I have really been enjoying this discussion of concensus decision
making and have little to add to what has already been said. My
only comment was triggered by something Ben said
>We recently hired three new people, and we used team
>consensus to decide who we should hire. I had a serious
>problem with hiring one of the people who everyone else on
>the team favored. I expressed my position clearly and
>objectively. I concluded by stating that I was aware that I
>my point of view was probably not as accurate as the point
>of view shared by everyone else, and I would trust the
>wisdom of the team.
>
>At least my objections were heard. The decision was made,
>and only time will tell whether we made a good choice or
>not.
One of the disciplines I put on myself around consensus decisions
is never to say - well I was right after all. I do this because it
seem to me that it might undermine the process - the consensus
decision means that - given the data we had available we all
agreed it was the appropriate decision to make (althought it might
not be my favourite) I was heard and felt that my data was
included in the decision - the onus was on me in providing further
data to support my alternative view and I had none so I am equally
responsible and accountable for the decision we made. As we look
back with hindsight and new dat I can only say - well we made the
best decision we could given what we knew and perhaps next time I
might find more data.....
Th temptation to say I told you so is huge and sometimes I catch
myself doing it - also my husband is great at catching me - did we
share responsibility for this decision or what? If I could not be
bothered to put my point of view or get more data etc then that is my
issue and I am still jointly responsible for the decision.
Finally (not much to add eh!!) I have seen people have some kind
of code to say agreement - thumbs up and need more dialogue.data -
thunbs on the side - there is no thumbs down option - we either
dialogue and participate or consensus does not work...
Julie Beedon
VISTA Consulting - for a better future
julie@vistabee.win-uk.net
--Julie Beedon <julie@vistabee.win-uk.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>