Key Steps of a Consensus Process

1. How to do an internal agency’s assessment
2. How to do an external stakeholder’s assessment
3. How to select and work with a facilitator or mediator
4. Establishing a representative group
5. Establishing ground rules
6. Disclosing timing and funding constraints
7. Phases of work
8. Finalizing the Agreement

Key Step 7: Phases of Work

Ground rules usually lay out the general scope of issues, but a work plan refines this scope. The group’s next step is to agree on a list of starting issues and a general sequence for taking up remaining issues. Work plans can be flexible but should lay out the agenda for the next several meetings. Even if future agendas cannot be fixed at this time, a general work plan can reassure each party that its issues will be addressed in due course.

Six steps to reaching consensus:

There is no one right place to begin. The interviews with parties during the assessment may be valuable in determining a starting point. The meetings may begin with informational presentations from experts or participants, or with participants laying out all the issues. Or they may begin by identifying the goals they hope to achieve or criteria for the kinds of outcomes they would like to accomplish. In other instances, where emotions are running high, participants may need to begin by taking turns venting their concerns about what happened before or may happen next. Then they will be able to move toward a mutual definition of the issues and ways to address them. However the process begins, the following steps are typically taken:

1. Develop a common statement of purpose

No matter how the discussions begin, it is a good idea to develop some statement of what the end product should look like to be acceptable to everyone. This can be a common statement of goals and objectives or a general description of outcomes the group hopes to achieve. This gives the group something by which to measure the end product.

2. Exchange views and information

When parties in a collaborative problem solving process have diverse points of view about difficult issues, they need to develop a shared framework of understanding. That doesn’t mean they must agree with one another’s perspectives, but rather be able to acknowledge that others hold different views and values. This kind of understanding emerges from carefully listening to each other’s perspectives and feelings, and from a willingness to be tolerant and respectful of differences. The facilitator plays a key role by urging people to ask questions about each other’s views and by clarifying issues and feelings in ways that help people overcome misunderstandings.

Participants also educate one another. They learn about each stakeholder’s perception of the issues and the specific interests that will need to be satisfied. After they have done this, they will need to jointly define the issues to be resolved. This involves reframing the issues in ways that meet all interests. They may identify and exchange additional information to enable everyone to understand the jointly defined issues.

3. Generate options that accommodate the interests

Once the major issues are identified, participants begin developing options for addressing them. It may be useful to encourage participants to generate multiple options so they can begin to see beyond their favorite solutions. Or they may generate comprehensive proposals that attempt to address all the key issues.

The group can create these options in a number of ways. They may work on some issues through task or work groups drawn from their diverse interests. Or they may ask technical experts to help them come up with options. Or each party may develop proposals to bring to the whole group for consideration.

4. Identify criteria by which to judge the options

In order to evaluate the various options and proposals that may be on the table, participants need to establish guidelines or criteria for determining the appropriateness and acceptability of each option. The criteria should arise from the interests that have been identified. Participants may develop these criteria either before or after identifying the options, but in either case the criteria should be objective enough for them to make clear choices among the options. The criteria are applied to the options to determine which are acceptable, which are unacceptable, and which need further work or discussion.

5. Assemble the agreed upon options into a package that addresses all issues and accommodates all interests

The key to getting agreement is often packaging options in ways that can satisfy different interests. A variety of methods can be used to develop such a package as the basis for discussion and modification. Experienced facilitators are familiar with such methods.

6. Develop the final agreement

Once the group has developed consensus on a package of options, members of the group or a subgroup (or the facilitator) can begin drafting the language of the final agreement, including provisions for implementation. Parties will then review the draft and negotiate until they have a version that satisfies them. Once they have a satisfactory draft, they may wish to present it to their constituencies for review. This must be done carefully because agreements usually represent a series of trade-offs and linkages, so tampering with one element can affect the willingness of the parties to support other elements of the agreement. That is why on-going communication with constituents is so important: there should be no surprises at the end of the process. Any suggested changes are then brought back to the group for further discussion. If participants agree to make the changes, the agreement may need to be returned to constituents for another round of approval.

When the group has reached a full consensus, all participants sign the agreement. While this may be more symbolic than anything else, it can be an important sign of commitment.