[As published in September/October BayBuzz magazine.]

Engagement exhaustion 

I’m surprised that I’m writing this column … it calls for less public consultation. 

I’ve spent most of my professional life overseas advising advocacy groups on how to get in the ears of public officials and helping them raise money to do it. 

Here in New Zealand this process of ‘engagement’ is highly prescribed, mainly through archaic ‘public consultation’ requirements that dictate on what occasions, in what form and for how long the public must be listened to. As if picking up the mobile and firing off a scorching text, email or earful to the rascals wasn’t effective enough. 

The resulting sterilised process disappoints both citizens (the very few ‘regulars’ who do engage) and officials, clouding the real issues with bickering over consultation windows, whether submissions should dictate what councils do (60 for, 35 against, sold), how to count a submission with a bunch of names (is it 1 or 75?), what significance to attach to ‘form’ submissions, and so forth … and wasting a lot of time. 

So here I am, in my dotage, having written an ‘issues’ feature in this mag (Major decisions for HB … engagement exhaustion ahead?), suggesting that both citizens and officials need to reconsider the whole approach to what councils now refer to as ‘public engagement’. 

Councils are interested mainly in two things: 1) politics – what is the general ratepayer mood or value tilt on an issue of high importance; and 2) substance – what otherwise ‘missed’ insight, innovative idea or expertise might surface on a specific proposal from the community at large. 

Many citizens can and should have a view – informed or not – in the first situation (e.g., should we adopt dedicated Māori seats?). Far fewer have a significant contribution to make in the latter (e.g., should we build a groyne vs a seawall?). 

We need more nuanced ‘engagement’ strategies that are better suited to the outcome sought. In devising these, both sides of the table must be frank about realities like the level of civic education amongst the public (less impressive than our kids’ math scores) and what opportunity for improving a given decision outcome actually exists. 

If it is general opinion councils want, we need something more representative than submissions – polls of various kinds being the most obvious (including as part of webcasts), but also a matter of councillors behaving as politicians – i.e., keeping their ears to the ground, engaging systematically with their constituents, and then leading. 

If it is policy insight that’s needed, councils should double-down on identifying and tapping into relevant expertise, experience and capacities in the community, targeting on a case-by-case basis. This includes, but is more than standard ‘stakeholder’ engagement, which is often still a box-ticking exercise that reaches out to the same rote circle of voices. 

Our region should have a talent inventory of HB experts, ready to be tapped when their insights might be useful. The objective here is getting informed, independent intelligence, not Facebook ‘advice’. 

From its perspective, the public should expect: 1) total transparency; 2) trusted listeners; 3) timely decision-making. 

Transparency – all the facts, analyses and assumptions driving public decisions must be on the table in full view. Our councils have taken an important step by opening their ‘workshops’, where all pertinent information is on display as councillors and staff struggle to find their way. Transparency is critical to building civic knowledge, trust in decision-making and political permission to take action. Trust is more important than participation. 

Trusted listeners – this is a cultural challenge for our councils. From my experience as a councillor and editor, complaints about unresponsive or dismissive staff (and councillors) far outweigh praise that ‘they actually listened’. It is councillors and their chief executives who must drive a genuinely listening culture. Hastings-based Ask Your Team might have some useful advice on lifting councils’ listening quotient. 

Timely decision-making – this region faces urgent decisions about hugely important choices. Our elected officials need to take action in our best interest, sooner not later, and with courage. Assuming the transparency and trusted listeners just described, and more constructive forms of engagement, the rest of us need to let them get on with the job we selected them to do, while remaining vigilant. 

We elect, they lead. And if they drop the ball, we drop them at the ballot. That’s the bottom line of accountability. That’s what democracy is ultimately about, not weighing submissions by the pound. 

Sorry, I just couldn’t suppress this rant. 

Enjoy the magazine! 

Tom has been a two-term HB Regional Councillor. His past includes the Carter White House, building Ted Turner’s first philanthropic organisation, doing heaps of marketing consulting for major non-profits and corporates.