Coalitions and Consensus

Picture the scene; it’s 1992 and a group of PMI training delegates are learning a series of consensus-buildingtools. The first task is to agree the meaning of the word. Still in the shadow of the 1980’s, consensus had a bad name amongst many.

So in our training and consulting programmes we always work first to agree on a definition of consensus; “a decision that all will support, even if some have reservations”. The test of a consensus decision is not in the room, at the time, it’s later - do people still support it, or do they dismiss it, undermining the decision and the way it was reached.

Why are PMI so enthusiastic about consensus then? It’s because we have learned that any kind of organisational transformation needs support from all, and it’s rare indeed for none of the participants to have reservations. Since 1992 we have used many of the quality tools in building consensus, as many PMI graduates reading this will know, ranging from an affinity diagram to a system map, or perhaps a PDPC contingency analysis.

20 years on and, consensus still doesn’t have a very good name in politics, but this year the electorate left their representatives with not much choice. The nation has watched as  it has  been developed with Conservatives and Liberal Democrats spending many hours together before agreeing their coalition terms. The longer it took, the more options were explored, the greater the chance that participants have developed their understanding to agree to something they previously had not thought of, or did not believe in.

So in 2010, if you were to visit a PMI consultancy and training session you would see consensus being built, using tools that have decades of development that reassure everyone that their voice is being heard, and that lead the group through a logical process that arrives at actions. Time and again these actions have led to unprecedented change and achievement. Hopefully something similar will be under way in the new coalition government, and that the UK can look forward to unprecedented achievement in that field as well.

If you are looking at how to build consensus and manage change then call us on +44 (0)1676 522766 and talk to one of our expert consultants.