RE: Who is doing public involvement?

[Eileen Ringnalda <eileen.ringnalda@searbrown.com>]

Sue,

I agree with you whole-heartedly that technical staff should be trained in public involvement and that public involvement professionals fully dedicated to project-related PI are needed.

Another posting mentioned that (technical) staff are often overloaded with work and are not able to dedicate the time and energy needed to meaningful public involvement programs.  I agree with this observation, as well.

I think public involvement will be most successful with a fully dedicated PI professional and cooperating technical staff.  

Another problem I have observed is that as agencies hire a fully dedicated PI person, they encounter resistance from technical staff.  Public Involvement introduces strategies that don't fit the model of "how things have always been done" within an agency.  In order to prevent internal frustration, the entire project team and organization must be on board with the principles and desired outcomes of public involvement.

In my experience, technical staff generally realize that they don't do public involvement well.  Their personality types and personal strengths have led them into a technical field, and many of them would rather be undisturbed with thier technical analysis and implementation.  Technical staff tend to fear the public and would rather not stir up controversy even when they know controversy exists.

Still, there is hope!  I have worked with technical staff who were extremely afraid of taking critical issues before the public.  However, once they experienced the public involvement process and the benefits -- both in terms of improved technical results and sensing the human use and appreciation for their work -- these technical staff trust public involvement professionals and support high level PI efforts.

Thanks for raising this important issue.  Technical staff and communication professionals must work together for effective PI results.

Eileen Ringnalda
Communication Specialist
Sear-Brown