Consultations and Facilitation

Douglas has sound experience of consultation and facilitation at all levels up to Board and Management Teams from experience in chairing many national local government bodies, from five years of senior management development at Strathclyde Business School and over nine years working for Deloitte. All interviews and focus group discussions were normally structured by use of a prompt, and fully recorded.

In work on behalf of Strathclyde Business School and Deloitte for government departments and executive agencies Douglas personally interviewed several ministers and many senior politicians, civil servants and professional advisers. He facilitated Board and/or Management Team discussions in many significant UK executive agencies. Consultations in these assignments have frequently used web-based questionnaires.

Consultations for local authorities have to be sensitive to policy context and organisational culture in order to carry credibility. As a former Deputy Leader of an authority, Chair of two Scottish Employers’ bodies and Vice-Chairman of the UK APT&C Employers, Douglas has undertaken many interviews, focus groups and management team facilitations at departmental and authority levels for the assignments which are noted here, and presented to elected members in committees, councils, induction for new members and at many national conferences. Input to a recent comprehensive review and modernisation process of a City Council involved attendance at project board (Directorate) level for over a year and a web-based consultation on partnership working. Douglas is currently part of a team which is writing the standard induction materials for the 2007 intake of new councillors across Scotland.