There is incredible benefit in the practice of deep and respectful listening. Practiced as a natural way within First Nation culture, each Nation has a word that describes it. In Ngan’gikurunggurr, a Northern Territory language, that word is ‘dadirri’. For First Nations’ people, deep listening is about connecting to people but also connecting to country and how you learn about the way a landscape functions, where water flows, winds blow, where it’s hot, cold, who visits, what grows and so much more. The term ‘Stakeholder Engagement’ is a nondescript way to define what this process really needs to be. Engaging with stakeholders is like the indigenous practices.
It’s about understanding the players – be they residents, consumers, businesses, educators, contractors, healthcare workers, employers, employees, tourists or others. Many wear multiple hats.
It’s also about learning and placing value on their knowledge and experiences. Engagement is an important ingredient in the design mix of elements that form the structure of a strategy or project. Getting this engagement right can make a big difference to the quality, acceptance and success of the project.
Coming from a place of curiosity to consider another perspective keeps the door open to receiving information flows with a light footprint. Finding this out can be both complex and rewarding. Meeting people on their turf can often be a safe place to begin.
As residents, consumers, voters, employees, business owners and members of communities, we have likely experienced the frustration of not being heard. But, knowing you have been heard builds trust, connection and community, which can be powerful for local governments as their communities will see and feel if they’ve been properly heard by the resultant services, strategies and projects.
Stakeholder engagement therefore is and should be more robust than just a community check-in process.
As consultants, we are often visitors into a community, town, council, government or business. We come with a job to undertake, with a budget, a timeline and some goals.
The early part of the project is the most exciting, if we allow it. We come to listen to our clients. We find in listening that behind the client and the project there is another audience, commonly diverse.
Who are they? What do they know? What do they think? What do they want or not want? How do they feel?
It’s helpful to observe before interacting. Visiting a place and quietly connecting to it brings awareness. It’s very much an acknowledgement of country. Walking around a factory, a landfill or a town. Sitting in a café listening. Going to places where community is at its best – community gardens, repair cafes, markets, sporting events, art galleries, feeling the landscape and watching how people interact and systems function.
It’s powerful and it’s important.
Wagga Wagga City Council recently contracted APC Waste Consultants to develop its resource recovery and waste strategy, supporting its transition to a more circular economy. Our brief included stakeholder engagement.
Located on Wiradjuri Country, the word here for deep listening and reflection is winhangadurinya.
We came to Wagga Wagga to listen, to feel, to understand and to then try to build the strategy that reflected the community, its needs, practices and culture.
We did a lot of initial groundwork, remotely unpacking the diversity of Wagga’s community, finding who had interest in the project and how they might connect to a more circular Wagga. We wanted to know how the community felt about becoming more circular and what circular activities were already in place.
Bringing people along on a circular journey requires trust building – with Council, with community, with recovery systems and with the value of recovering resources.
Before we arrived, we rang many organisations and people and introduced ourselves. We talked about Council’s plan to develop a strategy, to engage more deeply and we listened to what they said.
We visited the region observing, exploring, sitting and some more listening. We went earlier than our planned meetings, so we could observe and build connections and understanding.
We were received like family when we arrived, because we had taken the time to slowly connect, because we came with respect, and because the community felt heard.
We met many people in their safe places. We went to the community garden, to local sporting events, to the Men’s Shed, to the small local bulk food shop hiding up an alleyway, and to the farmers’ markets. We also visited contractors and we met with creatives at the local art society. We bought supplies for our stay from local small businesses. We came to understand the community and left with a lot more knowledge and insight.
We ran focus groups and workshops with residents, businesses, farmers, community groups, contractors and Council. We brought some structure into these sessions, but we also allowed time to let conversations flow where it was apparent they would ensure good information sharing.
We heard in one of our meetings with Council that we had unearthed many amazing enterprises that long-term locals weren’t even aware of. We felt a strong desire from nearly everyone we spoke with that they wanted to be part of something more aspirational and more circular. This feedback supported Council in their decision making and was an important underpinning for the strategy.
We then developed a draft for the strategy and along the way still had some questions. The relationships we built made it simple to reach back out and seek more feedback, that smoothed the path towards a Strategy that most people felt happy with.
The strategy was then adopted with very minimal adjustments. This we believe is largely due to the valuing of good engagement and taking time to deeply listen.
Bronwyn Elliott is a snr consultant with APC Waste Consultants