The Big Conversation: outline approach

We don’t believe in ‘one-size-fits-all’. Everything we do is adapted to meet local circumstances. And that includes The Big Conversation.

While we adapt the approach to your circumstances,  here’s an outline of how we can help you.

With you, we will:

1. Explore and identify the challenge
2. Define the people or stakeholders who are or need to be involved
3. Agree what we want to learn from them about the challenge, understanding that people will have different perspectives
4. Identify the best methods to engage people and get creative!
5. Ask questions – explore the challenge in ways that work for all the different groups
6. Use a range of tools to record and collate answers – allowing for a ‘messy’ and human approach within a ‘tidy’ and manageable framework
7. Use what we learn to develop a plan of action or advise you on the action you can take

The Big Conversation: principles

Here are the principles that underpin our approach.

• We believe that people and communities are strong – we find ways to unlock their assets, skills, experiences, ideas and creativity
• We know that coproduction is not just consultation – it is about creating space for people to develop a vision and then work together to create a different way of doing things
• We will include as many people as we can – hearing quiet voices as well as loud ones
• Engagement needs to lead to action – there is no point asking people to help create something better if they can’t see how their contributions will have impact.

The Big Conversation: our experience

In partnership with Our Voice and Nottinghamshire County Council we facilitated several conversations and workshops as part of our Big Conversation that informed the creation of the council’s adult social care strategy. It included the voices of 542 people: 277 unpaid carers and 265 people who draw on social care.

With Bolton Cares and Bolton Council: we launched a joint Big Conversation about a fresh approach to day services in Bolton. This developed into a re-framing of services and is now known as Life Opportunities. It offers new connections into the community to have fun, build friendships and to adapt to ever-changing aspirations for how people spend their time.

Why choose our Big Conversation?

Our methodology
The Big Conversation uses the Making it Real framework approach to gathering people’s experiences of health and social care. We use what we learn to develop a plan of action or advise on action to take. We are agile and use creative methods that are not restricted by existing procedures.

We hear from quieter voices
Our research methods enable us to hear from quieter voices. In the past we have engaged effectively with people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, the deaf community and many communities with English as a second language.

Our objectivity
We offer an impartial viewpoint, free from internal biases or political influences that might affect in-house research, meaning findings can be trusted by stakeholders.

Our engagement and partnership working
We develop deep relationships with local stakeholders, taking time to onboard them and gain their invaluable insights and experience. We always engage meaningfully with local coproduction groups, such as Our Voice in Nottinghamshire. We have existing relationships with relevant national stakeholders, and in the past have worked with partners such as Social Care Future in our Big Conversation projects.

The scalability
We can scale our research efforts up or down more easily to meet the needs of a project. Whether it’s a small or a large evaluation, we can work with you.

What people say about The Big Conversation

Here are some of the things that people have said about The Big Conversation.

Get started. Have a conversation with us!

We welcome conversations with local authority or organisational leads, or service or team managers who want to explore the possibilities of The Big Conversation.

Get in touch: info@communitycatalysts.co.uk