How to use citizens’ assemblies to benefit your organization and society

As a leadership consultant, I am often keen to break down the false ‘wall’ that denotes an ‘inside’ and an ‘outside’ to an organisation. In my role as a facilitator of strategic and ‘troubleshooting’ dialogue, I have time and again used and seen the benefit of ‘external voices’ used in different ways to create powerful insights and calls for action. In pursuit of this, I developed a number of techniques that essentially were aimed at bringing the voice of the ‘outside’ to the heart of the organisation. I see the current enthusiasm for citizens’ assemblies as another way of involving a group of ordinary people in making decisions on a specific issue such as environmental challenges and social policy as having a potential extension into the corporate world.

With a citizen’s assembly, participants are randomly selected to reflect the diversity of the population. They are given information and guidance from experts and stakeholders, and they discuss and weigh the pros and cons of different options. They then produce a report with their recommendations, which can be used to inform policy or action.

Potentially citizens’ assemblies could help your organization benefit itself and society by engaging your employees, customers, partners, and communities in shaping your vision, values, policies, and practices. This could help you to:

• Improve your social responsibility, reputation, and trust by showing that you care about the views and needs of your people. Citizens’ assemblies could increase the legitimacy and acceptance of your decisions by demonstrating that they are based on the informed and deliberative input of a representative sample of your stakeholders. They could also enhance your social license to operate by showing that you are willing to listen to and learn from diverse perspectives and experiences.

• Foster innovation, creativity, and problem-solving by tapping into the collective wisdom and experience of your participants. Citizens’ assemblies could generate new ideas, insights, and solutions that you might not have considered or discovered otherwise. They could also help you identify and address the potential risks, opportunities, and trade-offs of different options. They could stimulate your organizational learning and adaptation by exposing you to new information, feedback, and evaluation.

  Enhance your decision-making, accountability, and transparency by incorporating evidence, feedback, and evaluation into your processes. Citizens’ assemblies could provide you with reliable and relevant data and analysis that can inform your choices and actions. They could also help you monitor and measure the impact and outcomes of your decisions by providing you with clear and concrete recommendations and indicators.

  They could improve your communication and engagement with your stakeholders by providing a platform to explain and justify your decisions and actions.

The form of these will vary and be adapted to suit organisations and local requirements. They could be face-to-face or online or a mixture of both. Some examples of corporate organizations that have used an idea like citizens’ assemblies or something similar are:

• IKEA, has used Co-Create IKEA to involve its people in designing and improving its products and services.

• Patagonia, has used Action Works to connect its people with environmental organizations that are working to protect the planet.

These organizations have demonstrated how public participation can help them become more democratic, inclusive, and responsive to the challenges and opportunities they face.

If you are interested in learning more about citizens’ assemblies and how similar ideas can work for you  - do get in touch.