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Gatekeepers! – Worth their weight in gold? ……. Or a barrier to progress?

Those who work with community involvement or consultation are familiar with Gatekeepers. They are often worthy, salt-of-the earth types whose hearts are always in the right place, and who are invariably committed to their cause. It is their names and addresses that are on your databases. They receive the invitation to attend meetings; the envelope […]

Gatekeepers! – Worth their weight in gold? ……. Or a barrier to progress? Read More »

Aspirational consultation – Asking people what they want is clearly a legitimate form of consultation; but is this overdone at the expense of more practical choices?

Consultation comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some are tightly targeted; often highly technical, using a specialist vocabulary and part of a continuing dialogue with known stakeholders. Others are meant for a wider audience, couched in more general terms and deliberately simplify complex issues in order to elicit the views of the public

Aspirational consultation – Asking people what they want is clearly a legitimate form of consultation; but is this overdone at the expense of more practical choices? Read More »

Seasonal complaint – Correspondence from The Three Kings to a Council near you and recently released under the Freedom of Information Act

Dear Sirs, We write in greatest indignation upon hearing that your Authority has decided this year, to cease the practice of referring to us as The Wise Men. For generations, and certainly prior to the 1832 Reform Act, we have enjoyed a particular status in this country, and have regularly been depicted on Xmas cards,

Seasonal complaint – Correspondence from The Three Kings to a Council near you and recently released under the Freedom of Information Act Read More »

From Discretion to Duty – Implementing the Disability Equality Duty raises even wider questions ……

On Monday 4th December, the Disability Equality Duty came into force. It means that public bodies have to ensure the involvement of disabled people in many aspects of their work, and this will be codified in their Disability Equality Schemes. Civil Servants and Local Government Officers have spent much of this year preparing for this

From Discretion to Duty – Implementing the Disability Equality Duty raises even wider questions …… Read More »

The Waiting Game – There’s no need to wait until some good ideas become law!

One of the abiding characteristics of our public service is obedience to the law – and a reluctance to take risks by over-reaching ourselves. There’s an old rule of thumb that states that if it isn’t expressly allowed … in writing…. then you better assume it’s forbidden! The private sector has traditionally followed the opposite

The Waiting Game – There’s no need to wait until some good ideas become law! Read More »

The One-Year-After Test – Is this the ultimate method of evaluation?

Those with long memories may remember something called The Pepsi Challenge. Effectively this was a blind test to see whether consumers preferred the taste of traditional Coca-Cola or the fiercely competitive upstart – Pepsi Cola. So damaging was this to Coca Cola that on the strength of overwhelming evidence that Pepsi was preferred, they abandoned

The One-Year-After Test – Is this the ultimate method of evaluation? Read More »

The Monkey and the Organ-Grinder – How important is it for consultees to have direct contact with decision-makers?

In the perfect world, a consultation is organised by people who genuinely want to hear your views so that they can take decisions or review their policies. They will be keen to understand what key stakeholders have to say, and may well make themselves available for direct discussions with them. Of course we all realise

The Monkey and the Organ-Grinder – How important is it for consultees to have direct contact with decision-makers? Read More »

The Commitments Register – An indispensable tool for building trust with stakeholders and consultees

Organising an effective consultation exercise can be a complex project management task. Pulling together the different work packages and ensuring that different disciplines work together to a common timetable or to common standards is challenging. No wonder that project management skills are among the most useful attributes for someone entrusted with consultation on any significant

The Commitments Register – An indispensable tool for building trust with stakeholders and consultees Read More »

Embedded consultations – Where consultation is built into standard routine processes

Not all public participation or consultation is a one-off exercise. It is true that much that is most visible reflects the most extensive, wide-ranging dialogues, accompanied by appropriately high wide and handsome press coverage. But away from the glare of publicity much of the day-to-day public consultation takes the form of repetitive activities where public

Embedded consultations – Where consultation is built into standard routine processes Read More »

Substance and Spin – Recent events hold lessons for soccer fans – and others!

Okay, if the fate of the World Cup had reflected the quality of the merchandising rather than the quality of the football, we might have won……! Yet again, there is good reason to wonder whether we are all too prone to the ephemeral lure of the spin rather than the underlying substance. It’s part of

Substance and Spin – Recent events hold lessons for soccer fans – and others! Read More »

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