7 Keys for Creating Consensus

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Mike Armour is a featured headliner on C-Suite Radio

Among other things, leaders are consensus builders. That’s part of their mandate to unite people around a course of action. Achieving consensus is not always an easy task. There are countless ways in which a leader’s effort at consensus-building can be blocked.

In this episode I lay out seven time-proven principles which leaders should keep in mind when working to forge a consensus. When these principles are followed carefully, the odds for building successful consensus are greatly enhanced.

Here are the seven things which leaders must proactively promote if their goal is to create consensus in spite of diverse viewpoints.

  1. Agreement in advance to pursue consensus
  2. Group commitment to the strength of diverse viewpoints
  3. Openness to ideas and feelings
  4. Goodwill toward every person in the deliberation
  5. A fair and equitable process
  6. Determination to find a solution which is as broadly acceptable as possible
  7. Behaviors which keep trust in high repair