We’re feeling energised as we zoom through the first month of the new year. That’s because we can see what’s ahead, and we’re excited about the possibilities. Are you ready to set sail with us? We’re celebrating what’s been achieved in partnership with people just like you so far, while setting our sights on facilitating more important conversations in more places and having even more positive impact on more communities. We’re ready to embrace where engagement and deliberation are going, are you?
A message of thanks to you - our clients, participants, partners and friends - and hope for what’s ahead. As we head towards the end of a big year of big conversations, our team shares what they’re grateful for, their biggest highlight of 2023 and what’s really lighting them up when they think forward to the new year ahead.
Meet the newest additions to the MosaicLab team: Belinda Lowing and Fox Gillen. Both Belinda and Fox have long career histories that span across interesting and complex roles that have included facilitation and engagement in many forms. Learn more about these two and gain some insights into who they REALLY are through their answers to our fast five questions!
Ever wondered what makes our facilitators tick? Meet the newest additions to the MosaicLab team: Jody Kingston and Aaron Bosch. Both Aaron and Jody have fascinating, diverse backgrounds and have come to MosaicLab and facilitation via interesting pathways. Find out what they love about their work, what impact they hope to have and how they answered a list of fun and probing questions that we like to call The Telling Top 10...
Four language interpreters. Child-minding. Recruitment challenges. Birthday cake and a lot of laughs. These are just some of the unique highlights of our work with Quit Victoria and VicHealth in 2022 on a project to reduce tobacco-related harm in public housing. This case study takes a detailed look at how MosaicLab supported this process with a residents’ panel and sense-making workshops. All to drive improved, long-term outcomes for community and public health.
Today, with the help of a few guest experts, we’re responding to a subscriber participation dilemma. It’s an issue that has been put forward by several subscribers to our e-newsletter the Discussion as their ‘biggest community engagement challenge’.
Today’s challenge is representative views: how to ensure you’re hearing from people that are proportional to and reflective of the wider community or stakeholders you’re trying to engage with.
It’s important to consider and tailor your engagement approach to ensure you meet the needs of all stakeholders, and that includes those who have the most to say.
This mistake, however , lies in forgetting about everyone else. Suddenly, you realise the needs and opinions of a few have demanded time, attention and resources at the expense of the rest of your stakeholders or community.
Today we’re addressing this myth by providing 9 ways to ensure diverse perspectives make it into your next process.
We're very excited to announce that Part 1 of our three part, animated video series on deliberative engagement is now here!
Part 1 in a three part series on deliberative engagement. In this short animation, we overview what deliberative engagement (or deliberative democracy) is, the six principles of this engagement approach and how it tends to be differ from many other engagement approaches.
Deliberative engagement is a form of meaningful engagement, and each principle covered in this video could be integrated into any engagement process. In Part 2, we'll explore when to do deliberative engagement, and when to consider other types of engagement approaches. So stay tuned!
If you’re planning for engagement you need to consider how you engage one of your most critical stakeholder groups – decision makers. Involving them in an appropriate, effective way is a crucial step. We often see employees struggling to successfully navigate this part of their planning journey and, unfortunately, not only can it be tricky, it’s also one of the top reasons engagement processes fall over.
Get it wrong and you face a myriad of potential (unwanted) consequences. From lengthy delays to mid-process back tracking, community outrage to complete project cancellation –not only might your whole process fall over, you could cause irreparable damage to the reputation and relationships you’re attempting to build.
In today’s post, we’re highlighting the most common mistakes made in this space and providing 8 top tips for upping your decision maker engagement game.
In 2017, 27 everyday Barwon Water customers came together to deliberate over what they expect and value most when it comes to water and sewerage services. The group grappled with technical inputs, weighed up complex options, and considered diverse customer needs to determine how to balance prices and services.
The process was underpinned by Barwon Water’s commitment to listen to, respond to and collaborate with its customers. The project had a wide range of positive impacts, and, ultimately, a transformative effect on the organisation and its relationships.
When you think about the word ‘play’, what do you imagine?
We’re going to hazard a guess and assume what you don’t see is a group of adults considering important issues or strategic concepts. That’s because cultural norms suggest that play is more at home in a playground than a boardroom.
In this month’s myth buster, we’re going to ask you to put that limiting belief to one side for a moment. We’re exploring how play can be used to achieve positive outcomes and new possibilities in the professional world. Because, as it turns out, adults (even the suit-wearing ones) and organisations (even the big serious ones) might benefit from a little game now and then.
The rise of social media has transformed how we communicate with each other and how organisations communicate with their customers and communities. This rapidly changing landscape can be unforgiving to those who play it safe, and, often, government is seen to be lagging behind the private sector.
Effective communication is a key component of every engagement process. So, today we’re providing some communication inspiration - exploring some examples of bold, creative public sector campaigns that cut through the clutter.
A new Local Government Act is on the way in Victoria, with submissions on the the Exposure Draft of the Local Government Bill to close this Friday. The draft signals some changes to expectations around community engagement - a shift that is set to impact how councils engage in a number of ways.
In this post, we're summarising the key changes proposed in relation to engagement and highlighting what this might mean for councils and how they engage in the future.
‘Transparency’ is a key term in the world of engagement. We all know that it’s central to any robust, effective engagement process.
It’s also a word that, for some, goes hand in hand with risk and a loss of order and control. That makes sense - because being honest, sharing the problem and providing in-depth insights into an issue can feel scary.
Today, we're addressing this myth and providing some reasons to be brave, risks to be aware of and key starting points when it comes to transparency.
The MosaicLab family has grown over the past 18 months, with the addition of several new faces joining our directors Kim, Keith and Nicole.
We’re a tight-knit team and our members are selected based on a very strict set of criteria (i.e. they must laugh at our jokes, enjoy early starts and share our love of eating too much at team meetings). But all jokes aside – every MosaicLab team member must share our philosophies and values around engagement and participation - so our team is selected with great thought and consideration.
Read on to discover more about Kate, Rachael and Jane, including what drove them to work with MosaicLab and what’s in the works for them this year.
