Undertaking Public Facilitation
Planning for Successful Community Development Projects
Any corporate or public manager interested in advancing a major infrastructure or public policy project is well served by planning an open public facilitation process.
There are several components of a successful effort to plan for community development that engages the public and makes an effort to capture public sentiment or support for a project. Elements include project identification, initial planning, logistics, goal setting, community analysis, development of action plans, implementation, and program evaluation.
The process of community facilitation requires an experienced moderator. A group of moderators can be used to good effect. The moderator should be a person respected within the community and be perceived as being free of bias.
Preplanning - Each part of the facilitation program must have a specific person assigned and responsible for it. Planning should occur well in advance and consider all segments that need to be covered for the project. The facilitator or facilitation group needs to be flexible in the assignment of participants to the process. It may be desirable to break the participants into small groups that consider all parts of the process or establish task forces that focus on more specialized areas of concern.
Meeting Logistics - Make an effort to involve and invite a diverse representation of the community. The most effective process involves a coalition of community groups. Individual groups or governmental entities may have their own biases. Groups that could be included in the facilitation process are labor unions, government employees, elected officials, business professionals and visitor groups. Advertising for the process should begin at least month prior and be advertised more twice.
Materials and Equipment - Provide newsprint pads, markers, tape, pens/pencils and legal pads for participants. Audio/visual equipment like video cassette players or computer projectors should be used and practiced with prior to the first meeting.
Visioning - The initial facilitation meeting is to determine the participants’ vision for the future. It might be a good idea to consider a discussion of change and the potential negative and positive impacts of change. The visioning exercise will explore what people consider special about their community, what they foresee in the future and the place of the project in that future. A presentation should be prepared to explain the desired projected and provide a broad outline of the project boundaries.
The visioning exercise is meant provide the participants which a framework of what the community expects of the project, what they hold valuable and their expectations for the future of the community.
Goal Setting - The next meeting of the participant group will look at the goals desired of the project. Project planners should take a second opportunity to explain the project to the group. The planning committee should tailor two to three questions that ask the group what they see as the ultimate goals of the project are. The project scope and information developed in the visioning exercise will shape this discussion.
Community Inventory - This section may be combined with initial goal setting if the project does not present a great number of diverse issues. The purpose of this effort is to identify the weaknesses or barriers and strengths or assets that will impact successful completion of the project.
The issues surrounding weaknesses or barriers to success have the potential of becoming negative and unproductive. Frame the exercise in a positive manner and watch for personal attacks or potential hard feelings. The activity’s question should be something like “What will prevent you from reaching the goals of this project?” The moderator may have to break this effort up to address multiple goals.
Any corporate or public manager interested in advancing a major infrastructure or public policy project is well served by planning an open public facilitation process. Community interaction and support will greatly smooth the way for successful completion of an organization's undertaking.
