Delaney2016-12-12 08:51:462016-12-12 17:00:38Day 3: Hope is not a Strategy
You might also like
Day 2 of Training
#CPRS2015
Want to Join Delaney + Associates Team? We Are Hiring!
Are You Really Listening?
P2 Planning for Best Outcomes
New St. Paul’s: Planning a Hospital With Patients at the Center

Search Blog Posts

Followon TwitterSubscribeto RSS Feed

Latest posts

  • Five-Point Readiness Checklist for Engagement SurveysApril 29, 2022 - 4:42 pm
  • Delaney Confidence Series – Upcoming Course: Communicating for EngagementMarch 22, 2022 - 6:02 pm
  • Celebrating Our Training PastMarch 17, 2022 - 10:02 am

Categories

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

Archives

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

Latest News

  • Five-Point Readiness Checklist for Engagement SurveysApril 29, 2022 - 4:42 pm
  • Delaney Confidence Series – Upcoming Course: Communicating for EngagementMarch 22, 2022 - 6:02 pm
  • Celebrating Our Training PastMarch 17, 2022 - 10:02 am
  • Welcome, Maggie Knight, to the team! Our newest Specialist, Engagement + CommunicationsFebruary 28, 2022 - 4:41 pm

IAP2 Training Schedule

  • Upcoming iap2 Courses

© 2020 DELANEY AND ASSOCIATES INC. All rights reserved
Day 2: Never Guess Day 4: Engage Early and Often
Scroll to top