FREE online courses on Effective Meeting Facilitation - Orchestrating The
Meeting - Decision making by Consensus
Over the past 15 years, making decisions by consensus has
gained acceptance, yet a number of misconceptions remain. Consensus is the
cooperative development of a decision that is acceptable enough so that all
members of the group agree to support the decision. Consensus means that each
and every person involved in decision making has veto power. Keep in mind,
though, that members of the planning group are team members, not adversaries.
Responsible team members use power only to achieve the best results vis a vis
the group's purpose, not for their own personal gain. In other words, if a team
member objects, it behooves the others to find out why and give considerable
thought to the concerns expressed by the dissenting member.
The remarkable result of giving individuals veto power is
that they rarely use it! If participants are reassured nothing can go forward
without their approval, they tend to relax, contributing more to the content and
worrying less about procedural matters.
Consensus does not mean there is an absence of conflict. It
does mean there is a commitment of time and energy to work through the conflict.
Consensus requires taking all concerns into consideration and attempting to find
the most universal decision possible. Groups able to make decisions by consensus
usually demonstrate:
- Unity
of purpose, a basic agreement shared by all in the group regarding goals and
purpose of the group
-
Commitment to the group, a belief that the group needs have priority over
individual needs
-
Participation, ideally no formal hierarchy equal access to
- power
and to some degree, the group's autonomy from
-
external hierarchic structures
-
Recognition that process is as important as outcome
-
Underlying attitudes of cooperation, support, trust, respect, and good
communication
-
Understanding and tolerance of differences, acceptance of conflicting views
- TIME
willingness and capability to devote time to the process
Factors working against consensus include: competition,
individualism, passivity and solution-orientation
