by Jane Haskell
Last time, in Making Group Decisions – Six Options, we talked about the six decision-making options: spontaneous agreement, one person decides, compromise, multi-voting, majority voting, and consensus building.
We know that the facilitator, group leader, or the group needs to choose the most appropriate method before each decision-making session. Each of these options, of course, has its pros and cons.
This month, we will dig more deeply into understanding what consensus is, when to use it (or not) and what are some of the key points we need to remember about consensus. This post wraps up with identifying effective decision-making behaviors.
Consensus Pros and Cons
Consensus building involves everyone clearly understanding the situation or problem to be decided, analyzing all of the relevant facts together, and then jointly developing solutions that represent the whole group’s best thinking about the optimal decision. It’s characterized by a lot of listening, healthy debate and testing of options. Consensus generates a decision about which everyone says, “I can live with it.”
• PROS of consensus building are that it’s a collaborative effort that unites the group. It demands high involvement. It’s systematic, objective, and fact-driven. It builds buy-in and high commitment to the outcome.
• CONS are that it’s time-consuming and produces low-quality decisions if done without proper data collection or if members have poor interpersonal skills.
Consensus can be used when decisions will impact the entire group; when buy-in and ideas from all members are essential; when the importance of the decision being made is worth the time it will take to complete the consensus process properly.
Understanding Consensus Building
The crucial importance of consensus simply cannot be overstated and must be fully understood by all facilitators. In fact, facilitation and consensus are based on the same set of core values and beliefs. Facilitators are constantly building consensus with everything they do. The following are all examples of consensus activities:
• Summarizing a complex set of ideas to the satisfaction of group members;
• Getting everyone’s input into a clear goal and objectives for the group’s activities;
• Gaining buy-in from all members as to the purpose of the session;
• Linking people’s ideas together so they feel they’re saying the same thing;
• Making notes on a flip chart in such a way that at the end of the discussion each member sees where and how they’ve contributed and is satisfied with what has been recorded; and
• Discussing and agreeing on which decision mode to use in a formal decision-making process.
Because all facilitation activities must strive to be collaborative, participative, synergistic and unifying, all facilitation activities are essentially consensus building in nature.
Hallmarks of the Consensus Process
Regardless of whether consensus is being used formally to reach a decision on a specific issue, or informally as an ongoing facilitation technique, you know the group is working consensually if:
• there are lots of ideas being shared;
• people’s feelings are openly explored;
• everyone is heard;
• there is active listening and paraphrasing to clarify ideas, and ideas are built on by other members;
• no one is trying to push a pre-determined solution; instead there’s an open and objective quest for new options;
• the final solution is based on sound information;
• when the final solution is reached, people feel satisfied that they were part of the decision; and
• everyone feels so consulted and involved that even though the final solution isn’t the one they would have chosen working on their own, they can readily “live with it.”
There are many situations in which the decisions being made are of such magnitude that consensus needs to be designated as the only acceptable method of decision-making. In these cases, the group agrees to keep discussing until everyone indicates that he or she can live with the outcome. Defaulting to voting for sensitive decisions allows dissenters to absolve themselves of responsibility for important group outcomes. If the whole-hearted commitment of all members is important to a particular decision, facilitators need to use the strategies for overcoming resistance. This involves openly asking resistors:
• What stops you from supporting this idea? What are your specific objections?
• What changes, amendments, or additions would make this an idea you could live with?
One of the major contributions of any facilitator is in helping a group overcome the temptation to “pressure” dissenters into agreement. By openly accepting and discussing differences, facilitators help members reach decisions that have been objectively explored and tested.
You shouldn’t end a consensus exercise by asking “Is everyone happy?” nor even “Does everyone agree?” At the end of even a great consensus process, people have usually made concessions and are likely not getting everything they “wanted.”
Consensus isn’t designed to make people happy or leave them in 100 percent agreement. Its goal is to create an outcome that represents the best feasible course of action given the circumstances.
Last month, while acknowledging that decision-making is rarely easy, we discussed ‘Things to Watch for in Decision-making.’ One of the things to watch for, of course, is behavior.
Effective Decision-making Behaviors
To make any decision process work, group members need to behave themselves in specific ways. These behaviors can be suggested to the group or generated as norms in advance of any decision-making session.
We also use these ideas in groups as well as training, like STRENGTHENING YOUR FACILITATION SKILLS, LEVEL 1.
Material adapted from: Strengthening Your Facilitation Skills, Level 1. Jane Haskell, Louise Franck Cyr and Gabe McPhail. Orono, ME: UMaine Extension, 2007.
Jane Haskell is an Extension Professor with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and a Featured Blogger.


