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5 Things We Heard at Our Final Canada Beyond 150 Meeting

Posted on by Policy Horizons Canada
From the Design Team

Canada Beyond 150 was a training program designed to help early-career public servants learn new ways of developing policy through increased engagement and collaboration with stakeholders.

Last week was our last official meeting with our Canada Beyond 150 participants, where they presented their policy interventions to managers and stakeholders. On the final day, they had the opportunity to talk about their journey and their ideas with the Clerk of the Privy Council and fifteen Deputy Ministers.

Here are five things they shared from their experience participating in Canada Beyond 150:

  1. Engage stakeholders with empathy, an open mind and an open heart – understanding lived experiences offers context to data, which enhances our ability to create meaningful policy.
  2. Co-create and collaborate with people from a variety of backgrounds – government needs to move toward co-creation, with no pre-conceived solutions or approaches, in order to gather diverse views and strengths.
  3. Create policy that focuses on the user; not just now, but in 5-10 years from now – policy needs to be more proactive, to anticipate the needs of Canadians in the future.
  4. Appreciate the realities of working in a digital environment with partners from across the country – we need to bridge the gap between technology and the human need for contact.
  5. Share control of objectives and deadlines with your stakeholders – co-creation involves sharing not only the solution space, but the approach and timelines.

We set out to create a training program that would drive a culture change. These changes aren’t easy or quick; but with time, will and management support, we now have the tools to make it happen.

Three Things We’ve Learned From Stakeholder Engagement
Canada Beyond 150: The Armchair Discussion Series!