Why all the racquet about consultation?

The importance of consultation, or more significantly, the lack of consultation, has been in the news this week when it was announced the US Open would go ahead without wheelchair tennis. Australian player and world number one in wheelchair tennis, Dylan Alcott, led the backlash against the US Tennis Association calling it “disgusting discrimination”.

Part of the reason for Alcott’s outrage, that was shared around the world, was that players were not consulted about the decision. His now famous tweet, and many subsequent media interviews, referenced this lack of consultation as a key part of the offence.

“I think the hard part for us people with a disability is we weren't considered, we weren't communicated to about the decision,” Alcott said. "We felt like we were just left out of the loop completely.

"People might be saying, 'Dyl, you're a little brat trying to play a tennis tournament in America at the moment, and it's not about that. It's about a decision being made on our behalf. It's about the fact nobody told us what that decision was, purely because we had a disability and they thought nobody cared.”

While the US Tennis Association has since reversed the decision, and has reinstated wheelchair tennis for this year’s tournament, the issue has highlighted some basic engagement principles.

1. Engagement should be proactive and timely
In a nutshell, consult before the decisions have been made. No one likes to be the last to know and if your stakeholders disagree with the decision, you could face some nasty backlash. It also delivers better outcomes for projects, can save money and secures critical social licence.

2. Engagement should be inclusive and accessible
Everyone potentially affected by a decision should be given the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. That doesn’t mean you have to give stakeholders what they want but you do need to listen and be able to explain why you’ve gone with the decision you have. While applauding the US Tennis Association’s willingness to say they were wrong, Alcott says he still hasn’t been able to get answers about why or how the original decision to exclude wheelchair tennis was made.

3. Be meaningful and genuine in your engagement
Since being made aware of the enormous blunder, the US Tennis Association has held multiple virtual meetings with a group of wheelchair athletes and the International Tennis Federation leading to the decision to reinstate wheelchair tennis. While arguably, this should have been done in the first instance, the Association took the steps to have meaningful engagement once they realised their error.

While Alcott was able to use his celebrity, tennis and media connections to change this decision, small communities and individuals don’t usually have such pulling power. That is why it’s critical that we as practitioners use our knowledge of best practice engagement to fight for a seat at the table for all stakeholders.

Alysia Norris, Senior Communications and Engagement Consultant