ABSTRACT
Public sector entities may gather the opinions of employees or the general public for several statutory or strategic reasons. Sometimes agency heads want employees to participate in setting standards for new policies or to shock test proposed technical standards. Employee's input may be sought to discover their satisfaction level in their work or to pinpoint weaknesses in agency policies, practices, or leadership. Input provides a means for government agencies and nonprofits to assess if they are meeting real needs or missing the mark, as well as learn about the pending changes in their service areas. The public meeting format needs to be transparent about how decisions will be made and the meeting agenda should be designed to match the decision style. The command, confer, convene, and concede framework is helpful for leaders considering where input fits into the decision-making process.
