Consensus

1
Consensus

• Wisconsin CIFMS Stakeholders Group
• July 19, 2005
• Thomas J. Delaney, Ed.S., M.A.
• North Central Regional Resource Center

2
Consensus in General

• Two or more persons making mutually acceptable
  decisions for themselves.
• Involves a process of dialogue for success.
• Collective decision-making produces more powerful
  results than that done by individuals.

3
Consensus in General

• More important, or more useful, to a group for
  some situations than for others.
• Requires an investment of time, resources,
  commitment, and effort to be successful.
• More possible when commitment and creativity are
  used to search out the common good.

4
The Person and the Community

• Two levels of decision-making in consensus
  building, the personal, and the communal.
• Personal decisions concern trust, integrity, and
  motivation to participate in collaboration.

5
The Person and the Community

• Communal decisions concern how to best integrate
  diversity to produce mutual benefit.
• Personal decisions can wield great power over the
  quality and benefit of communal decisions.

6
Some Personal Decisions

• What do I look for when I am making the decision
  whether or not to trust someone?
• How do I make sure that the person I am is the
  same person I am asking people to see me as?
• When are the times that I feel motivated to
  collaborate with others, and why?

7
Some Communal Decisions

• How do we recognize and seek to integrate all of
  the perspectives offered by persons?
• How do we ensure that legitimate points of view
  are represented and integrated in consensus?
• How do we respond when a consensus does not seem
  attained, or attainable?

8
Consensus Process

• Information on the decision to be made, including
  that it requires a joint decision.
• Dialogue to develop a knowledge pool for decision
  making, and to identify common good.

9
Consensus Process

• Proposal of decision options that seek to benefit
  all involved and be mutually acceptable.
• Collective decision to accept a proposal and to
  proceed in unison.

10
CIFMS Stakeholders Consensus

• What is consensus for the Group?
• When is it important or useful for the Group to
  seek a consensus? Is it today?
• How do members of the Group indicate their
  commitment to engaging in consensus building?

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CIFMS Stakeholders Consensus

• What information does the Group need, and how is
  it best presented to the Group?
• How does the Group best dialogue toward a
  consensus that integrates all perspectives?
• How are decision options proposed, and how are
  they to revised to integrate perspectives?

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CIFMS Stakeholders Consensus

• How does the Group make a collective decision to
  accept a proposal and to proceed onward?
• How does the Group respond when a consensus does
  not seem attained or attainable?
• How does the Group formally recognize that it has
  successfully attained a consensus?

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Lets go!