The value of long-term community collaboration
At Listen to Act, we believe that effective community engagement can’t be rushed. Building trusted, reciprocal relationships between different groups takes time, but it’s only through these strong relationships that open and honest conversations can be held. That’s why we take a long-term approach to community engagement. Our work yields rich, detailed insights that help decision makers and local communities work together to build lasting improvements.
Too often, we see organisations treat community engagement as an afterthought, or worse, as a distraction from other work. They rush through engagement that barely scratches the surface of the issues at hand, and don’t give people the time, space, or tools to voice their experiences and opinions properly. In this rush, they often don’t involve important stakeholders in the whole process either, causing essential perspectives to be lost when they are most needed.
Treating community engagement as a tick boxing exercise like this leads to worse outcomes for everyone. Service designers and decision makers are less informed about what communities need from a service, what they think about how it currently works, or what impact changes will have locally. At the same time, it’s harder for members of the local community to share their perspectives and provide detailed feedback that could be used to make things better.
Harnessing the power of genuine community insight
That’s why we do things differently. Our long-term approach to engagement puts communities at the heart of everything we do. We work with local people to give decision makers the best possible insights for them to make informed choices.
Our long-term community collaboration means we understand how thoughts, perspectives, and outcomes change over time, so we work with organisations to plan ahead and ‘future proof’ their work with a deeper understanding of established community trends.
The importance we place on building trust with all our partners helps us to have challenging conversations that would be easy to avoid. Creating the space for these tough conversations builds deep understanding between communities and local leaders.
Above all, we want to make community collaboration a consistent force for positive change. That’s why we value taking time and having a long-term approach. Through our work, we make sure that all partners have the time and space both to listen, share their thoughts and experiences, and build deep understandings.
The insights we gain from our long-term approach enables local leaders and decision makers to make informed decisions with a proper understanding about how their choices can help improve outcomes and reduce inequality.