Building Consensus

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Building Consensus
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Overview

• What is the nature of consensus?
• What are methods of building consensus?

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Quick Write

• Write a brief paragraph about the last time a
  group of your friends decided what you would do
  for weekend fun.
• How did the group come to a decision? Did you
  brainstorm a list of ideas? Did one person push
  his or her idea until the others agreed? Or did
  you use some other method to agree on a plan?

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The Nature of Consensus

• Consensus is a mutually acceptable agreement that
  takes into consideration the interests of all
  concerned parties
• Consensus is often the product of brainstorming
• Consensus may sometimes involve a lot of talking,
  but it is not total agreement

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Henley High Adopt-a-Road Project
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Unilateral Decision

• A unilateral decision is a one-way decision
  usually made by the leader or a dominant team
  member

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Benefits of Consensus

• Gives people the sense they are part of the
  solution
• Leads to creative, responsive decisions
• Increases group member buy-in
• Encourages participation in meetings
• Keeps a group alive
• Takes the burden of decision making off the
  leader
• Leads to more-effective team performance

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Methods of Building Consensus

• Besides brainstorming, four other methods to
  build consensus are

Active listening
Being a good listener
Knowing how to compromise
Asking good questions
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Active Listening

• Active listening is two-way communication
• You pay full attention to what people say and ask
  questions if you dont understand
• Active listening actually requires active seeing
• As youve learned, sometimes people talk even
  when theyre not saying anything
• You have to be patient and read peopletheir
  motions, their faces, their eyes, and their body
  language

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Active-Listening Skills

• Avoid distraction
• Make eye contact
• Let the other person speak
• Listen for both facts and feelings
• Use body language effectively
• Acknowledge what the other person says
• Ask good questions
• Smile appropriately

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Negotiating Productively

• Negotiation is the process of bringing about a
  fair settlement through discussion and agreement
• It comes from a Latin word that means to carry
  on business
• Productive negotiations are an art because
  leaders must oversee them with skill and
  sensitivity

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Negotiating Productively

• Negotiations can be difficult participants often
  hold strong opinions
• To keep things moving, many negotiators seek the
  services of an arbitrator
• An arbitrator is a person chosen by both sides in
  a dispute who hears details of the dispute and
  gives a decision to settle it
• Most teams do not need an arbitrator, but all
  teams need firm leadership

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Techniques for Leading Negotiations

• Adopt a win-win attitudeassume everyone will
  get something of value
• Stay flexiblebe open to suggestions or offers
  from both sides
• Say we instead of you and they
• Dont talk specifics, such as numbers or amounts,
  immediately
• Let both sides fully explain their positions,
  needs, and offers

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Techniques for Leading Negotiations

• Stay as objective as possiblediscourage strong
  emotion and focus on facts
• Dont let parties get hung up on details
• Use the parking lot approachif members cant
  agree on a specific issue, park it and come
  back later
• Dont try to fix everything in the parties
  positions

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Compromising

• A compromise is an agreement between opposing
  parties to settle a dispute or reach a settlement
  in which each side gives some ground
• In a compromise, none of the parties gets exactly
  what it wants
• Each party concedes, or yields, something to the
  other
• Following a successful compromise, all parties
  feel theyve had to sacrifice something
• At the same time, they feel they got a fair deal

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Asking Good Questions

• Here are some examples of the types of questions
  Jasper might ask at a steering committee meeting.
  Questions that
• Have a focus
• Ask What do we need to have in our supply box
  by Friday? not So what are our upcoming supply
  needs?
• Are closed ended, not open ended
• Ask Connie, can you tell me why you object to
  using plastic bags in one or two sentences? not
  Can you help me understand your point?

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Asking Good Questions

• Bear directly on the issue. Ask We have six
  ponchos in case of rain, dont we? not Dont
  you hate picking up trash in the rain?
• Are objective, not personal. Ask Bryan, do you
  have anything to add to what George said? not
  Bryan, why do you always play dumb when George
  talks?

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Review

• Consensus is a mutually acceptable agreement that
  takes into consideration the interests of all
  concerned parties
• Consensus may sometimes involve a lot of talking,
  but it is not total agreement
• A unilateral decision is a one-way decision
  usually made by the leader or a dominant team
  member

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Review

• Active listening produces mutual respect between
  listener and speaker
• Negotiation is the process of bringing about a
  fair settlement through discussion and agreement
• A compromise is an agreement between opposing
  parties to settle a dispute or reach a settlement
  in which each side gives some ground

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Review

• To be a consensus builder, a leader must be able
  to ask good questions and persuade team members
  to express their opinions honestly

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Summary

• What is the nature of consensus?
• What are methods of building consensus?

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Next

• Todaybuilding consensus
• Nextleadership factors

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