Natural Resources Wales (NRW), like all public bodies in Wales is required to publish Well-being objectives in response to the Well Being of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015. The Act outlines not only what an organisation should do, but also describes how an organisation should do this. We developed and facilitated sessions which looked at the breadth of NRW responsibilities and activities and also enabled participants to understand the context of the new legislation in which to consider these objectives. We also had to work to encourage participants to consider objectives which were specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-related (SMART), a challenge for participants whose interest lay in a very specific field, to ensure their concerns were reflected within broader objectives.
We ran a number of sessions at different locations across Wales, in Welsh and English, bringing staff, board members and stakeholders from diverse, and sometimes competing, groups together. Sessions consisted of brief informative presentations, including sharing work already completed internally, opportunities for individual contributions through inter-active exercises and group work, and finally a prioritisation exercise, to understand and gain some consensus. The final session was important for individual groups to reflect on the balance between their own, or organisational priorities and those of a large national body with complex and multiple responsibilities.
The results from each workshop were collated, trends identified, and a brief report prepared for the organisation in order for it to develop a final set of Well-Being Objectives, on which it reports annually to Welsh Government.