C14 · proof of concept

Heard. Listened to. Acted on.

These are three different things people sometimes mean when they say they consulted stakeholders. Being heard means someone recorded what you said. Being listened to means the pattern you sit inside was picked up and counted. Having something done with what was heard means a named commitment with a named lead. Most engagements stop at one of the first two — and a stakeholder can tell which.

"We've said this at every consultation for eight years. Nothing ever comes of it."

Composite paraphrase. Not attributed to any specific interview or person.

Appendix B · verbatim quotes · page 47 of 128

"We've said this at every consultation for eight years. Nothing ever comes of it."

One of 1,573 verbatim quotes recorded across the interview set. Preserved in the transcript and available to any reader willing to search the appendix for it.

What this treatment produces for the stakeholder: a record that their words were captured. No indication whether they were understood, grouped, or acted on.

Theme 47 · Funder responsiveness

Consultation fatigue without visible response surfaced in 23 of 58 interviews. Clustered with 34 related quotes. Cross-references with Theme 12 (trust erosion) and Theme 88 (why some organizations no longer accept invitations to consult).

Organisations raised it: 23 / 58
Related quotes: 34
Cross-themes: 2

What this treatment produces for the stakeholder: a sense that the pattern their experience sits inside was recognized. No indication yet of what will be done about it.

Recommendation 12 · Funder–grantee accountability forum

Establish a quarterly convening where funders commit, on the record, to respond to findings from the preceding quarter's grantee input. A named lead carries it. A defined budget sustains it. A first session is scheduled.

Lead: Named convening body
First session: Scheduled, Q3
Annual budget: Committed

What this treatment produces for the stakeholder: a visible move. A specific thing will happen, on a specific date, because of what was said.

Going from heard to listened to is the work of synthesis — coding, clustering, cross-referencing. Going from listened to to acted on is the work of design and resourcing — naming a vehicle, naming a lead, putting capital behind it. Each of those transitions is a different kind of labour, and each is usually priced and delivered separately. Which is why most engagements stop, quietly, at one of the first two. A stakeholder who has been consulted often can tell from the eventual artifact which of the three they got.

Source. The distinction between being heard, being listened to, and having something done with what was heard adapts a family of ideas from public-participation research, notably Sherry Arnstein, "A Ladder of Citizen Participation," Journal of the American Institute of Planners 35:4 (1969), pp. 216–224; and Tina Nabatchi, A Manager's Guide to Evaluating Citizen Participation (IBM Center for the Business of Government, 2012). The numeric illustrations in the Listened to panel reflect the proportions reported on the Canadian Democracy Coalition public site.

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