<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/span>Estimated reading time: <\/span>4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/p>\n I recently published an article on\u00a0how groups make decisions. One among the ways is by constructing consensus. I desired to elaborate on it today because groups can often get consensus constructing incorrect.\u00a0<\/p>\n Teams sometimes consider that the goal of consensus constructing is to get everyone to fall in\u00a0love<\/em>\u00a0with the choice. It\u2019s not. In truth, the goal isn\u2019t even to get everyone to\u00a0like<\/em>\u00a0the choice<\/strong>. The goal of consensus constructing is to get everyone to\u00a0live<\/em>\u00a0with the choice. That\u2019s an enormous difference<\/span>.<\/p>\n Let me attempt to share an example from one in every of my favorite business books, \u201cThe Abilene Paradox<\/a>\u201d by Jerry B. Harvey. Side note: I had the pleasure of hearing him tell the story firsthand at a conference a few years ago. I\u2019m undecided that I could ever tell it the best way Jerry does, so I won\u2019t even try. But do take a look at the\u00a0synopsis on Wikipedia<\/a>\u00a0\u2026 it\u2019s really good.<\/p>\n The paradox lies within the perils of groupthink, when a team goes together with a choice though individuals within the group don\u2019t agree with it. An illustration of the paradox might be the office birthday celebration. It\u2019s someone\u2019s birthday so the tradition is to purchase a cake. Nevertheless, truth be told \u2026 the cake really isn\u2019t that good. In some unspecified time in the future, someone gets the center to say something about it. Then the corporate realizes that everybody hates the cake but was going through the motions because they thought everyone else liked it. That\u2019s the paradox.<\/p>\n While the birthday cake example is easy, you may see how this could translate in the case of greater decisions. The group decides. An individual doesn\u2019t prefer it but goes together with it anyway. It seems to be a foul decision. And the person says, \u201cMe? I never liked the concept but everyone else desired to do it, so I went along.\u201d<\/p>\n