Has Your organisation a consultation culture? – Getting the true benefits of consultation means absorbing new practices and values – amounting to a significant culture change

Every organisation has its own distinctive culture – a mixture of values and behaviours that characterises its day-to-day activities.

Cultures change. Over time they cope with new ideas, changing patterns of business or different external environments. In the public sector right now, the traditional public service ethos is having to adapt to the Government’s modernisation agenda and its emphasis on citizen choice, standards and performance assessment. On top of this comes the dramatic growth in public and stakeholder consultation.

But is your organisation merely one where existing activities and behaviours are supplemented by a number of consultation exercises? Or has there been a culture change that absorbs into the organisation’s bloodstream, a consultative approach that is both genuine and integral. Try these questions: –

• In your organisation, is it unthinkable for important decisions to be taken without being preceded by a professionally conducted, genuine consultation exercise?