Consultation Approaches

What is a consultation approach?

As outlined on the "What is consultation?" page, consultation may be formal or informal, and there are may ways to approach it. However, having a clear approach is important, as it outlines how you will engage with your local community to understand needs, strengths, priorities, and opportunities before and during program delivery. It provides a clear and intentional process for gathering input from the people and groups your program is designed to support, including students, families, schools, community organisations, employers, and other stakeholders. This ensures you aren't consulting for the sake of it. 

A planned consultation process helps ensure programs are:

• grounded in local context and community voice

• responsive to changing needs and priorities

• strengths-based rather than deficit-focused

• shaped collaboratively rather than imposed externally

• more likely to build trust, engagement, and long-term sustainability

Importantly, consultation should not be viewed as a one-off activity completed at the beginning of a project. Strong community-led programs continue engaging with stakeholders throughout delivery, using feedback and relationships to refine activities and support continuous improvement. 

A good consultation plan encourages this iteration. There are many ways to d this, but often using a specific model can guide your approach. The Study Hubs In Place (SHIP) Partnership uses the Appreciative Inquiry model which is outlined below. However, there are many models and more are linked at the bottom of the page.

What is Apprecative Inquiry? 

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a strengths-based approach to inquiry and change that focuses on what works well in a system. When we are looking to come up with a solution, it can be easy to dwell on the problems and complaints that exist. Instead, AI seeks out successes, capabilities, values and positive experiences to build a collective vision for the future.  

In community consultation, AI is a guided process that helps individuals and communities co-create a shared understanding of their strengths and aspirations and then design actions that build on those strengths. 

AI helps to develop:

• A strong sense of rapport amongst partners, participants, and the wider community  

• A chance for external partners to more deeply understand the community  

• A clear view of the future the whole community is working towards  

• A set vision, outcomes, or other desired dream for the community  

Why use AI?

• Provide genuine opportunities for input and ongoing feedback from community members.  

• Get a strong, evidence-based understanding of community sentiment and needs.  

• Ensure community support before starting to design or run an activity.  

• Encourage accountability from all stakeholders including the Hub, local schools, politicians, community members, etc.  

• Capture community perspectives early, providing a useful point of comparison for future learning and evaluation.

How AI unfolds

The iterative nature of AI is clear from the diagram above. How these stages are practically run may differ context to context. 

In some Hub contexts, there will be time to work through each of the 5 stages over multiple sessions. In other situations, your consultation period may be shorter, in which case you can move through all 5 steps in a single session (of a few hours to a full day).

On the Planning Resources page, there is a recorded webinar that steps you through what Appreciative Inquiry might look like in a hub context, and helps you create a plan for your own AI. 

You can also learn more about Appreciative Inquiry with this easy to understand, peer-reviewed overview.

Other consultation approaches

Depending on your context, you may want to choose a different approach, or blend some approaches together. Two alternative options are listed below.