Whats the downside to including many people into the decision making process?
Gaining consensus is an investment in time that takes effort, patience and the ability to listen well. People new to the process can be more concerned with hearing their own opinion than collaboratively reaching agreement and shared commitment. Trust and respect come into play as group members give each other feedback on how constructive their contributions are to the larger goal. Once a team has gone through the process of making decisions as a group, subsequent consensus building takes less time. It’s great to be in a meeting where after a particular problem and possible solutions are out on the table, we simply go around the room indicating thumbs up for yes, thumbs down for no, or thumbs to the side indicating uncertainty. Depending on the level of uncertainty we take time to discuss the topic further. Otherwise we move forward. If trust is there among members of the group, it doesn’t matter how many folks are involved in the decision making process. What three things should a lead
