Building Consensus | 5 Challenges on the Way to Success

Written by Angus Thomas & Livnat Peer, Jan 27th 2021

Open communication is a pillar in open organization culture. Empowering people to debate ideas, to express controversial opinions and to listen to each other is core for enabling good ideas to emerge, for making more well informed, more thought through decisions.

A useful tool to have in your toolbox, in this context, is the ability to drive a conversation towards consensus. This post covers a few common traps one can fall into, while trying to build a consensus.

Before diving into the challenges in the process of building consensus, let’s describe the difference between debating an idea and building consensus. Debating an idea means that various people have an open conversation in which they potentially express different opinions, either lending their support, or expressing their reservations.. However there is no requirement that most people end up agreeing to a single view/solution by the end of the discussion. Achieving consensus, on the other hand, requires that there is some sort of agreement at the end of the discussion.

We’d like to acknowledge that building consensus is not always needed. In organizations, including in an open organization, normally there is an authority which is responsible for making the decision at the end of the day. This authority is the one to decide when an idea is debated for long enough, when the potential of new ideas to emerge is exhausted or not needed any longer and, most importantly, when it’s time to make a decision and move forward. So actually, often, all is needed, is an open discussion with the authoritative figure making a decision at the end and not necessarily achieving consensus.

Even though achieving consensus is not required in some situations, it doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to aspire for. The process of building consensus can deliver several benefits. It can lead to more in-depth discussions, more active listening, and can help people to understand better the strengths and weaknesses of those ideas. Working to build consensus fosters greater transparency and helps in nurturing healthy communities. Reaching consensus means that more people are on board with an idea, which can later translate into more people spreading the idea, advocating for it and working to make it successful. Reaching consensus enables you to move forward, it means you dissolved the critical objections and you can now focus on implementation or making the next set of decisions.

With all the benefits that a consensus-based process can deliver, we’re sure you are going to try and achieve consensus in the next meeting you’re on. Before you do it just take a few minutes to read through the challenges and what can go wrong when striving for consensus -

1. Miscommunication of goals -

This one is about setting expectations ahead of time.

In some cases one is interested in hearing different opinions and not necessarily to get to an agreement on what is right/wrong nor to decide what to do. In such a case explaining that you are not seeking to get everyone to agree (not seeking to build consensus), that at the end of the process you are likely to take the data and do something with it (would be good to explain what) can take you a long way. Making it clear you don’t expect a decision to come out of this discussion can prevent frustration and disappointment. People are likely to understand such a goal and to be less frustrated if you end up operating ‘against’ their recommendation or opinions. Explaining you are not seeking to build consensus can make the whole process much better to all participants. Including you.

2. Mandating a consensus -

One should be careful of using authority, consciously or unconsciously, when building consensus. When a figure with authority is driving a discussion and is interested in getting a broad agreement on a topic but people in the room don’t seem to agree, either amongst themselves, or with the particular view advocated by the authority figure, there is a trap to be wary of. If the figure keeps pushing on the idea, in some cases, an apparent consensus could be reached but it would be very much aligned with what the authoritative figure had in mind.

In such cases most people will just stay quiet and accept the opinion of the authority figure. This is about mandating a consensus and not about genuinely building one. The consensus reached in this case is ‘fake’ and doesn’t really convey the benefits that come with genuine consensus. People will keep questioning the decision, mostly not publicly but in private conversations, their motivation to spread the idea will likely be questionable and they’ll be less likely to bring enthusiasm into the process. There are various ways to avoid this trap. First, one has to be aware of her/his authority and how it can influence a discussion. The more authority a figure has the more careful/aware they should be when promoting an idea in a consensus building discussion. An alternative to avoid this trap is to be open about the situation and reinforce the openness of the process, making people feel empowered to express disagreement in the conversation. Another alternative is to find champions and advocates for the idea within the team, ahead of time, and encourage them to speak up. People are likely to feel more comfortable responding frankly to their proposals than to proposals coming from an authority figure. It’s not perfect, but this can be an effective way to see how people really feel about an idea when its not coming from an authoritative figure. There are many ways to bypass this trap however the starting point is to be aware of the situation and the power balance in the room.

3. Being right -

Some people confuse consensus with being right. The fact that one was able to build a consensus around an idea doesn’t guarantee that the idea is the right thing to do or that it is risk free. Obviously having an open conversation about an idea makes the chances of getting it completely wrong less likely, however less likely doesn’t mean it can’t happen. If the idea is risky or in the domain of exploring new territory there is a good chance you are getting it (partially?) wrong. Building a consensus can give an illusion of confidence in the path taken and this is a trap to be aware of. The way around it is simple, not to rely on consensus alone too much nor confuse it with being right. It’s wise to keep asking questions along the way and to see if a change or adjustment are required.

4. Reducing responsibility -

This one is simply a flawed motivation for building consensus. The trap is to think that by building a consensus and having a broad agreement on an idea, leaders can avoid responsibility if things don’t go to plan. It should be stated explicitly — by reaching a consensus the responsibility is not removed from the owner of the decision. At the end of the day there is a person who is responsible for the strategy or the decision at hand, and even when reaching a consensus that person would be held accountable to the results of the path taken. So build consensus to reach a better path forward rather than to escape responsibility for the path taken.

5. Moving forward -

Sometimes a consensus cannot be reached, there are honest differences of opinion within the group and listening respectfully to each other’s view’s doesn’t lead to either side changing their mind. That’s not a failure, and shouldn’t be seen as a problem. We can’t require people to have opinions other than the ones that they do, and we should be very wary of asking people to act as if their opinions aren’t what they truly are. In those cases, where no consensus emerges, it is up to the leader to decide. These are the times when the need for a leader is made clear. Often, rather than feeling powerful at those times, we can feel uncomfortable. Working with the opinions of our teams, moving forward with their consensus positions, gives us the reassurance of the agreement of others. When that agreement doesn’t exist, we can’t let our teams become paralysed. We need to decide, so that the work of the team can move on. Dealing with the disagreement, leading the team forward based on our own best judgement, and taking responsibility for the team’s direction is a vital part of the role of a leader.

Building consensus is an art. Once achieved it can lead to great results. However, when using it for the wrong reasons, or in the wrong way, it can be a destructive process.

Build consensus and be smart about it!