Situation

The Dutch government had undertaken a huge, five-year research programme, involving 80 projects and 200 different stakeholder organisations - scientists, contractors, government, non-governmental organisations, utilities, farmers, nature reserves etc. Clean consultancy NOK-N was asked to conduct a stakeholder perception survey for a mid-term review.

Clean intervention

A team including Annemiek van Hesldingen, Lizet van den Berg and Stefan Ouboter conducted 26 stakeholder interviews using Clean principles, with a number of follow-up workshops.

Annemiek explained: “We reported the results in a specific way, ensuring that each of our conclusions were backed up with specific quotes from named individuals. Using Clean in the interviews enabled us to use people’s specific words, and so to get the nuance of what they were saying. You don’t lose the raw material. It’s a different type of information, that isn’t tainted by the questions.”

The team used mind mapping alongside Clean techniques to distil their findings down to ten key conclusions, which formed the basis of an action plan.

Outcome

The survey was well-received by the sponsoring board. It covered the key aspects and offered a clear set of proposals for next steps, without overwhelming levels of detail. These ideas will now be implemented during the remaining two years of the programme.

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