Applying Agile Principles to Community Engagement
In an earlier blog we discussed how the success of agile principles in business can easily be translated to the local government process of community engagement. In the blog, Agile Community Engagement, we presented the list of agile principles applied to how local governments and residents can “move” quickly and easily through the public participation process.
Moving forward, we want to take a closer look at some practical ways local governments can implement the individual agile principles in their community engagement efforts, starting first with “valuing people over process.”
Valuing People and Interactions Over Processes and Tools
Applying an agile methodology to the community engagement process under the principle of valuing people and interactions over processes and tools, means that the primary drivers of change are the individuals most likely impacted by local decision making.
Whether it be a group of businesses impacted by zoning changes or a population sharing the same zip code, prioritizing people over process increases community engagement effectiveness and paves the way towards a mutual understanding between government and the community. Although, this understanding is reliant on receiving the shared perceptions and experiences of impacted stakeholders and the commitment of government to address opportunities and barriers discovered during the process.
Practical Ways Local Governments Can Value People Over Process
More effective community engagement is better released when barriers are lowered and the strategies prioritize the convenience of the participant over the process or tool. Prioritizing in this way helps to combat against unexpected challenges that work to misalign community values from plans for the future.
There are many ways local governments can build in the value of “people over process.”
Language Accessibility Example
Consider the process of offering language accessibility to the public. Typically, a consideration of a Limited English Proficiency Plan or other language accessibility plan, accessing translation and interpretation support may be buried beneath a series of bureaucratic process roadblocks. It is likely no surprise that well meaning processes can have the unintended consequence of creating barriers for community members. Below we contrast how a typical process compares to alternatives that support a “people over process” approach.
How the Typical Approach Falls Short of the Agile Approach
The following example offers instruction to community members about how to request language interpretation during a public meeting. This fairly typical approach prioritizes internal process efficiency, not the timely needs of the community member.
The City of Acme contracts only certified interpreters, all interpreter requests for public meetings must be sent in writing to the Equity & Inclusion Office at [email protected]. All requests must be submitted on the Language Request Excel Spread Sheet with the following information:
Name, home or cell phone number, date of the meeting, and language requested.
Requests should be placed at least one week in advance for Korean, Spanish, and Chinese languages in order to guarantee timely service. For all other languages, the office requires at least two weeks advance notice.
In the above example you will see the following barriers and issues associated with prioritizing process over people:
Convenient Solutions that Prioritize Process
Establishing a convenient and custom email address that all written requests come to may seem like an easy way for the public to request language support without a lot of hassle. This also serves an internal efficiency and capacity function that provides an easy way to manage and track the processing and timely response of incoming requests.
The problem? The assumption that email is a practical and/or available option for everyone creates inherent limitations to the public.
Requirements that Prioritize Process
Requiring written submissions within standardized formats (forms/sheets) supports process and internal efficiency by addressing two needs; (1) offering a method for the public to request support and (2) naturally creates internal efficiencies by doubling as a tracker/reporting tool with very little effort outside of set up.
The problem? Shifting the workload burden to the public through requirements creates yet another set of barriers for the person to contend with.
People Over Process Approach
When it comes to language accessibility, PublicInput offers a variety of community engagement solutions that support the value of people over process approach.
PublicInput provides multilingual closed captioning for public meetings –the only solution of its kind on the market– that eliminates the need for a language request process entirely. This means, no more:
- Processing accommodation requests
- Downloading and installing apps
- Scheduling interpreters or additional staff
- Restrictive subscriber requirements to access captioning options
- Worry (run your live stream meeting and let the technology do the hard stuff)
An effective language assistance strategy can quickly become a complicated, time-consuming, and expensive undertaking especially for live-stream meetings. Built specifically to address the limitations inherent in platforms like Youtube, Zoom, and Webex; the PublicInput Multilingual Closed Captioning feature provides unmatched solutions to many of the common restrictions including:
- Automatically supports over 108 languages
- Does not require a live interpreter to transcribe
- No per meeting set up delays or special licensing fees required
- No lag during the live meeting to support captioning
- No separate streams required for multiple language support
We understand, not every language request is associated with public meeting support, that is why every PublicInput project page provides a self service language translation function for the view using dozens for languages. Conducting online surveys, language-specific text surveys, and custom language links for simple information distribution is all controllable from the PublicInput admin dashboard.
Free Tactical Community Engagement Consultation
Language access is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to supporting people over process. Have a community engagement challenge and need more options? Chat with an expert about how PublicInput can help increase your strategic community engagement agility today. Request a free Tactical Engagement Consult!
