Everyone wants to involve people more deeply in shaping decisions that affect them. It’s now widely recognised as the right thing to do. But for many councils and organisations, participation still feels unmanageable.
The worry isn’t just about what happens after you open things up – it’s often what stops you opening up at all. When participation looks like a flood of data, conflicting views and endless analysis, it can feel safer not to start.
We created Participation Labs to help with exactly that problem. They’re a practical way for organisations to build the skills and confidence to make participation a normal and embedded part of how they work.
A space to learn by doing
Participation Labs are designed as safe, structured environments for learning and experimentation. They bring together staff from across a whole organisation to explore what participation really means in practice – the messy parts as well as the inspiring ones.
In Adur and Worthing, we ran a year-long lab with around 24 staff from across the council. Some were in public-facing roles like park rangers and waste services. Others worked in planning, commissioning, or learning and development. Senior leaders joined towards the end.
Across eight sessions, we explored the full arc of participation, from framing a problem and collecting insights, right through to decision-making and commissioning. Every session was co-designed with council staff, so the content reflected their real challenges and priorities.
What we covered
Over the course of the lab, participants built skills and confidence in:
- Mapping stakeholders and understanding who is affected by a decision
- Exploring how power and politics shape participation
- Testing creative and relational ways to engage people
- Using digital and AI tools to extend reach and make sense of feedback
- Designing prototype models for participation from start to finish
This wasn’t about learning abstract theory – it was about trying out new methods and seeing what worked in their context.
What people said
People described the lab as a container – a rare space for cross-siloed working, reflection and team building. They valued the chance to step back, learn together, and see how participation connects to their everyday roles.
Many said they left with practical tools they could apply immediately. But the deeper change was about mindset:
- Learning to be more relational in how they work
- Being creative in how they involve people, meeting them where they are rather than fitting them into rigid processes
- Listening to understand, rather than to persuade
That last shift might sound subtle, but it’s significant. It changes how people approach conversations, how they interpret feedback, and ultimately how decisions are made.
Participation as a skill
Highly participatory processes start with divergence: opening up and gathering as many perspectives as possible, especially from those who aren’t usually heard. The challenge comes when it’s time to move into convergence: narrowing things down and making choices.
Many organisations fear this stage because it feels overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be.
With the right structures (and with new tools that help make sense of large amounts of qualitative information) participation can be both genuinely open and manageable. The key is to extend participatory skills without overextending the organisation.
That’s what the Participation Lab model aims to do.
What’s next?
The Adur and Worthing Lab showed what can happen when people have space to learn, experiment and reflect together. It built confidence, capability and connection across teams, and it’s already influencing how the council approaches engagement and decision-making.
We believe more organisations could benefit from this kind of learning environment.
