From the Board December with Kate Henderson

Over 15 years ago, I took up a position in the Victorian State Government as a ‘Community Engagement Facilitator’. I remember having to look up the term and make sure I knew what it meant before attending the interview. Once in the role, there was only a handful of people with similar job descriptions across the public sector. At that time, it felt a fairly lonely profession. We were the colleagues who emphasised values, ethics, process, participation and collaborative decision making. Sometimes doors opened for us, other times we were locked out.

We all struggled to explain what we did and why we did it. Very few people had heard of the term and so it took quite some time and a patient ear to explain it. There was no simple ‘elevator pitch’. Eventually I started to explain to my colleagues that they were the ‘content’ experts, and my job is to think through and facilitate the ‘process’. This seemed to make sense to my colleagues who slowly realised I was never suggesting undervaluing their ‘content knowledge’. Even back then, the IAP2 Public Participation Spectrum resonated with these colleagues, it was the one hook we had and we used it regularly.

In 2018, it is a completely different environment. There is less need to convince decision makers that sharing dilemmas and/or power will lead to better decisions. Now organisations have developed their own standards, policies, guidelines and toolkits to guide the practice. Jobs flood the market.

Interestingly, I see an increasing number of roles being offered that ask for the candidate to demonstrate skills, experience and qualifications in both ‘content’ and ‘process’. I know of an engineer who have been stood out from their peers because they completed the IAP2 Certificate in Engagement.

Now, when I attend events, I’m thrilled to meet people from all professional backgrounds from Australia and New Zealand who are passionate about the engagement space. Some have been in the field for over 2 decades while others have just discovered it but already know they have found their professional home.

IAP2A has been working incredibly hard to offer a professional pathway for all professionals and I’m particularly excited by our current Strategic Plan’s focus on the tertiary sector. This has been an untapped area for too long. If we can continue to offer industry training as well as tertiary courses we will continue to reinforce engagement skills and knowledge as a core competency for all regardless of the sector. It will be a big achievement for our industry if school leavers know being an engagement professional is an option and have a clear learning pathway to get there.

Other areas where members have been and will continue to support each other have been through networking events, webinars, young professionals network, conference sessions, mentoring and research (the latter two emerging from our ‘Pitch for the Practice’ program).

From my perspective 2018, has felt like a year where we laid some pivotal foundations for the continued growth of the sector. 2019 looks set to be an incredibly exciting time where these foundations will start to bear fruit.