Nicole Hunter
WORK WITH US! JOIN OUR FACILITATION TEAM

Are you an entry level or senior facilitator? Our specialist team of passionate engagement practitioners is growing! We're looking for facilitators interested in working on high-influence engagement projects in a fast-paced, flexible work environment. Applications close this Friday 21 February.

WORK WITH US! JOIN OUR FACILITATION TEAM
Industry Insights, Free resources
Nicole Hunter
THE INTERNAL FACTOR: IDEAS FROM THE INDUSTRY

Many of the engagement processes MosaicLab delivers are built around big, complex or strategic issues or decisions. These processes can result in outcomes that affect large cohorts of staff across an organisation.

Not only will some of these staff be required to implement the decision, but involving and informing them from the start of the process will contribute to the overall success of your project.

We wanted to delve deeper into this topic, so we sat down with two internal communication and change specialists with backgrounds in the public sector. They’ve shared easy-to-implement internal communications tips and ideas that you could apply to any big project, engagement process or change.

THE INTERNAL FACTOR: IDEAS FROM THE INDUSTRY
Case studies
Nicole Hunter
CASE STUDY: BALANCING PRICING AND FAIRNESS FOR ...

From April-July 2017, 35 randomly selected, everyday citizens came together to help Yarra Valley Water shape future services and prices.

The jury deliberated for more than 40 hours over five days across three months to address the remit, working together together to consider complex options and trade-offs, and challenge both their own assumptions and those of Yarra Valley Water.   

In this case study we explore challenges, learnings, insights and more that can be considered when planning for future deliberative engagement processes.

CASE STUDY: BALANCING PRICING AND FAIRNESS FOR ALL
Events & opportunities
Nicole Hunter
BEHIND THE SCENES OF PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING

Thank you to the panellists and participants who joined us for a brief journey behind the scenes of Participatory Budgeting (PB) at the 2018 IAP2 Australasia Conference this week. Delegates took part in a mini PB process before engaging in conversation with the panel and exploring lessons learned from recent projects across Australia and the UK.

We’ve provided some free PB resources at the bottom of this post - these resources are available to both participants from the conference and anyone who couldn’t make it to the session.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING
Case studies
Nicole Hunter
Case Study: Jury shapes democracy in Geelong

The Democracy in Geelong (Geelong Citizens’ Jury) project was a ground-breaking engagement process – no other community had ever had the chance to influence its council’s structure to this extent.

Case Study: Jury shapes democracy in Geelong

Free resources

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DILEMMA DISCUSSED: 'HOSTILE' AUDIENCES (PART 2)

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DILEMMA DISCUSSED: 'HOSTILE' AUDIENCES (PART 2)

Late last year we published the first post in a two-part series on dealing with this ‘subscriber dilemma’. In part one we explored how to plan for conflict, outrage and emotion when you know it’s likely to arise. Today, in part two, we’re providing 10 tips for working with high emotion in the moment – when you didn’t expect or plan for it at all.

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#MONTHLYMYTH: CALL IT DELIBERATION & IT WILL BE

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#MONTHLYMYTH: CALL IT DELIBERATION & IT WILL BE

Deliberative democracy isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ type of deal.  Deliberative processes can come in multiple packages, and deliberative elements can be integrated into a range of different engagement approaches.  However, a truly deliberative process is built around some simple core principles, and it’s risky to call a process ‘deliberation’ if it doesn’t truly hit the mark. 

So, what are the principles of deliberative democracy, and how would we know if a process wasn’t truly deliberative?

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DEMOCRACY BEYOND ELECTIONS: 'HOW TO' GUIDE PUBLISHED

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DEMOCRACY BEYOND ELECTIONS: 'HOW TO' GUIDE PUBLISHED

The newDemocracy Foundation (nDF) has published the Democracy Beyond Elections handbook – a guide to doing democracy differently.   MosaicLab was honoured to be a contributor to this rich, deliberative democracy resource.

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DILEMMA DISCUSSED: ‘HOSTILE’ AUDIENCES & HIGH EMOTION

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DILEMMA DISCUSSED: ‘HOSTILE’ AUDIENCES & HIGH EMOTION

This post tackles a big, scary dilemma – conflict, outrage and emotion.  We’re often asked for advice around this topic, because it’s something that worries many people in the engagement space -  even experienced practitioners and facilitators.

Partly, this fear is underpinned by a lack of ‘tools’ or skills. So, we’re going to give you some tips to help you prepare for and/or work with conflict, outrage and emotion in a meaningful way. 

Because it’s a big, difficult topic, we’re going to address it in two parts:  Part one (this post) is about how to plan for it, and in part two (next month) we’ll talk about what to do if you walk into it unexpectedly.   

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#MONTHLYMYTH: FACILITATORS NEED TO BE CONTENT EXPERTS

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#MONTHLYMYTH: FACILITATORS NEED TO BE CONTENT EXPERTS

Facilitators work across many industries, audiences and topics, and sometimes the issues or information being considered are complex or technical.  We’re often asked how we manage to move across so many broad ranging issues and projects, and whether we need to become ‘experts’ in each topic before we facilitate.

This #MonthlyMyth explores some of the misunderstandings that sit behind this myth, highlights the true role of a facilitator, and uncovers how facilitators really work with information and content.

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#MONTHLYMYTH: DELIBERATION IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER

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#MONTHLYMYTH: DELIBERATION IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER

Deliberation can be refer to either a micro-process (something you can build into part of a session or engagement process) or a full deliberative democracy process (such as a citizens’ jury).   

Deliberative engagement has a lot of potential benefits - these processes can lead to new solutions to challenging problems, improve policy outcomes and engender trust between citizens and decision makers.

So, is deliberation always the right answer/process? The short answer is no. 

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#MONTHLYMYTH: STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT IN DELIBERATIVE PROCESSES

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#MONTHLYMYTH: STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT IN DELIBERATIVE PROCESSES

We’re kicking off our 2019 #MonthlyMyth series by addressing a topic we’re often asked about. We’ve noticed that it’s an issue that makes organisations nervous.  There’s a fear that (where a randomly selected panel or jury is involved) stakeholder and interest groups will be cut out of the conversation and oppose the process or decision.  

Luckily, not only is it important to incorporate these groups in a deliberative process, there’s also lots of ways they can be involved.    Today we’re exploring why it’s a good idea to do so, and giving you seven ways to bring them on your deliberative journey.

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#MONTHLYMYTH: LOW INFLUENCE = LOW RISK

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#MONTHLYMYTH: LOW INFLUENCE = LOW RISK

This month’s myth addresses mistaken assumption that offering people less influence over a decision translates to the organisation having increased control over the process and outcomes. 

Some engagement processes lend themselves to a lower level of influence than others, However, if the intention is to reduce influence in an attempt to ‘manage’ the process, control outcomes, cut corners or minimise time and resources, organisations can find themselves in hot water. 

Read on for 6 key questions you can ask to determine the right level of influence and a list of helpful reading and resources. 

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CRITICAL THINKING: IAP2A RESEARCH AWARD (+ FREE RESOURCES)

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CRITICAL THINKING: IAP2A RESEARCH AWARD (+ FREE RESOURCES)

We’re very pleased to announce that, together with partner Dr. Lyn Carson of Deliberative Designs, we have won the 2018 IAP2 Australasia Core Values Award for Research. We feel very honoured to have had this exciting work recognised in this way.

To celebrate, we’re providing everyone with all the digital resources and materials that have been produced to date as a result of this work. Providing these resources to others is in line with our commitment to enhancing the quality of deliberative processes, and our aim to encourage quality engagement practice everywhere.

(continue to the bottom of this post to access all the resources).