Strength or weakness? - Is it a weakness to listen? Lots of public bodies must be pondering this question

There are at least two interpretations to what’s going on in national politics right now.

One version sees a Government having to trim its ambitions and reach all sorts of accommodations in order to keep a fragile Coalition together. Compromises and re-thinks are characterised as U-turns in the popular press and Ministerial exits are solemnly predicted as one policy reversal succeeds another. Weakness!

There’s another interpretation. This is a Government that listens better than its predecessors. According to this analysis, it has learnt that it is wiser to take account of significant stakeholder views – especially before making fundamental or irreversible changes. So a tactical withdrawal over Forestry, or a re-consultation on the NHS are okay despite short-term embarrassment if you stand a better chance of getting it right in the longer-term. In short – Strength!

Whichever analysis you prefer, there are three lessons that need to be learnt:

1. Wise politicians should be careful not to announce proposals too definitively unless they have checked them thoroughly with stakeholders that really know the subject. Note that the NHS Reforms did not become re-considered because the public were unhappy about them; the problem was that the Royal Colleges and NHS clinicians weren’t persuaded. These days it’s best to be a little cautious until a comprehensive consultation shows how much support an idea may have. 2. If you go to consultation, you better do it well. Stakeholders are getting less tolerant of tokenistic, pretend exercises. Recent High Court challenges have demonstrated the mistakes that public bodies make as, for example, when Councils in their anxiety to cut deep and cut quickly, cut corners or try to improvise Equality Impact Assessments instead of doing their homework properly. 3. Even a good consultation is no guarantee of a smooth policy change. Being seen to be listening is not a magic bullet that safeguards you from criticism. Indeed the input of consultees may not necessarily be helpful, and in trying to accommodate as many views as possible, well-meaning policy-makers can sometimes make matters worse. There is even a possibility of this with the NHS Reforms; watch out for clinical senates and other innovations being ‘bolted on’ to the existing package in the coming weeks

Now all these learning points apply more widely. It is a tough job being a Council leader, a Councillor, Chief Officer or a Senior Manager in any public body these days, and one of the most difficult decisions they must take is when it is right to hold a consultation. For local government and other public bodies, despite Government plans to scrap it, the ‘duty to involve’ still applies. More importantly, prudent leaders know how important it can be to carry public opinion with you.

In this environment, do leaders come across as strong or weak if they visibly seek the views of the interested public? When Caroline Spelman withdrew the proposals on Forestry, the media pilloried her. Weakness, it proclaimed. But was this unreasonable? Should she instead have received plaudits for having listened?

The answer lies in the perception of your sincerity. If you can convince everyone that you really... really... really want to hear what people say, you’ll get rewarded with the benefit of the doubt. If, on the other hand, they think you have only listened because you have no choice or (as in the Forestry case) because your boss told you to do so, you can expect criticism.

So it boils down to public confidence – or trust, if you like. This is a fragile commodity that is easily compromised if you give the impression of just going through the motions. It makes it essential that specialists in public engagement and communications are ready to hand to offer their advice and ensure a high and consistent standard of implementation

Trigger points

• Have you considered undertaking a public confidence audit among your stakeholders? Will your leaders be given the benefit of any doubt when implementing controversial policies?
• Have you retained the best expertise on public engagement and deployed them where they have influence on politically sensitive decision-making?
• Lessons from recent Legal Challenges to Consultations were considered at our Manchester Seminar last week, and we are aware there is continuing interest in the subject.
• The NHS Reforms – and the likely impact on public involvement will be considered at a special Seminar/Workshop run by the Institute on 21st June, and hosted by the Heart of Birmingham Primary Care Trust.
• Watch out for the results of the latest ‘listening’ exercise on the NHS Reforms. Will they be interpreted as weakness if the Government chooses to ‘listen’?

This is the 189th 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