When Do You Need Consensus?

A while back, a reader pointed out that consensus was a more complex issue than perhaps I had portrayed in my first post -- Forget What You Learned in Grade School: Five Teamwork Myths. After much soul searching and a reminder that the reader is always right, I came to the conclusion that the reader must be right.

Deciding whether you should pursue consensus on a particular issue is an important part of maintaining your team's efficacy and probably deserves a little more attention than a quick paragraph in the middle of a post. But this is a blog after all, so we're still going to have to keep it brief.

We can probably all agree (consensus?) that you can't seek consensus on every decision you make over the course of a workday. Often, when you seek several opinions on straightforward matters, it only serves to muddy the waters or slow progress. Here I am talking about questions and choices that arise in the day-to-day undertaking of your job. There are, however, decisions that should be left to the group as a whole. The following are some questions you can ask yourself to determine whether one or two qualified people can make a quicker decision or whether you should take the time to gain consensus.

1. Does the group have time to reach a consensus before acting on the decision, or will the time taken to do so put the accomplishment of the task in peril?

2. With the group's shared purpose and approach in mind, is there someone who could be trusted to make this decision?

3. Will the decision significantly alter the group's approach, goals, priorities or behaviors -- those things that everyone bought into at the beginning of the process?

4. Was leeway to make non-consensus decisions communicated in the early meetings that establish team behaviors and approach?

If it is clear to everyone that these questions have been asked and answered, you'll be on more solid footing, making your decision with the assurance that the group will understand why the decision was made the way it was and that their input is important, even if it's not always sought.