Effective Consultation & Research Skills
This is a practical hands-on workshop for anyone who needs to carry out consultation or research. This might be for canvassing service users, preparing a funding application, working on a presentation, feasibility study, business plan, development task or new project.
All too often, research is carried out by “googling” or by “cut and paste” and the results do not stand up to scrutiny. What is needed is a robust process, which will provide the foundations needed for future development that will actually work in practice, not just look good on paper.
During this workshop participants will learn to be more effective in gathering, organising and presenting information clearly in the best format.
The skills learned will guide participants from the very start of the planning stage, through carrying out the consultation / research process and presenting the findings, right through to giving feedback.
The workshop will apply equally well to those researching information to support an existing service, and to those wanting to build new services. Participants will have the opportunity to try out consultation techniques and to experience how it feels to be a part of the process from both sides.
The skills learned in this workshop will apply to a whole range of circumstances and will build an understanding of best practice in consultation and research. All exercises will be practical and will focus on the individual goals and contexts of those attending, so that everyone takes away exactly what they need.
Course Aims
To enable participants to gain skills to carry out effective consultation and research for a variety of reflective and forward-planning activities.
Course content:
• To explore the benefits of best practice and the purpose of consultation and research.
• To explore the uses to which consultation and research can be put.
• To raise awareness of the dangers of poor practice when carrying out consultation and research.
• To work out in advance what the consultation and research process is meant to achieve, defining the task, the methods (personal consultation / desk-based research), the budget and the time limit.
• To work on the different stages of the process, from planning through information gathering, sorting and presenting the information and feeding back to service users or the community.
• To work on how to find and engage with the right people for consultation, and how to get genuine unbiased answers from the process.
• To explore different types of consultation, including meetings, networking, focus groups, consultation events, roundtables
• To develop consultation skills, including communication, listening, questioning, being flexible and creative, valuing diversity, empowering and equal opportunities
• To develop and prioritise different resources for desk-based research and how to check their reliability, e.g. people, internet, books etc.
• To find out when to stop the consultation and research process and gather together the information.
• To work on skills for putting together and presenting the findings of consultation and research.
Participants will be encouraged to contribute practically and to take away an individual action plan.
Outcomes:
Participants will have developed their consultation and research skills so that they will be more effective in planning, selecting, locating, gathering and presenting information that is relevant to their task.