Meet MosaicLab
Nicole Hunter
TEAM SPOTLIGHT: POLO, POLLY & GUS

A support facilitator studying psychology, our first team member based in NSW and a brand new participant recruitment coordinator... meet the newest additions to the MosaicLab team: Polo, Polly and Gus! Learn more about this trio of terrific team members and gain some insights into who they REALLY are through their answers to our fast five questions!

TEAM SPOTLIGHT: POLO, POLLY & GUS
Case studies
Nicole Hunter
CASE STUDY: THE TALE OF TWO ENERGY SECTOR ...

How should we plan for the new energy future while providing affordable services that meet changing customer and community needs? Two representative ‘Voice of the Customer’ panels in Queensland answered this question. Randomly selected, everyday customers deliberated and agreed on recommendations that electricity distributors Ergon Energy Network and Energex used to prepare Regulatory Proposals for the Australian Energy Regulator (AER).  Delve into a tale of two deliberative customer panels, and gain ideas and insights you can draw on for your next project.

CASE STUDY: THE TALE OF TWO ENERGY SECTOR CUSTOMER PANELS
Meet MosaicLab, ML Giving
Nicole Hunter
SUPPORTING CONVERSATIONS WHERE THEY'RE NEEDED ...

We believe in supporting emerging and underserved people and communities to have deeper conversations that lead to stronger democracies. ML Giving is the new name of the not-for-profit part of MosaicLab - a banner for the work we do that gives back. We’re focussing on furthering community inclusion and action beyond just getting input and instead moving into enabling local decision-making. Explore the principles ML Giving will operate under, and the kind of projects and conversations we’re supporting.

SUPPORTING CONVERSATIONS WHERE THEY'RE NEEDED MOST
Case studies
Nicole Hunter
CASE STUDY: Jemena

Jemena Electricity Network has been implementing a comprehensive engagement program for the organisation's 2026-2031 Regulatory Proposal, employing a multi-dimensional approach to allow customers direct influence over proposed future pricing and services. MosaicLab codesigned and lead the facilitation of the process, that included a deliberative panel and brings diverse customer, stakeholder, and industry perspectives into the decision-making process.

CASE STUDY: Jemena
Case studies
Nicole Hunter
CASE STUDY: AUSGRID VOICE OF COMMUNITY PANEL

As part of the development of Ausgrid's 2024-2029 regulatory submission, two randomly selected customer panels deliberated over a collective 10 full days. The panels, facilitated by MosaicLab and Gauge Consulting, considered how Ausgrid should look to the future while remaining fair to customers today. Ausgrid's three-year engagement process allowed customers to influence what Ausgrid spends customers money on, giving them a rare insight and influence over the cost of electricity, an issue that directly impacts the lives of everyday people.

CASE STUDY: AUSGRID VOICE OF COMMUNITY PANEL

Free resources

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CONTINUOUS CONNECTIONS SESSION #2 - REGOS OPEN

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CONTINUOUS CONNECTIONS SESSION #2 - REGOS OPEN

Registrations are now open for the second session in our new, free discussion series. Responding to popular demand, we’ll be exploring the dilemma of how to connect with people who aren’t online and/or groups that are ‘hard to reach’.

Much more than your standard ‘webinar’, these interactive, facilitated sessions are a chance to connect with other communications, engagement, planning and project management leaders and professionals. Together, we’ll collaboratively explore current engagement challenges and opportunities, share resources and provide key takeaways and tips.

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FREE WEBINARS: ENGAGEMENT IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

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FREE WEBINARS: ENGAGEMENT IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

MosaicLab is launching a new, fortnightly webinar series in April 2020. We want to support organisations and engagement professionals to navigate and continue to engage in a rapidly changing world.

Join us as we collaboratively explore challenges, opportunities and tips around meaningfull engagement with your staff, stakeholders and communities during this uncertain time.

In session one, we’ll delve into an engagement dilemma: Connecting with communities during COVID-19 without appearing ‘tone-deaf’.

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DILEMMA DISCUSSED: 'HOSTILE' AUDIENCES (PART 2)

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DILEMMA DISCUSSED: 'HOSTILE' AUDIENCES (PART 2)

Late last year we published the first post in a two-part series on dealing with this ‘subscriber dilemma’. In part one we explored how to plan for conflict, outrage and emotion when you know it’s likely to arise. Today, in part two, we’re providing 10 tips for working with high emotion in the moment – when you didn’t expect or plan for it at all.

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#MONTHLYMYTH: CALL IT DELIBERATION & IT WILL BE

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#MONTHLYMYTH: CALL IT DELIBERATION & IT WILL BE

Deliberative democracy isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ type of deal.  Deliberative processes can come in multiple packages, and deliberative elements can be integrated into a range of different engagement approaches.  However, a truly deliberative process is built around some simple core principles, and it’s risky to call a process ‘deliberation’ if it doesn’t truly hit the mark. 

So, what are the principles of deliberative democracy, and how would we know if a process wasn’t truly deliberative?

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DILEMMA DISCUSSED: ‘HOSTILE’ AUDIENCES & HIGH EMOTION

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DILEMMA DISCUSSED: ‘HOSTILE’ AUDIENCES & HIGH EMOTION

This post tackles a big, scary dilemma – conflict, outrage and emotion.  We’re often asked for advice around this topic, because it’s something that worries many people in the engagement space -  even experienced practitioners and facilitators.

Partly, this fear is underpinned by a lack of ‘tools’ or skills. So, we’re going to give you some tips to help you prepare for and/or work with conflict, outrage and emotion in a meaningful way. 

Because it’s a big, difficult topic, we’re going to address it in two parts:  Part one (this post) is about how to plan for it, and in part two (next month) we’ll talk about what to do if you walk into it unexpectedly.   

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#MONTHLYMYTH: FACILITATORS NEED TO BE CONTENT EXPERTS

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#MONTHLYMYTH: FACILITATORS NEED TO BE CONTENT EXPERTS

Facilitators work across many industries, audiences and topics, and sometimes the issues or information being considered are complex or technical.  We’re often asked how we manage to move across so many broad ranging issues and projects, and whether we need to become ‘experts’ in each topic before we facilitate.

This #MonthlyMyth explores some of the misunderstandings that sit behind this myth, highlights the true role of a facilitator, and uncovers how facilitators really work with information and content.

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#MONTHLYMYTH: DELIBERATION IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER

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#MONTHLYMYTH: DELIBERATION IS ALWAYS THE ANSWER

Deliberation can be refer to either a micro-process (something you can build into part of a session or engagement process) or a full deliberative democracy process (such as a citizens’ jury).   

Deliberative engagement has a lot of potential benefits - these processes can lead to new solutions to challenging problems, improve policy outcomes and engender trust between citizens and decision makers.

So, is deliberation always the right answer/process? The short answer is no.