Developing your opportunity
There's lots to think about when developing opportunities for people to influence and participate in your work. On this page, learn what they are, and get some tips for planning.
Knowing the outcome of your opportunity
Make sure you have already thought about the outcome you need from your opportunity. For example, a new service design, recruiting a new member of staff, understanding an issue in more depth.
You'll need this to help you develop a clear opportunity for people with lived experience. Remember, if you're not transparent or don't understand the limitations of your opportunity, you can't communicate properly or manage people's expectations.
Developing a clear opportunity
Answering these questions and using our developing your opportunity tool below can help you create and communicate a clear opportunity to people. Consider:
- What do you need people to help you with?
- Who are the right people to do this?
- Who is your target audience?
- Will they be giving you information to help you understand a topic or helping you create a new service?
- People taking part will need different skills and experiences depending on the topic and your expectations of them. What skills or experiences will people need to have?
- What information do you need to give people to help them understand the work and how they will influence this?
- When and where is the activity taking place? Times and places may seem simple, but location and date will affect whether someone can take part.
Developing your opportunity tool
To make sure you're taking everything into account when planning your activity, you might find this template useful. It takes you through all the things you need to consider to promote your opportunity and attract the people you want to reach.
Top Tips
- Use plain English, avoid jargon and avoid acronyms.
- Include all relevant information on 1 page of A4. Any more than this, and people lose interest. If you need to give more information, direct them to a webpage or contact details of a person.
- Be clear about the skills and experiences you are looking for. Having these listed as 4-5 bullet points makes it easier for people to see if they meet your criteria. Go to the recruitment and selection page for more information.
- Write a role description for all opportunities that will need several meetings or interactions. A role description clarifies what both parties can expect in advance. It also specifies the skills and knowledge you need and will help people to make an informed decision about taking part.
- Include a contact email or phone number for people who have any questions or if participants need any reasonable adjustments.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
