Maintaining a Civil Conversation

Authentic Participation When Civic Discourse is Highly Polarized 

By Ken Snyder of PlaceMatters

The greater Chattanooga region has embarked upon an impressive effort to engage three states and 14 counties in a regional conversation about the future of the area. In November they invited the public to hear presentations from three consultant teams competing to provide technical and planning support for the overall process.

Over 350 people attended the session. During Q&A the meeting got confrontational at times. It was clear a fair number of residents had come to the event with concerns and questions about the project and to what extent there would be strings attached to Federal funds being pursued to support the initiative.

At the core of protests emerging across the country there is growing frustration, distrust, and anger, with large entities (whether government or corporate) benefiting some people at the expense of others, being ineffective in providing the services and/or benefits promised, and remaining unaccountable and non-transparent in their decision making.

This growing tension, while daunting at times, can also be a tremendous asset for pushing organizations and agencies to run a more engaged and transparent process. It is our experience that these groups have helped pressure agencies and planners to remove rhetoric and be more concise about policies and strategies and to provide clearer information on the quantifiable benefits of regional planning and coordination.

Here are some suggestions on how to keep public meetings more civil while working with diverse groups:

• Know what is being said locally about issues like sustainable development, smart growth, and Federal, State, and regional planning efforts. Find out if there are local nuances to arguments being made at the national level. Do not use this acquired information to argue with participants but rather to more fully understand their concerns to help ensure what they say is fairly incorporated into the collected of feedback.
• Reach out to both supporters and groups opposed to the process and invite to meet ahead of public meetings.
• Include a presentation of the overall process, how public feedback will be used, and anticipated outcomes/benefits.
• Make sure expectations are set accurately. Don’t mislead participants that they have more control over certain outcomes/implementation steps than they actually do. But clarify how their input can truly make a difference.
• Include a list of ground rules to the entire group but have each table review them and decide whether anything is missing.
• In cases where individuals are groups are being disruptive it helps to not only refer to the ground rules but to point out there are others who came to this meeting who have taken time out of their busy schedules to be here. Out of respect for everyone’s time stick to the agenda and the ground rules.

Use these tips to remain focused and maintain a respectful and safe place for participants even when there’s a lot of different perspectives and issues to consider. Share with us you own experiences and valuable lessons-learned working with diverse groups.

President and CEO of PlaceMatters, Ken Snyder is a nationally recognized expert on a broad range of techn­ical and non-technical tools for community design and decision-making.