The threat is real: why 90 day consultations are not fit for purpose
Many organisations, particularly those in the public sector, make use of formal consultation processes for structural change. These will have a fixed time period (typically 90 days, depending on the nature of the change), and will usually follow a step-by-step approach which may include publication of a business case, consultation and feedback, review of feedback and finalisation of the business case, followed by implementation. Why do I think these are not fit for purpose:
the announcement of a formal consultation immediately puts people into a state of high ‘survival anxiety’, stripping away psychological safety. Staff are immediately on the back foot and unable to engage with the change consultation in a secure and fully present way. They will revert to flight or fight instincts under stress. You cannot get meaningful engagement when staff are at such a psychological disadvantage.
Most formal consultations are commenced with very little pre-planning around how staff respond to change, and how best to engage them in the change. There may be a communication strategy in place, but very little work has generally gone into planning the change strategy or the engagement strategy. In order to do this in a meaningful way you need to understand the possible ways in which staff will respond to the change and plan accordingly.
Leaders cannot fully understand the implications of the change in hand unless they have substantially engaged with subject matter experts (the people actually doing the job) - usually the 90 day process indicates the start of this engagement process when it should instead be the culmination of it. Formal process is getting in the way of meaningful engagement which would create a more secure base for staff to approach the change.
Staff often feel forced into a position of ‘compliance’ with the change, rather than truly being able to understand and internalise the rationale for it.
Invariably these processes drag out for longer than the stated period - as it becomes clear through the process that things are more complicated, that more time is needed for engagement etc. This puts staff in an extended state of ‘survival anxiety’ which can cause real harm, as well as affecting key life decisions (such as applying for a mortgage).
I’m not saying 90 day formal processes have no place - but we need to get so much better at understanding the psychological reasons for why people struggle with change, and how to build spaces where staff can engage with more safety. This means much more pre-planning, engagement and co-design before we even press the button on the formal consultation go-live.
