When you need to decide whether to build consensus or compromise

Bringing a group of people together to make a decision can be a part of many people’s jobs and can be challenging since people are people and people have opinions. I used to have a manager who said how easy it would be if everyone could just agree. The problem with this wish is this can lead to blindspots not considered and certainly does not support getting a diverse array of opinions.

Especially when there is a difficult or mission critical decision to make, you want to solicit a number of opinions to ensure you have all perspectives and that you thought through all of the implications. I find through soliciting others’ opinions, almost every time, I learn about an impact a decision might make that I was unaware of. It also helps from a pure change management perspective to be able to communicate that you sought out people’s opinions at the outset. As I have written before, people support what they help create. People want to be asked for their opinion.

I also had a senior colleague say that compromise was fruitless...no one gets what they want so why would anyone plan to compromise. I am not sure I see compromise quite this way. Compromise does not have to mean no one gets 100% of what they want. Instead, it can help shine a light on what your deal breaker is, what matters most and what are you willing to live without.

Consensus can be really hard to achieve especially if there are strong opinions that are not quite in alignment. Is true consensus ever really achieved in these circumstances? Maybe not always but through extreme collaboration, I think it is possible.

Knowing when to strive for consensus and when to compromise can be very contextual and dependent on many factors - the decision itself, the people, the culture, the impact, they need for buy-in. Obviously, some decisions may have very little impact and, therefore, compromise may not be necessary. 

Knowing when to ask and when to tell is also a delicate balance. I usually tend to think of the scale of the decision in this case. Is the decision impacting a small group? You may be able to make it and tell them of the decision. The broader the impact, the more you will want to seek others’ thoughts.

When to Build Consensus

When all stakeholders are willing to come to the table.

Having a cooperative and collaborative mindset are helpful to try and come to consensus. If people are willing to listen and given a chance to air their concerns and perspective, this lays the groundwork for achieving consensus. I will often take a break and ask for a vote after discussion. Can everyone live with this? Sometimes, you end up narrowing your scope to what you can get agreement on. This is okay and necessary in some situations.

When one direction or mission is critical to success.

For certain areas, consensus may be necessary. For example, I have led teams to come to consensus on values, organizational behaviors, a sales philosophy, a business model, a vision and mission. These areas tend to need consensus. You really need one vision or one set of company values that everyone can get behind. You may exercise a little compromise to get to the end result but the final product really needs to be agreed to and embraced by all. In these cases, however, it is worth the time to get to consensus. It is worth the time to solicit opinions since everyone will need to adopt this.

When to Compromise

When consensus isn’t necessary. 

I often think we strive for consensus when it really isn’t needed. Some cultures depend heavily on consensus to make any decision. This can be highly inefficient and cause things to move slowly. Consensus can take a long time, however, so it really needs to be worth it to achieve. 

At one point in my career, I led an advisory team to help decide annual objectives for the Learning & Development team. We came in with the premise that because we were assembling them, we must get consensus on our priorities. These meetings would be lengthy as we debated what should be the top 5 priorities of the team. In hindsight, this wasn’t a good use of time since business priorities changed and, therefore, our priorities that we spent so much time getting agreement on, would also change.

When it is important to give all stakeholders something they need or want.

In the case of operating as a support function, like Learning & Development, Marketing or IT, itis important to understand the main areas of the organization and provide some level of support to each one of them. Sometimes, for political reasons, or just simply equity reasons, all major stakeholders should get something from the decision. In my advisory team example above, we should have asked for compromise so that everyone could get something from the team to help support their business objectives. Consensus ended up leaving some groups without any help from us.

It is also important to note that compromise can be a way where everyone gets a little something. Again, my former colleague thought compromise was only a lose-lose. Compromise can be tough to truly get to a win-win but it can help get to an “okay with it-okay with it”. Most people can sense when there are differences and realize they may need to give up something to get part of what they want, which is better than nothing.

When equity is important.

Further to the above point, sometimes, getting to consensus does mean someone loses out. While I don’t usually recommend managing to the exception and not the majority, we need to be conscious that everything for the majority can leave certain groups feeling under-represented. Get clear on what matters to the organization. Sometimes, the act of compromise matters more than consensus to ensure everyone gets something and true collaboration can occur.

When consensus is impossible. 

There are times where consensus is simply impossible. You may have a goal of 100% agreement but there could be reasons why not everyone can agree. Then, it should be the fallback position to either table the main source of disagreement or try to reach a bargain where one stakeholder gives up on one area while the other gives up something else. It is important to note that these “negotiations” should be done in a small group setting or one-on-one. If there is a larger committee that is to decide, separate the dissenting opinions and work with them outside of the larger group. I have been involved in some uncomfortable settings where two leaders don’t agree and the entire group gets dragged through a negative experience.

The support for compromise far outweighs the support for consensus. This is intentional. I actually think we seek consensus far more times than is needed. Oftentimes, there is a mixture. Certain items can be agreed to while others need to be negotiated. Even though I am not in sales, I am always selling, influencing, and leading negotiations. Anyone who needs to drive to a decision is in this role. 

The most important factor in important decision-making is to ask for opinions. REMEMBER: Just because you ask, doesn’t mean you have to follow. Giving consideration to someone is just that. Asking and listening is being considerate. If you are the decision-maker, then taking all of that input is critical but then you can interpret and act based on your best thinking. Sometimes, someone’s opinion doesn’t shape the decision. This is okay as long as you circle back and tell them why. We often skip this step. This step is critical to building relationships and your credibility.