Dialogue… conversation… chat…. it’s the same thing (described with different degrees of formality).  Taking part in it can be a way of: of influencing people; and finding out about different people’s views of the neighbourhood and their knowledge of it.  Comparing conversation with consultation (which is an alternative way of finding out what people think):

• a conversation – should be relatively easy to join in with; is informal and cheap; people talk about what matters to them; it carries on smoothly from time to time; tends to reflect ‘life round here’; and though you don’t need to be absolutely sure where you’re going when you start a conversation, it can easily lead to the people involved deciding to take some (joint) action

• a consultation – joining in takes an effort; there are set forms and it can be expensive to run (especially in collating replies); people talk about what you think matters to them (or what matters to you); there is an abrupt start and end; it tends to be about alternatives you have decided on (and even if you haven’t, the people you are consulting will probably imagine you have); and it can be based on the expectation that you will go away after it’s over and solve local problems on everyone else’s behalf.

The differences in the two processes are often reflected in what you hear; and who you hear it from, so:

• a conversation may attract a wider range of people who are more likely to give you interesting insights and bits of information you haven’t heard before
• a consultation may attract a narrower range of relatively highly-motivated ‘insiders’ who are more likely to tell you the same stuff you’ve already heard.

Of course, the distinction between conversation and consultation doesn’t always have to be so clear-cut.  You can, for example, replace closed-ended questions with more open-ended ones, or allow space for some ‘semi-structured’ interviewing.  (That is where the person being interviewed can influence the direction the survey interview takes; the interviewer can ask different questions in response to what the person they are talking to says.)

Sometimes we imagine local leaders need to be ‘like the Council’ in the way they listen to people. As if formal consultation is the only ‘fair’ way of taking heed of folks. In fact, rather than being more like the Council, the future Council almost certainly needs to be more like local leaders.  That is: able to have lots of informal conversation. Until they manages that level of informative informality, councils rely on frontline councillors and other local leaders to make sure whatever it does is grounded in the reality of people’s lives and neighbourhoods.

 

Outsiders?

It’s great to hear from people you already know; good to build a relationship and, over time and as trust develops, to speak, and listen, with greater honesty. It can be even better, however, to hear from someone you aren’t used to hearing from?  Outsiders’ views are valuable because they know things about neighbourhood life (opportunities as well as problems), that you might not?

 

Now, you may want to take a look at…

3 Steps to Power – an idea about listening to ‘outsiders’

When and where community dialogue takes place

A reminder of why conversation matters

The overview of this section on community dialogue

How to have a good conversation

OR – follow the menu on the right to have a look at other parts of the guide.