Consensus Through Conversations

How to Achieve High-Commitment Decisions

Larry Dressler

• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN: 9781576754191
• eBook ISBN: 9781609943325
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Decision Making
• Index: Business

Real organizational change isn't brought about by decree, pressure, permission, or even persuasion. Sustained change comes when people are passionately and personally committed to a future that they have helped to shape. If you want to turn your organization's cynics into owners, give them a voice in the decisions that impact their work. Consensus Through Conversation shows how.Consensus is a cooperative process in which all of a group's members develop and agree to actively support a decision. It's not mere acquiescence--consensus goes several steps beyond, transforming people from resigned instruction-followers to dedicated champions of an idea. Larry Dressler shows you exactly how to prepare for a successful consensus-building process, takes you step-by-step through that process, and offers tips for success and traps to avoid. Throughout, he provides a host of tools and examples that make this an eminently practical and immediately useful guide.Consensus Through Conversation will give you the tools you need to use consensus effectively in your organization. It is a handy, vital reference that you will turn to again and again in your efforts to tackle high stakes issues, make high quality decisions, and build enthusiasm and commitment to action.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction: The New Rules of Decision-making
• Chapter 1: What is Consensus?
• Chapter 2: How do I Prepare?
• Chapter 3: What are the Basic Steps?
• Chapter 4: How do I Work with Disagreement?
• Chapter 5: Six Traps that Undermine Consensus
• Chapter 6: Ten Tips for Better Consensus Meetings
• Chapter 7: Toward High-Commitment Decisions
• Resource Guide
• Index
• About the Author