Principle #3: Collaboration & Shared Purpose

Support and encourage participants, government and community institutions, and others to work together to advance the common good.

Other Information:

COLLABORATION AND SHARED PURPOSE - Support and encourage participants, government and community institutions, and others to work together to advance the common good. In high quality engagement: Organizers involve public officials, "ordinary" people, community leaders, and other interested and/or affected parties as equal participants in ongoing discussions where differences are explored rather than ignored, and a shared sense of a desired future can emerge. Organizers pay attention to the quality of communication, designing a process that enables trust to be built among participants through dialogue, permits deliberation of options, and provides adequate time for solutions to emerge and evolve. People with different backgrounds and ideologies work together on every aspect of the program — from planning and recruiting, to gathering and presenting information, all the way through to sharing outcomes and implementing agreed-upon action steps. In government-sponsored programs, there is good coordination among various agencies doing work relevant to the issue at hand. What to avoid: Unresponsive power-holders deliver one-way pronouncements or preside over hostile, disrespectful or stilted conversations. Patronizing experts and authorities feel they already have all the answers and "listen" only to appease. Engagement has no chance of impacting policy because relevant decisions have already been made or are already in the pipeline, or because those in power are not involved or committed. Loud or mainstream voices drown out all others, while personal stories, emotions, and unpopular opinions are not welcomed. References to isolated data or studies are used to suppress other forms of input. Involvement feels pointless to participants, lacking clear purpose or a link to action.

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