Consultation in the workplace

Introduction

What is consultation?

The opportunity to provide and receive information and to participate in meaningful discussion on relevant matters affecting the way we do or manage things in the workplace.

Why consult?

Involvement by all members of the team means that any workplace changes will be more readily accepted and implemented. Everyone wants to be informed and asked for their ideas. We all want to know what is happening, why it is happening and how it will happen.

Let's try to change how things have been done in the past. The biggest criticism of management is that they never consulted/asked staff what they thought or wanted! Find out how people want to be consulted and involved.

What makes good consultation?

• Being given as much relevant information as needed to make an informed and educated choice
• Time to fully consider the matters raised
• Participating in discussions leading to important decisions
• Being kept informed of discussions and decisions and being informed throughout the implementation process including any changes made

Why don't we practice consultation more often?

• Fear of proposal/ policy being rejected
• Pressure of deadlines
• Just not good at consultation
• Excuses made – it takes too long and delays the process, people are apathetic, we have to do all the work anyway, we know what's best

What are the outcomes of good consultation versus lack of consultation?

Good consultation

• Greater agreement
• Increased staff morale
• Greater commitment to the change or decision made

Lack of consultation

• Sabotage and resistance
• Disgruntled unhappy staff
• Negativity and criticism

Successful consultation

What are the steps to successful consultation?

1. Be prepared to listen.
2. Establish what people understand by participation and consultation first. Ask how they want to be consulted and how much participation they want.
3. Commitment by all parties to communication with each other, to listen and engage in discussion over change. Agreement that there is individual responsibility to be involved (not waiting to be asked or for the information to be sent). We need to be proactive.
4. Provide (accurate) information through information sessions / regular newsletters or bulletins / regular staff meetings / one to one consultation / special notice boards in lunch rooms.
5. Ensure that the change and any jargon or concepts are understood and owned at all levels (ownership of the process and of the outcomes).
6. Ask questions to encourage participation and feedback, eg:
• “If this change is introduced next week, what would be some of the desired outcomes?”
• “How would things be different if this change were introduced?”
7. Involve people in local workplace problem solving through small groups, brainstorming possibilities, identifying problems. This increases team involvement.
• Ask for their ideas:
  “If you had to do this how would you go about it?”
• Listen and rephrase. Listen for the main idea or the underlying issue. Repeating what was said helps to clarify the discussion.
• Clarify objectives:
  “What do we want and need to achieve?”
  Work together towards a clear idea of what is wanted.

Thinking things through

• Pursue continuous improvement through brainstorming or inter-departmental think tanks.  This involves as many people as possible in the planning and decision-making process.
• Regular brainstorming groups are an ideal medium for generating ideas and promoting lateral thinking in an informal environment where ideas can flow freely.
• Once the ideas are generated you need to sort out which can genuinely help the department / service / organisation.

11-point checklist to pre-test the likely effectiveness of a new concept:

1. Will it increase productivity or improve quality?
2. Is it a more efficient use of people and resources?
3. Does it improve operations or maintenance procedures?
4. Is it an improvement on present equipment or systems?
5. Does it improve safety?
6. Does it reduce waste?
7. Does it eliminate unnecessary work?
8. Does it reduce costs?
9. Does it improve current working conditions?
10. Will it contribute to better customer satisfaction?
11. Will it make a difference?

Dealing with difficult discussions and meetings

• The key is information and communication. Keep your colleagues informed of what is happening through bulletins pinned to the staff bulletin board, brief regular announcements at staff meetings, discussing concerns informally at morning and afternoon tea. Provide accurate information and facts. Answer that you don't know when you don’t have information and make an effort to find out and get back to the person.
• You are a facilitator for discussion and consultation. Stay neutral. Listen to what people have to say and take care in not feeding into criticism or negativity. Remain as an observer and this will help in not feeling defensive or personally attacked. Make a written note of any issues raised for future exploration. Bring in an outside facilitator to help mediate a potential conflict.
• Focus on the things we can have influence on. Don’t waste time on questions such as:
  “If you had the resources, what would you do differently?”
• Anticipate any questions, issues, fears, resistances. Your first hand experience and knowledge of the workplace and individuals can help in facilitating the discussion, empathising with others and creating a safe environment for others to contribute their ideas.

Helpful responses in difficult meetings

• Instead of responding immediately when one person is openly negative, critical, resistant, try to avoid being ‘set up’ by opening the question up for the group to respond. Always acknowledge the person and say things such as:
  “That's an interesting point of view, does any one have a different perspective?”
  “That's a good question, would anyone else like to respond?”
• To avoid feeling or sounding defensive when there is an ‘us and them’ comment, say something similar to:
  “I can't speak for the University /Vice-Chancellor’s Committee. I can share my ideas based on the meetings I've gone to / the reading I've done / my experience which is... Has someone had a similar experience?”
• When things get ‘hot’ or are starting to get out of control, stay calm, take a deep breath, take control of the discussion by either:
• standing up and calling for everyone to refocus on the task / issue and remind them of what you are discussing. Say something like:
  “Let's stop for a moment and remind ourselves what we’re discussing / this meeting is about... The issue is this...”
• gesturing people to stop talking for a moment (eg: holding your hand up), summarise the discussion and call for another point of view/ take a break/ get agreement that the issue should be discussed outside the meeting or needs more information, etc. Try:
  “Let's stop for a moment. Several people have brought up a number of issues in the last 10 minutes. First I heard A. talk about (...), then B. raised their concern about (...) and then C. began talking about (...). The issue we began talking about was (...). Given our limited time we can do a number of things. We can continue discussing the original issue and discuss the others at the next meeting. We may find that some of the questions / issues will get covered this way. Or we can decide to end the meeting now and think about what’s been said and decide what is a priority for discussion at the next meeting. (pause) Given the time is short my suggestion is...”
• Remember to thank everyone for their participation and ideas at each meeting.
• Follow up personally any member of staff who felt uncomfortable or dissatisfied with the process after the meeting. It may be a misunderstanding in what was said that needs clarification.