Originally published 20 December 2005. This article is retained from the tCI archive. Law, policy or practice may have changed since publication.
Law-makers have switched on to the idea of consultation, with the result that our legislation is becoming very prescriptive, and requires all kinds of public bodies to consult a vast range of stakeholders.
At one level, this is undoubtedly good news. It recognises that too many decisions taken by well-meaning quangos or civil servants took inadequate account of potential consequences, and too many bodies served the public in their own sweet way with little co-ordination with other parallel organisations. Governments have responded, and MPs have enthusiastically voted for new clauses in Bills - obliging newly-formed bodies to consult properly. Examples include NHS Primary Care Trusts and Crime and Disorder Partnerships in England, and Community Planning responsibilities placed on Local Authorities in Scotland. But there are disadvantages to this approach. We now understand that the current fashion for consultation places strain on a limited number of stakeholders - and that we possibly have too much consultation. In this environment, we need to be selective and focus most on those issues where the views of those affected are likely to make a difference. Undertaking a consultation where there is little or nothing that is likely to change is a pointless waste of everyone's time.
The most effective consultations are those where decision-makers badly want to know what stakeholders think. A genuine desire to hear is the best assurance of a meaningful exercise. Indeed the best advice to management teams may be to mount a consultation only when the views of stakeholders are likely to be significant. On this analysis, the last thing we may want is for organisations to consult just because they have to - it's a recipe for tick-in-the-box tokenism and exercises where no-one really listens.
And yet…… Our Parliamentarians surely know that bureaucracies rarely innovate without being nudged towards the desired behaviour. Generations of Sir Humphreys have had to be weaned off a culture of "we know best" and encouraged to talk more openly with those who are affected by policies or programmes. In particular, cross-cutting issues which straddle the remits of several agencies (and this happens at local, regional or national levels) require an unprecedented breadth of consultation - frequently with hard-to-reach groups …. or those that are seldom heard in full.
The answer is for public bodies to skill-up fast so that statutory consultations are undertaken to high standards and for Managers to learn how best to use consultation data to make better decisions. Let's consult for the right reasons - and do it better! Trigger points
- Assess each statutory consultation requirement and plan comprehensively
- Convince your stakeholders that the consultation is for real, and not just going through the motions
- Avoid techniques that de-personalise consultation and make it feel just a formality
- Consider attending the Institute's Consultation Strategies & Skills Courses (February 8th in London; February 9th in Birmingham) - to help in skills development
This is the 26th Tuesday Topic; a full list of subjects covered is available for Institute members and is a valuable resource covering so many aspects of consultation and engagement