You need excellent and innovative community engagement practice but the consultants and staff training are too expensive and take too long!

Imagine if your own staff became both effective in and inspired about community engagement after an affordable and customised training course.

Evolve’s community engagement training, delivered by internationally recognised engagement experts, is different. To find out why and about Evolve’s Engaged Community Model, watch this presentation (6 mins).

As busy and cash strapped organisations aim to meet the needs of their constituents by providing meaningful public engagement opportunities, they face many challenges. These can include any of the following:

• A generally poor reputation for working with the public 
• Inconsistent delivery of community engagement processes
• Lack of in-house community engagement skills
• Limited budgets for staff training
• Limited budgets for consultants
• Complex issues
• The need for immediate and enduring improvements in community engagement

The EVOLVE team has the expertise, drive and experience to help deliver practical high quality engagement solutions that are tailored to meet the needs of your clients and constituents.

We can help you to GAIN

• A positive reputation for working with the public 
• Consistently deliver top quality community engagement processes
• Valuable in-house community engagement skills
• The best value for your community engagement investment
• A reputation for excellence when dealing with complex issues
• Immediate and enduring improvements in community engagement

We feel passionate about the importance of developing practical and effective community engagement skills.

Evolve offers a unique and powerful solution and ‘fit’ to your requirements for the following reasons. Evolve is the only community engagement training provider in Australia where:
- Training is delivered by an internationally recognised community engagement practitioner/facilitator (Carla Rogers) and by a PhD scholar in public participation (Dr Ann Murphy) with a wide range of international experiences in the practical development and application of community engagement programs, with connections and ongoing working relationships with leading practitioners and authors in the field;

• The trainer models community engagement practice throughout the course and has participants evaluate this practice (called ‘facilitator watch’);
  
• Training is customised in each instance to both your organisation and participant
  requirements and also modified according to participant feedback as we go;
  
• Participants consistently rate the training as excellent and exceeding expectations;
  
• Unique services are added to ensure development and practice of skills including a
  follow up coaching and mentoring session, and access to Evolve’s Leading
  Lights Program and Virtual Workshop series; and
  
• Where the facilitators/trainers have extensive experience and expertise in community engagement programs for natural resource management, land use and infrastructure projects.

At Evolve we have a proven track record in developing and delivering effective community engagement training.


How does it work?

The following is the training approach that will be customised:

1. The WHY of community engagement (benefits of getting it right)
2. The WHO of community engagement (who needs to be involved?)
3. The HOW (What, Where and When): What is the appropriate level of community engagement? Choosing the right approach for the circumstance including online strategies
4. LIVE! 'Tips for the Event' and
5. ACTION and the on-going relationship (How do you know if your program is successful?)

Follow on Group Coaching Session (1 hour)

A scheduled group coaching session is an integral part of our training, possibly via telephone link up or face to face, 1 month after training to evaluate application and practice. The training program, while bedded in best practice community engagement and facilitation, will be unique and is not an ‘off the shelf’ product. We model best practice principles by ensuring that we have a clear and thorough understanding of your needs and then collaborating with appropriate staff to design a solution that will meet these needs.

Want to know more?
Here is what you can do:

• Watch an audio and visual presentation about the training and the Evolve Engaged Community Model Here
  
• Download a complementary copy of ‘Community Engagement – The Limitations'
  

Ready to explore community Engagement Training with Evolve?
To develop customised training, please contact us

 

 

Steven Picton, Social Planner
Eurobodalla Shire Council
I was keen to explore new methods of consultation and ways of engaging with people through the Evolve training. I emerged from the training feeling enlightened and confident to plan and facilitate a range of opportunities. I have used my new found skills to facilitate a number of potentially difficult sessions. I went into these sessions confidently and emerged with excellent results.

Tracey Rich
Eurobodalla Shire Council
I entered into the Evolve training a little tense given that I had helped to initiate it within the organisation and was really keen for it to meet the mark for both me and all of the staff attending.  The training was great.  It provided a hub for staff from every division in the organisation to come together to learn about working with the community in a more positive and proactive way.  After the training I felt optimistic that the attitudes of many staff towards effective engagement of the community had been changed and were more positive.  It felt like we were all in a bit of a buzz about doing this stuff really well. The techniques taught were since applied and contributed to an effective and relatively pain free engagement process in an area which can be fairly contentious and fraught.

Mirella Digenua, Sydney
“Evolve’s training is the best of what you get out there. It is a great way to experience facilitation and is truly customised to the client’s needs. Carla especially brings a wealth of experience to the sessions. At the completion of Evolve’s 2 day community engagement/facilitation training I felt smarter, more informed and confident. I left with knowledge about facilitation techniques, skills in these and many alternatives to how I have previously approached meetings. If someone were considering working with Evolve, I would confidently recommend “do it!”

Karen Wlasichike, GHD, Sydney, Australia
“I came into the training with no skill sets related to facilitation and following the 2 days I now feel that I have the tools to be confident in facilitating a meeting. Overall I feel more confident and prepared to facilitate. The training was well run and organised, highlighting relevant and helpful aspects of a wide reaching topic. Carla was an excellent facilitator trainer and I would definitely both recommend Evolve to others and undertake further training with them”.

Rosemary Turner, GHD Sydney
“Overall, the facilitation training with Evolve helped me feel more aware and ready for challenging meetings characterised by diverse views and controversy. Specifically, it reinforced for me the importance of designing your questions and I will now approach this in a more robust and effective way. I found Carla warm, encouraging and professional – she knew her stuff! This is a great training experience, the atmosphere and time for learning is wonderful”.

Rebecca Monckton, Sydney
“I found the Facilitation Course with Evolve worthwhile and that Evolve was especially good at catering for our specific training needs. I learnt excellent group management techniques – how to deal with conflict, guide discussions and obtain the information that you need. I enjoyed that Carla had actual facilitation experience (not just a trainer) as it made the training more applicable and relevant to me”.

Susan Christie, Eurobodalla Shire Council.
“I loved the Evolve Community Engagement Training. I learnt that investment in research and strategy is crucial and clarity on what is and isn’t negotiable vital. The interactivity kept interest high and maximised learning".

Sally Pryor, Eurobodalla Shire Council
"I completed the course feeling confident about community engagement – especially learning that there are a variety of roles to play and that facilitating is only one of them. The course was realistic, hands on, practical, exceptionally professional and provided terrific opportunity for networking and team development".