The risks of mistaking agreement for consensus

Whether it's called "seeking buy-in," "getting everyone on board," or "selling it to the team," it seems that the true meaning of "consensus" has been lost many work groups and organizations.

In its textbook form, consensus is a good thing: It's a constructive process of giving all stakeholders a say and an opportunity to contribute to an outcome that's reasonably acceptable to most or all. But I see more and more groups working with the goal of getting everyone to "agree," and that's different. It's closer to seeking unanimity, which is neither productive nor progressive. It's asking for votes rather than contributions, and that can do more harm than good in several ways:

1. It stifles creativity

In a work environment where team buy-in is a goal, people with new and different ideas may feel that they have to either back off at some point and go with the program, or hold back entirely. This is the last thing any progressive organization should want. Greatness is born of creativity, and the most creative ideas are often found in dissenting opinions. Those voices need to be heard, even if they don't dictate the outcome.

2. It leads to bad decisions

Getting everyone to agree on something doesn't necessarily mean you've made a good decision. In fact, you may not have made a decision at all; you just got everyone to raise their hands and called it a conclusion. If you ask a kindergarten class if it would rather have jelly beans than salad for lunch, the decision is fairly certain to be unanimous ... but not necessarily the best.

3. It gives accountability a hiding place

When everyone is eventually forced to agree, whether literally or tacitly, the buck stops everywhere ... and nowhere. Some might argue there's nothing wrong with that -- that there can be accountability in unanimity. And sometimes it might work out: If the whole group agrees to do something that succeeds incredibly well, everyone wins and there are no complaints. But since not everything goes incredibly well in business, consensus can get in the way of learning, improving and evaluating performance.

4. It's bad for retaining talent

Study after study confirms that "being heard," and being able to contribute, are among the top nonmonetary priorities that determine career decisions and satisfaction. Mature, professional people understand that they won't always get their way. They don't expect that everything goes how they wish or suggest -- but they need to believe that their opinions and ideas are being taken seriously, and that they count toward something. Standout employees don't want to be part of a bobblehead culture.

Getting everyone to come to the same conclusion isn't the sign of a healthy dynamic, gear-meshing team culture or effective execution that some would have you think it is. Open discussion should be nurtured, ideas of all kinds embraced and disagreement invited. That's the fertile ground from which good decisions take seed.

But when all is said and done, not everyone will get their way every time, and there has to be a structure and culture in place that allows for a (hopefully well-informed) decision to be made without anyone taking it personally or feeling unheard. True consensus is neither about catering to all opinions and egos, nor suppressing them -- it's about listening, absorbing, constructing, deciding and executing.

Projects and organizations need to move forward, and at some point everyone needs to agree on that fact -- keeping things moving -- but they don't all, or always, need to agree on how. Everyone in a healthy business should be good with that.