Consultation Process

operational plan components The process of consultation is an extremely important concept in the context of managing an organisation. Organisations exist to create value for stakeholders and consultation is a process by which the management of the organisation aims to better understand the needs, wants and expectations of stakeholders, so that value can be created.

Consultation is an active process in which organisation management opens formal and informal communication channels between the organisation and its stakeholders.

These formal and informal communication channels might include:

Open meetings e.g. stakeholders are invited to come to an open meeting or a series of meetings
Surveys e.g. stakeholders are invited to complete a survey (paper or online type)
Focus group e.g. a select cross-section of stakeholders, small in number, are invited to attend a meeting or series of meetings
Invitation to send a written response e.g. stakeholders are invited to submit comments in writing on a proposal or plan
Informal meetings e.g. organisation management might mingle with people at an event a canvass certain ideas and see what response they get

The purpose of consultation is three-fold:

To invite stakeholders to provide advice to the management of the organisation about their needs, wants and expectations. In other words, tell the organisation what value it wants and how it can provide this value.
To invite stakeholders to comment on plans that have been created by organisation management to provide this value requested by stakeholders.
To quell any criticism that organisation management have not taken account of, or are not listening to the needs of stakeholders in developing strategic and operational plans.

There is a widespread view that if a plan is conceived without proper consultation with stakeholders then it has far less chance of successful implementation.

There is a clear need for anyone responsible for the formulation of a plan to consult with all persons who will be affected by the plan. For example, a budget for any area of organisation operation should not be set without consultation with people who work in that area of operation. Likewise, management should not construct a plan for a new sport program without consultation with people who likely be program users.

Setting an Operational Plan without consultation disadvantages the organisation because:

A lack of consultation fails to take advantage of all available knowledge and expertise
A lack of consultation makes people feel left out and creates negativity toward the emerging plan.