Best practice engagement – defined by industry, validated by community.
I2S has produced what we believe to be the world’s first set of engagement standards developed specifically for the infrastructure sector – the Infrastructure Engagement Excellence Standards. The IEE Standards were developed with the input of more than 200 leading infrastructure professionals and were validated against the feedback of more than 6000 community members.
The Infrastructure Engagement Excellence Standards are evidence-based and outcomes-focused. They provide industry and government with a systematic understanding of the standards necessary for community engagement to influence successful infrastructure project delivery, reduce risks and achieve desirable community outcomes. They offer communities a clear guide as to what excellent community engagement should involve and the standards by which engagements they experience can be judged.
I2S has also developed two research-informed tools to support project teams in implementing the IEE Standards:
- Post Project Assessment Tool: Provides a structured evaluation that can be used at the completion of a project to assess overall performance and capture lessons learned. Benchmarking is available.
- Engagement Health Checks: Provide a series of structured evaluations to be undertaken at various critical points throughout the project lifecycle to monitor performance and keep a project on track.
Together, these tools support projects to evaluate performance against the IEE Standards, to check (and optimise) performance during project delivery, to identify consistent bright spots and pain points across a portfolio of projects and to support the planning and procurement of best practice engagement.
I2S industry partners have full access to these tools. If you are not an industry partner please contact I2S to discuss pricing for a facilitated assessment.
Download the IEE Standards Executive Summary here.
Download the full IEE Standards and Indicators here.
Download the IEE Standards Executive Summary here.
Download the full IEE Standards and Indicators here.
Infrastructure Engagement Excellence Standards
The Infrastructure Engagement Excellence Standards are comprised of:
- Fundamentals: Outline the three essentials that must be present in order for Infrastructure Engagement Excellence to be achieved. They are the essentials that need to be in place to achieve Infrastructure Engagement Excellence.
- Standards: Outline the 10 characteristics of Infrastructure Engagement Excellence and the indicators that allow us to gauge their presence in practice.
The Infrastructure Engagement Excellence Standards can be used by both organisations and communities to:
- Assess: Assess the quality of current or completed engagements, identifying engagement strengths and areas for improvement.
- Compare: Compare and contrast engagement within or between government departments, organisations or sectors to benchmark performance, learn lessons and drive improvement.
- Guide: The framework may be used as a guide for refining current or planning new engagements to an agreed industry standard.
*Disclaimer: The framework version presented here is current as at April 2023. Please To cite, quote or reprint, please first seek the authors’ permission by emailing: research[at]nextgenengagement.org.
The research which informs the IEE Standards
Our research and development process involved:
- an international literature review,
- interviews with a select number of industry experts and community reference group representatives,
- a national workshop series involving 110 infrastructure sector professionals
- framework revision and testing with our Working Group
- a second workshop series involving non-communications infrastructure professionals
- validating the data against the feedback provided by more than 5000 Australian community members who participated in the I2S Australian Perspectives on Infrastructure Study.
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