What are the most important skills to develop for effective community engagement?

My perspective is, a self check, having the cultural competency, emotional intelligence and listening to learn skills, developing these are essential. Last but not least is a true, honest desire to want to connect with people

Communication is the basic of any community engagement process, as it enables you to exchange information, ideas, and feedback with the community members. Communication skills include both verbal and non-verbal, such as listening, speaking, writing, body language etc.

A mi me ha resultado útil mostrar empatía e interés respetuoso con las comunidades, en un proceso de IAP escuchar es mucho más que preguntar por cumplir, es mucho más que llenar una encuesta, escuchar es abrir el pensamiento a la realidad del otro, reconociendo sus capacidades y sus libertades, reconocer al otro es conectar desde el propósito altruista de co-construir, des-aprender para re-aprender.

Na minha experiencia, a habilidade de escuta é desafio enorme. Neste momento onde "todos querem falar" realmente escutar é um diferencial.

the ability to listen and respond back - it may not be the answer the answer the want to hear but if done with respect and factual evidence beats being ignored or patronised It seems simple but so many get it wrong

Communication also means having people from diverse backgrounds in the audience - so that is a futher stage of initial engagement. Get out in to the community and find your community champions

I agree with this composite statement. Moreover, it is important to see and appreciate the interconnectedness of all service providers. Each person must be willing to acknowledge that all of the people sitting around the table can offer new insights and competencies.

For effective community engagement, develop strong communication skills to clearly convey information and actively listen to stakeholders. Empathy is crucial to understand diverse perspectives and address community concerns. Cultural competence helps in interacting respectfully with various groups. Facilitation skills enable productive discussions and consensus-building. Conflict resolution abilities are important for navigating disagreements and finding common ground. Adaptability allows for adjusting strategies based on feedback and changing circumstances. Lastly, strategic planning skills are essential for designing and implementing engagement processes that align with project goals and community needs.

Create programmes that makes sense to people. Using different techniques that can help people participate in different ways - we always find drawing is a brilliant way of enabling people to participate. Also lots of short feeding back - so people get a chance to speak

The transmission of knowledge is essential for the success of work teams, knowing the Why? of actions, measurements and understanding how the results were reached, as well as management within the team.

No solo en el trabajo, sino en la vida, la adaptabilidad es necesaria para entender el entorno y subsistir, el mercado es cambiante, las necesidades operativas, administrativas y ejecutivas son radicales, debes de adaptarte o revolucionar el concepto.

The best way to involve people is to have your onw local community champions who can speak different languages, understand cultural norms and make sure that their community can be involved. This allows people to share ideas and your translators become translators of ideas as well as languge

In my experience as a community college administrator, I learned that it is critically important to know all you can about the community that you will be serving. In addition, you should maintain an open mind because this learning process is ongoing.

Patience. Community engagement will not go as you expect. You need to be patience and allow the time that it needs. All these other skills come after that.

No trust issue.. must be clearly define what should do & not do.. more dialogue for sampling.. 2 way bottom - up.. definite law enforcement

Always, without exception, present information in a form the audience can understand. Just like meeting them at a location they are comfortable with and will come to see your presentation, what you show has to meet with their ability. Don’t ever be condescending yet make sure you don’t loose them with technical jargon.