FLEXIBLE CONSULTATION AND ENGAGEMENT SUPPORT
Why might you need this service?
Consultation or engagement is required, but the shape, timing or scale of support is still emerging. Flexible support with consultation and engagement is particularly useful when priorities are changing, capacity is limited, or when consultation is controversial or time sensitive.
How can we support you?
Scroll down to see some of the ways we can support
Who is this for?
This service is for policy leads, central teams, programme managers and engagement professionals across public and private organisations who need to develop trust in a variety of ways. This flexible support that can adapt to changing organisational needs and real world pressures.
Not sure what you need but you know you will need support?
These are the kinds of things our partners come to the Centre for Consultation for when they need flexible consultation and engagement support:
Reviews, stocktakes and strategy support
- Reviewing existing consultation, engagement and coproduction practice
- Carrying out organisational stocktakes or diagnostic reviews
- Supporting development or refresh of consultation strategies
- Gathering insight through interviews, workshops or staff engagement to help develop internal frameworks and strategies
- Supporting you to develop options for consultation
Rapid advice and guidance
- Providing quick specialist advice on emerging issues or risks
- Helping interpret consultation responses or anomalies in data
- Advising on controversial or sensitive consultation activity
- Supporting teams to decide next steps when things are unclear.
Independent facilitation and consultation
- Facilitating staff workshops, public meetings or stakeholder sessions
- Chairing advisory groups, panels or working groups
- Creating safe, neutral spaces where power dynamics need careful handling
- Supporting engagement online, in person or through blended approaches
- Training teams in consultation methods and good practice
- Providing practical tools and templates teams can reuse
Extra Capacity When It Is Needed
- Providing an additional pair of hands for defined pieces of work which could cover everything from artificial intelligence and data issues to writing a consultation plan, to designing and embedding deliberation in a programme
- Supporting delivery where recruitment or procurement would be slow.