Engage and Sustain Relationships (Practising)

70% on-the-job learning

• Complete stakeholder maps for projects to identify which government agencies and stakeholders have an interest, the nature of that interest, and their likely level of influence.
• Apply your knowledge of the IAP2 Public Participation Spectrum by the International Association for Public Participation to identify which approaches to public participation and which related engagement tools are most appropriate for the projects you’re involved in.
• Develop your knowledge and experience in the different types of methods for engaging with stakeholders (e.g. consultation documents, meetings, co-design partnerships).
• Invest time in developing good networks and relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Enable effective collaboration with stakeholders by identifying mutual interests in policy projects you are working on.
• Apply the six community engagement resources in the Policy Methods Toolbox when designing community engagement on a policy project.
• Apply guidance on collaboration and engagement with local government – see Guide for central government engagement with local government.
• Learn about participatory approaches to design, develop, test and implement projects that involve users directly.
• Apply the Māori Crown Relations Engagement Framework and Guidelines.
• Apply tools that will help you engage with diverse groups and communities (e.g. Ministry for Pacific People’s Pacific Policy Analysis Tool Kapasa,Ministry of Social Development’s Child Impact Assessment Tool). 
• Independently scope and plan an engagement strategy with the public or specific stakeholder groups that articulates who to engage with and why, the related goals, and decision rights.
• Develop discussion documents and other forms of engagement material within your agency’s established frameworks and processes.
• Organise engagement meetings, so their objectives are appropriately communicated, they are well managed, and desired outcomes are achieved.
• Ensure the appropriate tikanga is observed in preparing for, hosting, and attending meetings with iwi and Māori groups.
• Be able to open and close meetings appropriately, introduce yourself and others in te reo Māori, pronounce Māori words correctly and perform karakia and waiata when appropriate.
• Predict how different stakeholders may behave and respond to policy positions and proposals.
• Learn to discuss your subject matter in a way that creates an open and empathetic discussion.
• Develop a narrative and message that all stakeholders involved in the project share and jointly own.
• Work across boundaries to identify new contacts and partners in the public sector.
• Review guidance for running online engagement processes – see the Engagement page by digital.govt.nz.
• Regularly refer back to the identified user needs and assess your work to see if needs are being met.
• Ensure sufficient time is devoted to conducting user research.
• Participate in user research and testing, interviews and workshops.
• Use a variety of methods to record and display the results of user research (images, written notes from users, videos).
• Review the Māori Crown Relations Individual Capability framework competencies on Engagement with Māori and make a plan for developing your engagement skills.

20% learning from others 

• Outline your proposed public and/or stakeholder engagement approaches to colleagues, and seek suggestions on how to approach difficult situations.
• Seek feedback or coaching from colleagues on your conduct at stakeholder or public meetings and your communication style with stakeholders.
• With your manager, attend meetings where the discussions with stakeholders are challenging, and debrief afterwards on how they handled this.
• Pursue opportunities to network across the sector, including attending conferences and other events run by stakeholder groups in your sector.
• Talk with your manager about opportunities to be involved in participatory approaches to design, develop, test and implement projects that involve consumers directly.

10% formal learning

• Take a stakeholder engagement course. For example:
  • Extend Your Influence by Hartwick Associates
  • Public sector: Engaging Effectively With Your Stakeholders by Wellington Uni Professional
  • Public sector: Collaborating and Influencing Key Stakeholders by Sue Hornblow.
• Take training in negotiation skills and conflict resolution, and/or influencing others.
• Take facilitation training.
• Take a course on building collaborative networks, inclusive community engagement design, or approaches to engaging to develop collectively agreed solutions (e.g. Engagement Design and Conflict in Engagement by International Association for Public Participation).
• Take tikanga and te reo Māori training.
• Take the Ministry for Ethnic Communities’ Intercultural Capability E-learning modules on communicating with people from different backgrounds.