As we reach the end of a big year of expansion, exploration and growth, we’re feeling thankful.
Every day, we help people to have better conversations. We work with diverse, wonderful clients and participants, and this year we’ve supported thousands of people to participate in decisions that matter to them. We’re lucky to do what we love.
We’ve collated some numbers that paint a picture of what MosaicLab’s 2021 looked like. They’re just a little bit mind-blowing… and our team almost doubled! Check them out below.
It’s also a time for reflection, so we’ve shared insights into what’s stood out to us this year - what had an impact on us and the sector, and what we’re thankful for.
CHECK OUT THE NUMBERS!
This year we grew from 11 to 21 team members - collectively, we have 210 years of experience in facilitation and engagement, which has been delivered across 23 countries.
We worked with 69 clients, completing 133 projects, and we’re still working on 100 more that will continue into 2012.
We delivered 16 deliberative processes, and this work saw participants dedicate a collective 10,332 hours to community panel work and our team deliver 812 facilitation hours in deliberative sessions.
Wow. Thank you to every participant, client and partner that contributed to these achievements.
REFLECTIONS: THE STUFF THAT STOOD OUT
National conversations
“Our work with EnHealth resulted in the development of the only known diagnostic tool for assessing risk communication, with principles for how to work with each type of risk communication approach. We’re excited to share this valuable tool more broadly. ”
Co-founder and Director, MosaicLab
In 2021, we worked with a number of national bodies including Environmental Health Standing Committee (enHealth) - an organisation that engages with environmental health professionals across Australia and New Zealand.
This work included developing a set of principles for risk communication in relation to environmental health issues. The project had input from Dr Peter Sandman - a world-renowned risk communication expert.
Stay tuned - case study coming soon.
Quality engagement in online and blended forms
This year, 95% of our work was delivered online, and the other 5% was a blend of hybrid and face-to-face facilitation.
Online we are, of course, unrestricted by geographic boundaries. What’s interesting though, is that participants are building incredibly comfortable, personal connections with us and each other from the comfort of their own environment (and free of the noise and distractions and overwhelm of a big venue).
“We’ve consolidated 18months of online facilitation experience into the ability to deliver virtual engagement in a way that not only equals, but can often exceed the quality we can achieve in a face-to-face environment. ”
Co-founder and Director, MosaicLab
People’s capacity to do the work is enhanced, and they’re achieving outcomes that surpass expectations.
Clients are also finding the online world accessible, and gaining a deeper understanding of the group’s work - they can actually hear small group conversations in a Zoom breakout room!
As we move into 2022, we’re blending these two worlds - bringing the best of each to our work through tailored design.
Participant change
We’ve been surveying participants before and after they deliberate. In 2021 we published a report with the results from 11 Local Government projects. They showed that the processes:
significantly increased trust in democratic institutions
built supported decisions
encouraged involvement in civic affairs
offered everyday people real influence
These findings are consistent with widely-held beliefs around the positive impact of deliberative engagement. They serve to strengthen and add to this body of anecdotal evidence and quantify the value of deliberative processes.
“I’m always moved by the final reflections of panellists at the end of a deliberation.
A 16 year old said this was the most important thing he’d ever done. A farmer cried because he would miss the group so much and wasn’t sure what to do now without it.
There are so many beautiful, unintended consequences of connecting people to their communities and involving them in the issues that matter to them. ”
Co-founder and Director
MosaicLab
Watch the video: Participant reflections on 11 Local Government deliberative engagement journeys (highlights research key findings)
You can also read the full report: Deliberation and Democratic Trust - Measuring participant change across 10 Victorian councils.
International connections and new horizons for deliberation
“We’re committed to giving back through advocacy research, and sharing knowledge and resources. Our work with Democracy R&D, enables us to share ideas and learn from each other so we can collectively advance deliberative practice across the globe.”
Increasingly, we’re contributing to international conversations around continued improvement of deliberative practice and working with others to advocate for democracy done differently.
One of the ways we’re participating in this discussion is our membership of the Democracy Research and Development group, which collaboratively develops, implements, and promote ways to improve democracy, from the local to the global level.
In 2022, we’ll be sharing more about this work - stay tuned.
Conversations that matter
“From the a five day deliberative panel through to a one-day workshop every conversation is important. Sometimes it’s not just the issue being discussed, but the work the organisation does that’s meaningful. ”
Co-founder and Director, MosaicLab
In 2021 we continued to help people have discussions around difficult issues or progress vital work. In 2021 that included working with frontline government staff that have been redeployed to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, facilitating sessions for Launch Housing, and supporting conversations around suicide prevention.
We also worked with the the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and Northern Alliance for Greenhouse Action to facilitate the ‘Your Council and Climate Change’ training program. These sessions helped councils understand and plan for climate change impacts on their communities.
WHAT WE’RE GRATEFUL FOR
We’ve been delivering in an environment that has often been unpredictable and challenging for the people we work with. We are constantly reminded, however, of the things that stay steady and true for us.
We are grateful:
to our clients, who continue to be brave; working to transform the way their organisations engage and make decisions
for our participants, who always surprise and delight us, offer incredible wisdom, and remind us of why we do what we do
for our network of partners and friends across the world who connect with us in a shared effort to advance facilitation and deliberative practice
for our growing team of ‘unicorns’ - special professionals with unique skillsets, shared core values and a desire to have a positive impact.