Building Consensus into Your Meetings

Building Consensus into Your Meetings

(see p22 Blue Book)

What is ‘Consensus’?

It literally means ‘thinking’ ‘with’. View it as a process that has certain values:

• Mutual understanding – seeking the underlying reasons for people’s positions / strength of feeling
• Listening attentively as much as talking
• Honesty – saying what’s on your mind
• Respect – for each other
• Openness – to the wisdom/experience of others

Foundation for consensus

All Forum members need to have a clear understanding of and commitment to consensus working if your LAF is to have any chance of success. This means creating a culture of consensus from the word go (see p45 Blue Book), working hard to make it grow and recognising and celebrating success when sound decisions are arrived at by consensus.

Tools for consensus decision-making

There are some basic tools that each LAF should be able to use to help their consensus capacities:

• ‘Levels/gradients of agreement’ for consensus discussions (see p47 Blue Book)
• A range of ‘decision-making’ procedures and ‘decision rules’