Rebalancing Power: A Community-Led Planning Approach

For decades, community improvement was done one way: an outside organization arrived with cookie-cutter solutions. Experts designed programs that worked in theory but never struck at the core issues facing local community members. The top-down approach was paternalistic; local residents found themselves acted upon and without the power to make decisions, despite their proximity to the problems.

Community-led approaches became an answer that sought to redistribute the balance of power to those dealing directly with the issues at hand. Movements led by Indigenous leaders and equity advocates made the goal clear: real work must be “with, not for” locals; it focuses on strengths rather than weaknesses, honours lived experience, and moves at the speed of trust. Yet good intentions can still go astray. In a study of 67 organizations claiming to practice community-led change, the Tamarack Institute (2020) found a big disconnect. Many groups used "community-led" as a buzzword for routine surveys, while holding tight to all the actual power.

How can consultants engage ethically without overpromising? The answer lies in two practical tools: tailoring your consultation and embracing multisolving.

Not every project can be entirely community-owned; in practice, community engagement rarely fits into neat, rigid boxes. Power, funding, and decision-making are moving parts, not an all-or-nothing bundle. It’s important to think of community partnership not as an on-off switch, but rather like a mixing board with three separate dials that can be adjusted to fit a project’s needs:

• The Decision-Making Dial: Community leaders live the reality every day and understand what their neighbourhood needs best. You can turn this dial all the way up, handing them the steering wheel to choose the priorities, design the solutions, and run the project.
• The Resource Dial: Rather than hoarding resources, the goal is getting funding, equipment, and space directly into the hands of local people doing the work on the ground.
• The Accountability Dial: Real-world rules exist. Often, an organization must hold the official contract, manage the bank account, or report back to a funder.

Treating these elements as modular pieces frees you from an impossible choice between controlling everything or walking away completely. A conversation needs to take place between the community and the consultant at the start of the process to clearly figure out who will take on the administrative weight and protect the budget, while community leaders and members direct where resources go and make the calls that truly matter.

Even with careful planning, community conversations rarely follow a straight line. You might host a meeting to discuss job training classes, only to hear residents talk about how bus routes stop running too early for evening shifts. Do you shut the conversation down because transit is outside your mandate?

Civil rights activist Audre Lorde famously observed: "There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives." Challenges in a community are always tied together. When people cannot travel safely, they cannot keep steady jobs.

This is where multisolving comes in: looking for ways to address interconnected challenges at the same time. Indigenous worldviews have recognized this interconnectedness for generations. As an example, in our work with many First Nations, members may wish to address issues like housing, but leadership and community members realize that these challenges cannot be separated from relationships with the land, collective healing from intergenerational trauma, or the loss of cultural practices impacted by colonial systems. While an outside agency might look only at income numbers or housing stock, community leaders and Narratives know that real well-being touches the cultural, spiritual, physical, and mental aspects of community strengths.

When consultants encounter an issue that stretches beyond their immediate focus, they do not have to walk away. Instead, they need to look for where organizational and community goals align and intersect for a broader vision of well-being. For Narratives, when priorities fall completely beyond our scope, this is an opportunity for us to serve as a guide: using our platform and networks to carry the community concerns to other partners or agencies that hold the necessary jurisdiction and resources to help.

Regardless of the shape of the project, the secret to long-term trust is honesty. Decisions that were once held behind closed doors should now be out in the open; it’s important to tell people up front what is up for discussion and what is locked in by budget or policy. But most importantly, it’s key to always close the loop. When a project wraps up, return to the people who took the time to speak with you and let them know: "Here is what you told us. Here is what we changed because of your advice. And here is what we couldn't change, along with the reasons why."

True community-led engagement is not about pretending that budgets, deadlines, and the scope don’t exist; it’s about listening with humility, respecting the community’s time, and being a dependable partner.