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There comes a point in most areas of life where the amateur gives way to the professional, and where the rich diversity of people re-inventing the wheel every time yields to common standards. It is not always a good thing, and one of the characteristics of today’s post-modern culture is that we appreciate the value […]

Consultation papers are in danger of being too PR-driven. Recent examples arriving at Institute offices have been the usual mixed bag of plain and glossy, but if there is a trend, it seems to be towards spending more on presentation. In one way this is to be welcomed. If we want stakeholders and the general

If public and stakeholder consultations are to be really effective, then politicians must believe in them and be comfortable with the process. But there is evidence that too little has been done to sit down with elected representatives and agree where and when consultation is appropriate and where and when it is not. The truth

So we’re now all going to be more efficient ……There will be 80,000 fewer civil servants; £20 billion less will be spent – and more resources will be allocated to the front line so that the taxpayer gets better value public services. Well that’s the theory! Seriously, however, Sir Peter Gershon’s report on public sector

Change management is one of today’s most pivotal and sought-after capabilities. Big Companies need it – for without significant change, firms that grew fat in protected markets can’t survive when globalisation impacts their competitiveness.

One of the most difficult decisions which consultors have to take concerns the “quality” of consultation documents. On the one hand, public bodies need to be scrupulously careful with public money, and functional papers such as consultation documents need to be cost-effective for distribution to stakeholders. On the other hand, the task of engaging the

An enthusiast for online discussions recently claimed that the aim was to replicate on the Internet, what he considered the most effective and genuine debates – namely the cut-and-thrust of the argument in a pub! One of the aims of e-democracy after all is to encourage open and transparent debate, and to make it easy

Among the stakeholders regularly consulted by both public bodies and commercial companies, one category stands out – customers Customer consultation is one of the four consultation environments identified by the Institute, and should be within the core competence of every organisation that delivers services or supplies products. Sadly, it is often a neglected area. It

New technology has its ‘internet geeks’; private enterprise calls the young turks with MBAs and suchlike ‘high-flyers’; Chief Executive’s departments have their fair share of ‘policy wonks’; but what do we call those who have acquired the skills of organising and acting on public and stakeholder consultations? The absence of a label reflects the speed

One of the hardest parts of consultation is knowing how much to do. County Councils joining the Institute have recently admitted to undertaking hundreds of different consultation exercises. Some have arisen as a result of statutory requirements; some because of political pressure, and many because managers genuinely feel that decisions they take will be better