Consensus Decision-making LO7987

Dave Birren, MB-5, 608-267-2442 (BIRRED@dnr.state.wi.us)
Thu, 20 Jun 1996 09:11 CST

Responding to David Wilkinson in Consensus Decision-making LO7951:

>It is easy to pursue consensus as the end goal -- it is kind of intoxicating
to think that we all agree. When that becomes the focus, we start to lose
sight of the real issue.

I agree with this on the surface. However, it seems to be based on the
perception that consensus means that everyone agrees. In my facilitation and
consulting work I've found that consensus can be very hard work, for both the
participants and the facilitator. It often means identifying assumptions,
challenging mental models, letting go of personal desires, and - sometimes
hardest of all - accepting someone else's way of doing things. And this goes
for both the majority and the minority in a compromise situation.

That was the extent of my response to David. Following is a brief description
of how this works, for anyone interested.

I use the question "Can I live with this?" as the criterion for consensus. If
one person in a work group says "no", his or her concerns are respectfully
identified, listened to, and adopted as group issues. Sometimes a group has to
be reminded that it doesn't matter how many people are behind a substantive
objection; if it's an obstacle, it has to be resolved. The underlying ideas
are: (1) all members of a group have equal value; (2) any substantive issue
must be dealt with by the entire group, or it's turning a blind eye to its own
work; and (3) any issue that's a big enough concern to be an obstacle
absolutely must be resolved. (I'm talking here about "big deals", not little
things like personal preferences or style differences.)

It's possible that powerful people can misuse this method, but usually the
group takes care of that.

Dave

-- 

David E. Birren Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources birred@dnr.state.wi.us Phone 608-267-2442 Fax 608-267-3579

"Teach thy tongue to say 'I do not know' and thou shalt progress." - Maimonides

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