Consensus Based
Decision Making
Dr. John Robert Dew
What is consensus?
A situation where a group can agree on
a course of action wherein:
 Everyone’s voice was heard.
 Everyone buys in at least 70%.
 No one has serious heartburn.
 No vote was taken, so no one won and
no one lost.

Decision Making Styles
High
Employee
Participation
Manager
consults
with
Autocratic: individuals
Manager
Decides
Low
Manager
consults with
group
Manager
Manager & lets group
decide
group
decide
Employee
Commitment
High
Discussion Process
Open
Narrow
Close
Process and Content
Must have consensus on process before
you can have consensus on content.
 Agree on how to proceed.
 Agree to use rational process.
 Agree to generate many options.

Rational Decision Making
Identify objectives.
 What are we trying to achieve?
 What conditions must be met?
 What must the best choice be able to
do for us and what conditions must it
meet?
 What else would we want?

Clarify Musts and Wants
Be clear about criteria that must be met
and agree on these.
 Discuss what you would like to see
happen and understand what everyone
wants.

Group Exercise
Suppose your organization had funds in
the budget to purchase a new vehicle.
 What objectives should this new vehicle
meet?
 Which objectives would be “musts” and
which would be “wants”?

Generate a lot of options
Benchmark others
 Seek an expert opinion
 Refer to publications
 Brainstorm Ideas
 Go shopping

Discussion
Sometimes beneficial to
discuss whether or not the
options meet the musts.
Seek verbal agreement – ask if
anyone has heartburn.
Some topics are too sensitive
or complex to discuss.
Ground rules for discussion:
Ensure that everyone has an
opportunity to speak, if they want.
 It may be beneficial to limit the amount
of time each person can speak.
 Ask if there is a consensus.
 Ask if anyone has heartburn.

Nominal Group Technique
Count number of options and divide by
3 to determine how many choices each
person will have.
 Each person selects X number of
options they prefer.
 Options with the greatest overall
support represent the consensus.

Brain writing: Combining
creative thinking and NGT
Work in groups of 4 to 6.
 Round One: Each participant writes
down 3 ideas.
 Round Two: Pass work sheet to the
next person who adds three more.
 Round Three: Pass work sheet to next
person who adds three more ideas.

Brain Writing
Issue:___________________
It may take two worksheets for groups up
to six people.
After the sheets have gone the full circle,
circulate them again so everyone can read
all of the ideas.
Each person will put a plus mark by the
three ideas they like best on each page.
The Affinity Process
Used to build consensus while
organizing a wide range of information.
 Requires active participants, lots of
“post-it” notes.
 A large wall or board.
 Each individual works alone and
remains silent.

Creating an affinity diagram





State the objective of the exercise.
Each individual writes their ideas on “post-it”
notes.
Everyone works together to organize the
notes into groupings on the wall, silently
reading and moving the notes.
Continue to everyone is satisfied with the
organization of the notes.
Record the results.
Watch out for “group think”
Illusion of unanimity.
 People are pressured to agree.
 Insiders vs. outsiders – we insiders all
agree & have to stick together.
 Self-censorship.
 Illusion of invulnerability.
