Participation, Involvement or Consultation?
Is there a difference between 'consultation', 'participation' and 'involvement'?
Although 'consultation', 'participation' or 'involvement' are different ways of engaging with people they are fundamentally different processes,
- Consultation finds out what people think about an idea or plan. Focus groups, meetings, questionnaires and interviews are all common consultation techniques.
- Participation is about including people in decision-making processes. Often it is about making a single choice or developing an idea. Common participation techniques include citizen juries, on-line forums or community conferences
- An involvement process is working with people to change an organisation or to develop a new way of working. It shares many of the features of participation processes but it is usually more involved and takes place over a longer period of time. It is often used when an organisation needs to change the way it does something. The key to involvement is that the people being involved become active stakeholders with ownership of the eventual outcome. Stakeholder juries, management committees and strategic advisory groups are all common involvement techniques.
It is also worth remembering that these terms have a legal meaning. For example, local authorities have a legal duty to consult with interested parties as part of their planning process but public authorities must involve disabled people as part of their specific disability equality duties.
However you decide you need to engage people it is always important to be honest and open. Make sure everyone involved knows
- What you want to achieve and how you are going to go about it.
- What they can change, what they can have a say about, and what they can't affect.
For more ideas have a look at the Related Links on this page. We have included some examples from around the work looking at how different organisations manage their engagement processes.
Page updated: 31/03/2008
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