Our Federal Government recently put forward an edict to ban all front members from the panel on the ABC program Q&A.
Regardless of your politics I have to admit that this decision puzzled me. Wouldn’t the smart play be to put forward your best performers to assure the general public that, regardless of what is thrown up, your team is ready to respond?
In IAP2 and community engagement land there is a great saying that goes along the lines of; if you’re not at the dinner table you might be on the menu.
This basically means that if you aren’t attempting a conversation with your stakeholders on challenging issues, there is a high likelihood that they are deciding for you and there is a high likelihood that it won’t be good.
It’s a great edict for all of us to live by and encourages us to be brave and face our challenges head on. I have to say that all of my favourite clients have that courage to hear what their detractors have to say and really listen.
What about you? What do you think? Do you think that we should always make sure we are at the table or at times is it best to sit on the sidelines?
