Last week I share ideas about the importance of intention as part of a readiness practice for engagement. One of the things that can trip up our intention to offer meaningful engagement is capacity. Having conversations about what needs to be done comes naturally and it is easy to get pretty far down a path without thinking about the things it will take to actually make it happen. This can lead to over or under committing, meaning we either end up doing so much we impact future expectations of our engagement or we do so little we end up with an ad hoc approach, piecemealing engagement together. Both have a time, resource and reputation cost.

In public engagement readiness, capacity is described as understanding available resources and assessing what can be produced and delivered effectively and efficiently. Below is a diagram that I use to guide capacity exploration for engagement along with some key questions to help dig deeper into the assessment.

Human and financial resources are foundational to assessing capacity however, it’s important to go beyond these traditional indicators to consider things like the structure that governs engagement work and supports decision-making. Some key questions to help assess resource and structure capacity include:

Who are the people and expertise we need in order to apply the desired engagement process and meet policy expectations?
What procedures and policies do we have in place to guide planning, implementation and reporting? What might be missing?
Who is setting the direction for this work, providing oversight and making decisions?
What other areas of the organization will be involved in the planning, implementation or reporting of the engagement (e.g., communications, procurement, legal)?
What tools and processes are in place to support communication about the engagement internally and externally? What might be missing?
What budget do we have or need to implement and sustain the engagement?
What are the things we have or need (e.g., technology, materials) to support implementation?

When considering knowledge and skills capacity, it’s important to think about the organization’s understanding of and experience with:

engagement practices including planning, communication, techniques, facilitation, event processes, reporting and evaluation;
organizing, coordinating, prioritizing, delegating, and making decisions about the engagement process;
the skills and techniques that will respect diversity, equity and inclusion in the engagement opportunity; and
making sense of input and using it to inform decisions and improvements;
the team attributes needed to support successful planning, implementation and reporting of the engagement.

Exploring the organization’s internal climate capacity includes consideration of:

how the engagement fits with the overall goals of the project;
staff and decision-maker perceptions of the value, importance and/or sustainability of the engagement effort;
how previous engagement activities might influence this effort;
how clear staff and the project team are with their roles and responsibilities related to the engagement; and
how will staff be kept informed of the engagement.

Assessing relationships and connections capacity is done through an internal and external lens. Questions to support understanding and knowledge of this element include:

Who else in our organization needs to be informed of or involved in this engagement work (e.g., senior leadership, Council, other departments)?
What external groups, agencies, levels of government or other entities, if any, need to or should be involved in and/or support the engagement? And how and when is it best to involve them?

Exploring capacity as part of a readiness practice can help an organization recognize its internal and external assets and use them to engage with the public in a meaningful way. I use this model to guide conversations that will help get the capacity conversation started. The questions aren’t exhaustive, but they offer a good starting point to identifying what exists, what is needed and any gaps. With that information, I’ve found organizations are able to put the right things in place at the right time to help them achieve their engagement goals and outcomes.

Resources: Canada’s Management Accountability Framework’ and US Department of Health and Human Services Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative

Engagement capacity - what do we have and what do we need?

Expectation Calibration

Intentional Engagement