While it feels like the world has been somewhat on hold this year with COVID-19, MosaicLab has been busy growing.
We are thrilled to have welcomed three new members to our team. Each brings with them years of experience in participation, engagement and deliberation, as well as the enthusiasm and shared values that we view as essential to being a part of MosaicLab.
Read on to find out more about our newest team members.
CASE STUDY: LESSONS LEARNT MOVING A PANEL FROM IN-PERSON TO ONLINE
The Bayside 2050 Community Vision Panel came together to hold the first of its three full days of deliberations immediately before social isolation came into force in response to COVID-19. The rest of the deliberations were subsequently completed online.
This post explains how MosaicLab moved the panel online and our learnings from the experience.
NEW TO DELIBERATION - HERE'S WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING AROUND THE WORLD
The OECD has just released a global analysis of deliberation called Innovative Citizens Participation and New Democratic Institutions – Catching the Deliberative Wave. MosaicLab along with many other deliberative practitioners around the world contributed to this significant piece of work by providing our list of over 25 deliberations that we have facilitated in Australia. Thirteen of these deliberations were included in this OECD database.
BUILDING INTERNAL COUNCIL ENGAGEMENT TO BEST SERVE THE COMMUNITY
In recent months, we delivered a series of internal engagement programs for Monash City Council, Greater Shepparton City Council and Melton City Council to help build the momentum for engagement internally. Councils have been working on Community Engagement Policies, Council Plans, Frameworks and capacity building programs and have seen the value of engaging a diverse range of staff in this work.
In this blog, some of our council colleagues and facilitators provide their learnings from the internal engagement processes.
CASE STUDY: TEAMS IN TRANSITION - SHARED CONVERSATIONS
This case study covers a faciltated, internal strategy session provided by MosaicLab to a group of organisations facing disruption due to COVID-19. There was a clear need to support organisations transitioning to a remote-based workforce and equip them with the tools they needed to collaborate, be productive and keep motivated.
FREE GUIDE ON DELIBERATIVE ENGAGEMENT FOR VICTORIAN COUNCILS
To help local councils in Victoria navigate the deliberative engagement requirements in the new Local Government Act, MosaicLab has launched a free, short guide.
This e-book is specifically for local government staff and decision makers, and aims to provide assistance and information to help councils better understand deliberative engagement, its principles and how it can be implemented into council processes to meet the new requirements of the Act.
REGISTER FOR A VIRAL, ANTI-VIRUS CONVERSATION
Engagement professionals everywhere are grappling with the dilemma of how to genuinely and sensitively engage with communities during a protracted crisis. There is no easy answer, so let’s connect and try to solve it together in an online engagement experiment.
MosaicLab is excited to be partnering with VoiceVoice to host a continuous conversation. Over the next month or so, you can connect with others in the industry to tackle the topic together. It all starts with an ‘asynchronous’, unfacilitated conversation.
FREE RESOURCE: THE RIGHT ONLINE 'TOOLS' FOR THE JOB
Deciding on and differentiating between appropriate engagement frameworks, strategies, methods tools and techniques can be confusing. Add to this the array of software and digital applications we’re all currently playing with, and the challenges are compounded.
Selecting the right engagement approach is part art and part science. There is no ‘magic’ solution, and no one tool or method that is ‘best’ or ‘one size fits all’. Planning and preparation must happen first - well before we get to methods and tools - creating a ‘blueprint’ for our process that guides these decisions.
REGISTER FOR SESSION #5: PARTICIPATION & THE PANDEMIC (A DEBRIEF)
Three months have passed since our engagement practice began being impacted by physical distancing restrictions. It’s been a roller-coaster ride for many in the sector, requiring adaption, strategic thinking and transition. So, what have we all learnt so far?
Learn new skills and connect with engagement professionals around Australia and beyond. Every discussion is designed to help support you in your engagement practice, offering tips, resources, insights and more that you can apply to your projects and processes.
7 WAYS TO ACHIEVE A COLLECTIVE ONLINE EXPERIENCE
Having shared experiences is one of the fundamental features of being part of a community. In our current environment both space and time are different. And creating these collective experiences online becomes our key task as facilitators, project managers and engagement practitioners.
Today we’re sharing a free resource on 7 ways to achieve this and ensure people really ‘hear each other’ online. These are skills that can be used in many contexts, from small, informal conversations right through to large, interactive public sessions.