• Before asking people to take part, you should collect as much information as you can about why and how their involvement might bring about change.
• Spend time thinking about this, and be clear about what impact their involvement will have, what you want to ask people and how this will influence your work. For example, are you seeking ideas, consulting about how something currently works, or asking people to make decisions or co-producing as equal partners? Is there scope for people with lived experience to lead this work?
• Be honest about what is and isn’t within their scope of influence, and tell people upfront that you may not be able to take on board everyone’s ideas.
• If you’re asking people to join a one-off focus group or discussion event, a group agreement lets everyone know where they stand and helps to create a safe space for openness and honesty. If you’re setting up a regular forum, make sure you have some terms of reference in place so that expectations are clear.

Tools

Annual Influence and partcipation planning

This tool can help you identify how people will take part in each stage of your work and ensure people can meaningfully influence your work at the earliest opportunity and beyond.

 

Creating a group agreement

If you’re asking people to join a one-off focus group or discussion event, a group agreement lets everyone know where they stand and helps to create a safe space for openness and honesty. If you’re setting up a regular forum, make sure you have some terms of reference in place so that expectations are clear.

 

Defining and refining

You can use this tool to quickly and robustly focus your team around the priority questions and methods that you will take into your influencing activity.

 

Thinking about your timeline

Use this tool to situate your influence and participation activities into the bigger picture of your work. This will help you run meaningful initiatives that have the maximum level of influence.

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