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Closing the 'feedback loop' and providing a report to both participants and decision-makers is key in an engagement process.
It allows decision-makers to:
- see who has participated in an engagement process
- understand the breadth of feedback and stakeholder opinion.
It allows participants to:
- receive a summary of the range of information received
- know how their feedback is being considered.
Providing feedback to participants can result in increased motivation to participate in future engagement processes and helps to:
- build trust and confidence in the engagement process
- provide transparency and accountability
- clarify whether community issues have been accurately understood
- improve relationships
- confirm whether the original engagement goals and objectives are being met
The concept of the feedback loop can be broken down into the 3 simple elements:
- We asked,
- You said,
- We did.
These are the basis for the engagement report which should include:
- a summary of the process (what you did)
- a summary of the findings (high level/common themes)
- we asked (key questions)
- you said (use graphs, images and verbatim comments)
- we did (a response to comments and feedback is being used)
- next stages of your project (how to stay involved/informed, contact details)
Use the Better Together Reporting Template (DOC, 130KB) to help you get started. Adapt and modify the template as required for your project.