Episode 6 – How can consultation evolve decision-making and other organizational processes?

In this program Françoise Le Goff will explain how she used consultation to implement a large, complex project involving hundreds of people, millions of dollars and many different personal agendas. And, Valerie Arnold poses the question, what biases do we bring to a consultative process and how can we keep them in check?

But first, the term consultation can be confusing. To many people, consultation means the seeking of advice from an expert or to have a discussion about a specialized topic. But consultative processes represents a paradym shift potentially affecting every aspect of society. In this episode we offer universal principles to create a more effective consultative process, inspired by the Writings of the Baha’i Faith. The success of applying these principles is not limited to taking good decisions, but more widely allows us to create fruitful learning experiences that fully engage the diversity of ideas and talents of all people involved.

Trip Barthel has worked for many years as a  mediator. He has developed nine stages of consultative decision-making he believes offer participants opportunities for personal as well as organizational growth. Here is how he defines consultation.