I’ve been talking with some organisations looking to improve their communication and strategies promoting deinstitutionalisation and community-based support over the past couple of months.

Asked about my experience in what works and what doesn’t, there are 3 ideas behind what we try to do and I think works.

Maybe you’d be interested to hear about them too:

It’s about people. 

Everything needs to be centred around a human (or a number of them).

A lot of organisations promote “services”, “projects” or other abstract things and “solutions”. Nobody cares.

Instead, talk about people you are helping, and how you are helping them.

Design policies and reports that have people at their heart.

Keep people on your mind writing and speaking.

Let people voice their views (experience, expectations…) in a way and language that’s theirs.

Build (it on) a competence. 

What is it that you are good at? What is it you are known for, that others turn to you for insights and advice?

At Inclusion Europe it’s often easy-to-read and accessible communication, or participation of self-advocates in policy-making. 

It’s increasingly about Inclusion indicators, which is one key reason we created and will continue to develop them. 

Be consistent.

It’s a long game, and it needs to be played like it.

It doesn’t help to skip from one “project” to another, to jump from one topic to the next without a clear connection between them.

Define your thing, and keep at it.

Iterate, adjust, but keep at your thing.

Anyway, that’s what works in my experience.

What’s yours?

LinkedIn posts series.