I have served on many committees and most tried to achieve consensus when members had opposing points of view. Consensus has always been considered an amicable compromise . . . a way to avert an impasse and move on with business. Getting members that disagree to ‘go along’ with the decision of the majority, thus reaching consensus, accomplish this.
Unfortunately, we mistakenly equate consensus with 100% agreement.
Consensus is in conflict with the purpose, goals, and working approach of real teams. This may sound confusing and conflicting but stay with me.
The objective of a team (identified by Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith as a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable) is to achieve a purpose that a group of people working independently could not accomplish. And, the most powerful force for effective teaming arises from a common performance purpose, common team goals, and a commonly agreed upon working approach.
The key is in the word ‘common.’ And common is quite different from consensus since it integrates the best of opposing viewpoints to accomplish the vision, the common goal.
Consensus results when opposing viewpoints are expressed but disagreeing members are encouraged to ‘voice agreement.’ There are two specific dangers: 1) each member is given ‘veto’ power at any time, and 2) members opposing the consensus decision agree to agree in word only.
Another danger is that consensus leads the members to accept compromise solutions instead of working to integrate the best of opposing views, which requires team members to learn that common and shared directions, clear goals, and disciplined working approaches do not require 100% intellectual and emotional agreement.
In essence, if a group of individuals call themselves a ‘team’ yet fail to commit themselves to a common purpose, common performance goals, and common approach, they really are not a team and leave themselves open to members not supporting consensus decisions once outside the room.
Don’t be fooled into working towards consensus. The results are always less than optimal.