We developed and use SALT as a platform for building engagement and participation in a grassroots context. The premise is simple – invest in local leaders and help them see their ability to make change with what they have. When community institutions come alongside them – helping them implement local leaders’ priorities – real change can happen.
We believe other platforms for engagement can also build sustained engagement and trust. We believe adopting a trust-building measurement frame that “rolls” on top of any of these platforms, can help organizations that value the community perspective bring about change. We illustrate that below.
These platforms for engagement that can be used to build trust include Human Centered Design inspired processes that can build empathy for collective vision about priorities important to those served. Human Centered Design does this by engaging those served for increased participation and their ability to act upon what is important to them. Similarly, Appreciative Inquiry approaches can achieve these same goals by engaging perspectives that, in the words of its founders, “‘see’ the wholeness of the human system and…’inquire’ into that system’s strengths, possibilities, and successes. ” (Stavros, Jacqueline, Godwin, Lindsey, & Cooperrider, David. (2015). Appreciative Inquiry: Organization Development and the Strengths Revolution. In Practicing Organization Development: A guide to leading change and transformation (4th Edition), William Rothwell, Roland Sullivan, and Jacqueline Stavros (Eds). Wiley).
Some excellent examples of participation and engagement tools are available at Stanford Bootleg Bootcamp. Another great source is Liberating Structures. The authors have developed creative processes to engage stakeholders and have developed a free app with a wide range of tools. Appreciative inquiry practitioners also propose asset-based tools here that engage stakeholders in frameworks for change, such as the Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations and Results (SOAR) framework for strategic planning. In a spiritual, Evangelical context, organizations such as CCBT similarly value Socratic, asset based collective visioning methods such as the WISDOM process to discuss Biblically-informed problem solving.