Engaging people is something we all do every day, whether it’s a simple interaction like paying a bus fare so the driver will take us where we want to go, agreeing what we’re going to cook for tea or, at the other extreme, negotiating investment in a project we are passionate about. However, in all of these situations we are interacting with individuals. In my experience, whether I am working with an administration team, a government department, a senior academic or the chief executive of an energy company, it is those interactions that make all the difference to how successful we are.
Take the example of the bus driver – a very short, seemingly inconsequential transactional interaction, and yet if it’s a good one how much more likely are we to take the bus the next time we are choosing how to travel?
…discussing stakeholder maps, engagement strategies and theories of change… comes to nothing if we don’t recognise that any engagement will ultimately come down to a relationship with an individual.
Engagement strategies
The focus of all my work is engaging with people seeking solutions to climate change. Possibly the most important word in that last sentence is ‘engaging’. It doesn’t matter what technical solutions we come up with, none of those will be possible unless individuals make the decision to take them forward, be that as simple as making the choice to catch an electric bus to work, or the slightly more complex policy choices of a senior government cabinet member.
Those of us working on the solutions need to understand where those decisions are being made, who’s making them, and what their concerns and needs are, if we are to offer them solutions that are really going to make a difference. We only get to understand those things by talking to them and asking questions.
The importance of relationships
It is too easy to get drawn into discussing stakeholder maps, engagement strategies and theories of change. These are important tools which I use all the time, but all of that planning comes to nothing if we don’t recognise that any engagement will ultimately come down to a relationship with an individual. Any organisation we add to the list of ‘actors’ we wish to engage with through a project will require an interaction with an individual or possibly multiple individuals within that organisation.
Some of those interactions will be very brief and transactional, like a presentation at a conference or paying for a bus fare; some will involve a deeper interaction – a more profound conversation in which we learn things from the individual about the impact that our work is having on them. In other cases, we will put effort into building and maintaining a much longer-lasting relationship that delivers mutual benefits – relationships that can only flourish if we seek to understand the context the other person is operating in and their needs and concerns.
The last of these options take time, effort and resources. The skill is understanding when and where a deep relationship is going to be more beneficial than a brief transactional engagement …and recognising that you won’t always get it right, and what to do about it when you don’t.
