Consensus Thinking
For our purposes here, the definition of consensus is:
the process of seeking solutions that satisfy as many people as possible.
Consensus has to do with decisions. If you are trying to reach a consensus, you want everyone to be on board with the decision. It’s not that everyone is getting exactly what they want. But that everyone agrees that given all of the factors, this is the best decision. It’s like choosing a buffet restaurant, when some want steak and some want pasta. And if possible, the buffet will have delicious marbled steak and pasta with a scrumptious sauce.
Consensus goes beyond a simple majority. It is an active process to address the concerns of the minority. The goal is to mold the solution to include the maximum benefit and reduce the negative consequences.
Every solution has pros and cons.
Let’s merge ideas for the most pros and the least cons.
You might hear the term “consensus” at your workplace. Your workplace consensus is similar, but incomplete. Let’s say your Accounting Department wants new software. It’s going to affect every other department’s processes, for budgeting, reporting, timesheets, and purchasing. The accounting department does not want to make a unilateral decision. That might surprise and anger the other departments. So the accounting department sets up meetings to explain the software, and hear the reaction from other departments. They are getting employees on board with the new software. Yep, building consensus.
But at the end of the day, the Accounting Department still makes a unilateral decision. They heard from the rest of the company, tweaked their approach to the new software, and decided all by themselves. The workplace is not a democracy after all.
In our Decision Website … we want more. Our consensus seeks for equality of ideas, and equality of participants.
Guess what? There is still a power problem in the Decision Website. It’s the majority. In real democracy, the majority is a thorn. When you are lucky enough to be in the majority on an issue, you don’t have to listen to the opposing views. You are just like the accounting department, patronizingly or even empathetically listening, and then doing whatever you want.
So in the Decision Website, we need to make more rules when debating and decision making. Opposing opinions need to be addressed and not just heard. So what do we do?
For more on this problem…
There are three mechanisms that need to be utilized: solutions, blocking, and supermajority.
Challenges, Blocking, Super Majorities,
Voting techniques, Compromises.
Multiple Solutions
The Decision Website will not simply offer two solutions as we do now with Republicans and Democrats. Multiple choices will arise, offering a myriad of solutions. If a proposed solution does not compromise, it is not likely to get sufficient votes. The motivation will be to create solutions that compromise and seek consensus. Those solutions that satisfy more people will likely win the vote.
In the Decision Website, multiple people will be composing solutions and summaries for each topic and subtopic. We call those “Position Statements.” That’s where we will realize how much common ground we have in our opinions. And consequently we can work together to resolve the minor differences. That’s building consensus.
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Blocking
Blocking is just what it sounds like. If you block a decision, it is not going through until the block is resolved. Blocking is a way to force your opinion to be addressed.
But there are rules to blocking. If you initiate a block, then you have certain responsibilities. For starters, you need to clearly state the reason for the block. This procedure forces us to be more concise. For example, the position, “Taking away guns violates my rights!” needs the question, “Which rights?” Is it the right to defend myself, the right to protect the populous from tyrants, or the right to shooting sports? Once we seek to tackle all of the perspectives, we will likely find plenty of acceptable solutions.
You also need to suggest what changes will resolve the block. There will also need to be support for the block, as in a sizable number of people voting for it.
Some blocks will not easily get resolved. That’s okay. It means we need to dig deeper, go beyond our normal patterns of thinking, and explore more possibilities. Maybe we will need to resolve other problems in our society before this decision can go forward.
Super Majority
Stalemates will trigger a supermajority vote. A supermajority simply requires a higher percentage of YES voters. A decision with a valid block may require 2/3rds or 3/4ths of the population to vote YES. The block may also trigger a requirement for a certain participation level of the population to vote on the issue.
To summarize, the goals are:
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