Increase conviction

Overview

To be genuinely inclusive and representative of the communities you support, your communication needs to be powered by the voices of those communities. 

Sometimes it isn’t easy. 

• Even when people are given an option to participate, it can be hard for individuals to believe that sharing their experiences will result in meaningful change. 
• You might run a very supportive organisation, but years of experiencing inequality can lead people to shy away from sharing their story. 
• They might be worried that they might become even more isolated, or that people might criticise or look down on them. 
• When done badly, interviews can leave people feeling vulnerable and people may feel their words have been misinterpreted or distorted when the story is published. 

Sadly this can lead to a loss of conviction – a loss of trust in the potential of community voice. 

Watch out for Tokenism – this is when it might seem like a community is being given a chance to speak but it is simply symbolic. Some examples might be: 

• Inviting just one person with dementia to join a panel on dementia care
• Asking a small group of young people to speak at an event around youth and disability, while the rest of the event is voiced and run by adults
• Celebrating your team diversity when there is only one black person within the staff

It can be tempting to go back to the same people again and again, especially if they are reliable and easy to engage with. However, this means that you don’t get to hear from a range of voices and experiences.

That can stop people from feeling like the organisation is the right place for them to feel safe and to speak up. 

What to ask

• Do participants trust you?
• Do they trust the process that you are asking them to go through? 
• Do they believe that sharing their story and views will result in meaningful change for them and their community? 

What to try

One of the best ways to build trust and conviction is through co-design –  to make sure that communities are involved right from the start.

• Ask them to help you design your campaign or communication activities so they can be a part of it from the beginning. 
• They can help to shape the messages you want to get across. 
• They will also bring a different perspective and spot risks and issues that you might have missed.
• It is a brilliant chance to create a shared mission and explore creative routes that your team might have missed.
• It allows you to hear which barriers are preventing a community from being heard.

Ensuring communities feel invited in at the very early stages of planning and design may help to ease concerns and help to surface new ideas. A sense of ownership or genuine engagement helps build trust and it can take time. 

The emphasis needs to be on listening and responding to a genuine problem rather than arriving with an idea or solution. 

What to explore

IDEO.org is a nonprofit design studio that designs products and services alongside organisations that are committed to creating a more just and inclusive world.

Check out their brilliant design kit for more ideas and models for community-centric design. 

We particularly love this idea around photo journaling to better understand someone’s daily life and thereby shape the design of a campaign or story around their experiences.