From the course: Management Tips

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Building consensus

Building consensus

Let's start by getting something straight. Consensus is not about everyone having perfect agreement. That's beyond rare. And for busy professionals just like you, it's often not reasonable. What is reasonable, is to think of consensus as meaningful agreement. And it's important. Without consensus, you risk others viewing you as too aggressive or arbitrary as a decision maker. Most people understand the importance of two-way collaboration and consensus building. Having said that, there can be an odd downside to consensus building. First, it takes time to build consensus. Any additional time spent working towards satisfying everyone and getting everybody on the same page, is time spent not working on something else. Next, believe it or not, if you always make prolonged and inclusive consensus building your approach, some people will interpret that as a sign of weakness. As if you're afraid to assert yourself and make the call. Finally, don't forget, the process of consensus building…

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