Strategy

We help you to make better decisions by thinking strategically about the role of dialogue, engagement and research in your organisation.

Photograph © Andrew Dunn

We will work with you to develop the approach that best suits your wider business objectives. This means that you run the projects you need to, when you need to and that you make the most of the results.

Deliberate Thinking will work with you to develop a strategic approach to engagement, and develop engagement strategies that are integrated with your business plan and longer term organisational objectives.  (We will also tell you if we don’t think our services are the right way to tackle the challenges you are facing.)

Delivery

We design and deliver tailored approaches to engaging the right people, at the right time, for the right budget, to give you insight into what matters to them.

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Dialogue & Engagement

Good engagement means open listening, knowing how the results will influence your policy or actions and knowing why you’re engaging with any particular group of people in the first place.  We know how to design and deliver large and small dialogue and engagement projects, involving stakeholders, publics, service users and employees.  We specialise in creative approaches to engaging on complex technical topics that raise thorny social and ethical questions.

Our dialogue and engagement services include:

• Setting clear objectives for your project: we will work with you to make sure your objectives are realistic, and that everyone involved shares the same understanding of what they mean in practice
• Recruiting people to take part: we will develop an approach to recruiting participants according to the particular group of people you are targeting. We will also advise on the use and type of incentives to encourage participation
• Designing a process: we can create plans for two-hour workshops, day-long dialogues or three-day citizen juries and will advise on the approach that will best help you achieve your objectives
• Facilitation: we are experienced and expert facilitators who can turn a paper process into an engaging and dynamic event
• Analysis and reporting: these provide your only lasting access to the process and findings from your project: detailed and robust analysis and creative and lucid reporting are crucial
• Project review: taking time to reflect on what you have learned and what it means for your organisation means you get the most from your project and can help you to develop capacity within your organisation to take on more yourself, next time.

Research & Evaluation

Qualitative research allows you to explore not only what people think, but why. What values, beliefs or assumptions inform their behaviour and attitudes and how deeply held are they?  Deliberate Thinking uses creative and robust approaches to design, recruitment, implementation and reporting and will work with you to understand what the research findings mean for your organisation.

Our research and evaluation services include:

• Primary qualitative research including focus groups, telephone and face-to-face interviews
• Independent evaluation of dialogue, engagement and consultation projects
• Secondary research and literature reviews