Four pages Film analysis paper
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CollaborativeConsensusanintroduction.docmCommunication in the Workplace
Collaborative Consensus: an introduction
The root of consensus is the word consent, which means to give permission. Consensus is a collaborative team process to reach a decision, in which the input of all members is carefully considered, and a decision is created that best meets the needs of the team. It is a process of synthesizing the knowledge and experience of all the members into the best decision possible. When a member consents to a decision, he or she is giving individual consent to take action congruent with the decision. Thus, the decision is unanimous –– even though it probably was not the first choice for all members.
Helpful definitions
Action plan: A sequence of steps that must be taken, or activities that must be performed for a goal or strategy to succeed. The steps or activities are called action items.
Adherence: Being committed to or supportive of an idea, program or philosophy and acting accordingly. Being congruent with one’s preference. A significant characteristic of a Hig-functioning team.
Authoritarian-directive: A style of management, in which the managers dictate policies and procedures, decides what goals are to be achieved and directs and controls all activities without any meaningful participation by the subordinates. This style demands unquestioning compliance from employees. It’s characterized by the imposition of specific directions and instructions as to the desired, acceptable and unacceptable activities within the organization. Sometimes referred to as “Command and Control.”
Collaborative communication: The cooperative process of communicating in a mutual and congruent fashion. It’s characterized by a mutual exchange of speaking and listening, which fosters highly functional interpersonal relationships and team cohesion. A communication style modeled and encouraged by Hig-functioning leaders.
Compliance: Conforming to the wishes of others without changing one’s private attitudes. A person appears to agree with another, but actually keeps his or her dissenting opinions private. Typical behavior of a sycophant. A significant characteristic of an authoritarian-directive system.
Collaborative consensus: A decision making process that seeks a unified decision via a collaborative process. While the decision is not necessarily any member’s first choice, the decision is recognized as the best option for the team, and is one that all participants will accept and support. A significant characteristic of a Hig-functioning team.
Compromise: A way to reach agreement in which each person or group gives up something that was wanted to end an argument or dispute. A common result is a grief-like state of dissatisfaction, which often leads to resentments and passive-aggressive resistance to the agreement. A significant characteristic of a low functioning team.
Empathy: A person’s cognitive and emotional accompanying of another person into the other’s frame of reference and understanding and appreciating the other’s thoughts, feelings and actions. Relating to another in objective fashion.
Empower: Inspire self or another to be self-directed toward positive, healthful and productive action. A significant characteristic of a High-functioning team.
Enable: To consciously or unconsciously, and usually compulsively, prevent self or another from experiencing the consequences of certain behavior and the potential inherent lessons. Toxic helping.
High-functioning: In a workplace, an employee or group of employees that exceed expectations of average performance.
Majority rule: A decision making procedure that provides the power to the majority, usually constituted by fifty percent plus one of an organized group, whose choices are binding upon the whole. It is the traditional decision making format most often used in voting bodies.
Non-negotiable: A rule or policy that is not open to change or discussion:
Optimum: The amount or degree of something that is most favorable. Greatest degree attained or attainable under implied or specified conditions
Synergy: The result of the efforts of a Hig-functioning team in which the total effort is greater than the sum of the individual efforts.
Unanimous: Having the agreement and consent of all.
Why use consensus?
Not necessarily every member’s ideal choice
In an open forum, some team members are likely to disagree with other members’ ideas and proposals, but eventually, through collaborative teamwork, every team member will agree with a unified decision and fully support it, because the decision is the best one the entire team can achieve at the current time. To achieve a unanimous decision, a high-functioning team will invest time and effort, while using a variety of collaborative techniques, including collaborative communication, consideration of all member experiences, thoughts and feelings and all the opinions and evidence, along with problem solving, conflict response and continual clarification and modification.
Collaborative consensus is not compromise
The collaborative consensus process is not compromise. Compromise implies a member will give up or lose his or her choice, while collaboration means all members work toward the best decision possible under the current conditions.
Consensus seeking team members must be willing to work together to find solutions that best meet the needs of the team. A successful consensus process empowers synergy –– the total effort is greater than the sum of the individual efforts.
The collaborative nature of consensus stands out from the competitive, and often oppositional, dynamics of voting by majority rule and authoritarian-directive, imposed decisions. In a consensus process, the team members strive to find the best solutions via teamwork. High-functioning leaders establish shared leadership and participation, which empowers all members to make the best decision. The longer the team works together, the easier it is to be collaborative, overcome conflicts, and the consensus process becomes natural and casual.
Significant characteristics of consensus include collaborative communication, honest sharing of thoughts and feelings and a strong trust in the process and in the team members. Team members use their collaborative communication skills to share ideas and feelings along with empathic listening, and, as a result, they develop respectful and trusting relationships with each other.
The heart of consensus is relationships built on intent to cooperate and to be trustworthy
Consensus seeking team members must be willing to work together to find solutions that best meet the needs of the team. The collaborative nature of consensus stands out from the competitive, and often oppositional, dynamics of voting by majority rule and authoritarian-directive imposed decisions. In a consensus process, the participants strive to find the best solutions via teamwork. Significant characteristics of consensus include collaborative communication, honest sharing of thoughts and feelings and a strong trust in the process and in the team members. Team members use their collaborative communication skills to share ideas and feelings along with empathic listening and, as a result, they develop respectful and trusting relationships with each other.
Adherence vs. compliance
Because the decision making process is collaborative, it has a much higher rate of success than a compromise based decision, which leads to unhappy, resentful team members, enabling compliance vs. adherence. Compliant team members are forced to go along with the majority, which raises the risk for dissention, undermining and even sabotaging the action plan. When member actions are an outcome of adherence, there is little or no need for “policing” the team members for non-productive activity.
Before a decision is reached, all members share their thoughts and feelings and no decision will be finalized until every member is comfortable enough with the decision to fully support it. Since the final decision is not necessarily any member’s first choice, the process must carefully sort through every idea and concern until the team arrives at one that’s recognized as the best option for the team and one that all members will accept and support.
Collaborative Consensus : core components
Except for non-negotiable items, all decisions are based on seeking unanimous consent and adherence to the decision.
The premises
Given adequate guidance and respect, team members will move toward consensus based decisions
Genuine consensus decisions will be achieved when the members have had
The opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings
The sense that they’ve been heard and respected by the other participants
In a collaborative consensus process, the members are trying to win agreements –– not arguments
In some cases, the process will be slow and tedious. In some cases the decision’s action plan will be made in limited steps, and the initial action plan might be initiated on a trial basis. It will be monitored and evaluated for effectiveness. If the process or outcomes are not producing optimum results, they’re analyzed and modified via the collaborative consensus and collaborative problem solving models. This is a continual process of a high-functioning team –– to discover, initiate and maintain optimum results.
And in most cases, upon monitoring and evaluating it, the team will modify the action plan with ideas that were originally presented but not incorporated into the trial action plan and with new information gained while the plan was being carried out. In all cases, the team will move respectfully and productively through the process, relying on trusting relationships. There will be no subgroup of resentful, outvoted and disgruntled members that will undermine, sabotage or ignore the decision.
Participants must understand the process.
Education for all team members is critical to the consensus process. All team members must have a basic understanding of the process, how the team applies it and what the expectations are of the members and of the team as a whole.
Team decision-making isn’t like individual decision-making or like other groups such as families and politicians.
Cornerstones of consensus based decisions
Adherence to objectives & methods
Synergy
Develops more options then any one member can
Find solutions to issues & problems that all members support
People in most groups
Bargain
Compromise
Vote
And pass decisions that no member fully understands, or is committed to
Members will support decisions that reflect the input of all members
Consensus decisions take time and patience
Members express their minds when input is respected even if there’s disagreement
Areas of agreement widen with discussion & respect for all input
The team will reach a point where problems, issues & disagreements disappear
Members then see they’re approaching a decision that’s acceptable to all
The consensus process typically goes through 4 stages
The discussion
Collaborative communication empowers team members to freely share thoughts, opinions, feelings, ideas and proposals
Members respond to each other’s contributions
Some opinions will likely change as the discussion continues
The proposal
The facilitator seeks the common areas of understanding and agreement
Summarizes them for the team
Common ground emerges from the discussion
As common ground is clarified, the thoughts and ideas are synthesized into one or more proposal statements
The action plan
The action items are created
The action items are integrated into an action plan
The recorder puts the action plan in writing
The modifications
The action plan is carefully reviewed and discussed for agreement and dissention
The problem solving and conflict response models are helpful
The plan is modified to meet the needs of the group until consensus is reached
The recorder puts the revised action plan in writing
The modification stage might take place over the course of several meetings, allowing for research and participants to carefully consider the revised action plan.
Consensus agreements need little or no enforcement
Once an agreement is made, and everyone gives their consent to it, the agreement is fortified by honoring the process and member relationships. Action plans made by consensus are self-enforced and rarely require action other than review of the plan.
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