Greetings,
In my work with several task teams, leadership teams, and other groups, we
have derived the following definition of "consensus" decision making
(enhanced from a definition provided by Tammie Plouffe of the Levi Strauss
company ;-):
"I have had an opportunity to express my views and/or feelings. I believe
that I have been heard and understood. If I were making this decision on my
own, I may not go in the direction that this group is going. However,
because I have had the opportunity to influence others and truly feel they
understand and respect what I think and/or feel, I am willing to actively
support this group+s decision."
In order to arrive at such a consensus...
Through conversation and dialogue, each individual will have an opportunity
to share their perspective regarding the decision. As consensus appears to
emerge, the facilitator will state the group+s apparent position and ask for
commitment to the stated position. It is possible for individuals to
disagree and commit to the decision. However, commitment will require
demonstrated support of the group+s decision throughout implementation.
At any point, individuals are encouraged to ask for more information or
further conversation if they are unable to commit to the decision.
Individuals may also request postponement of a decision to permit further
consideration and/or information gathering. After further information is
gathered by the group and/or the individual feels the group has given
sufficient consideration to this additional information(24-48 hours?), the
facilitator will again ask for commitment to the group+s consensus.
>One of our associates, Tom Kayzer who wrote, ' Mining for Group Gold '
>shared with us his research that the statement of consensus decision making
>that includes 'can live with it' lets people off the hook and is too soft.
Agree - which is why we include the phrase "actively support this group's
decision"
>When teaching facilitating skills, we suggest a definition which is
>"Consensus means that each group is willing to support it." Then we spend
>time bringing clarity to what support looks like in terms of behaviours.
I like the idea of defining behaviours...could you share some of these?
All the best,
--
James Ray
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"No amount of sophistication is going to allay the fact
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all your decisions are about the future." -- Ian E. Wilson
--AMS!SOLUTIONS3!jamesr@attsolhq.attmail.com (Ray, James)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>