Final Answer?: Consensus or Collaboration

Spoiler Alert: Not the same thing! In my view, consensus driven decision making is not the way to go.

If you want some back up, “nothing is what happens when everyone has to agree” – Seth Godin

The main difference comes down to decision-making authority and responsibility for the outcome. Consensus means the group decides together. Collaboration, one person has the ultimate authority.

 Let’s break it down a little more.

Consensus means everyone discusses and debates different courses of action or solutions and the group addresses everyone’s concerns until everyone generally agrees.

Collaboration means gathering as many opinions, perspectives, and expertise as possible and then someone makes the final call and is responsible for the outcome.

Why do I think collaboration wins the day?

Speed!

 “There are no companies that make good slow decisions” – Larry Page. Ok that may be an overstatement or simplification but speed does matters.

Addressing everyone’s concerns until they get comfortable takes time. It can lead to meeting after meeting with no decision, you know the feeling when you walk out and have no clue what the point was or what to do next. There is endless debate. Nobody wants to be responsible for the outcomes and in a group it’s easy to hide and procrastinate (quietly blaming the group). 

When you were a small team it may have worked, you likely had a flatter organizational structure, but when that “core” team starts to be 8, 9, 12 people it becomes a challenge. Who really needs to be in the zoom room?

Fail fast. That’s what they say. Experiment early and often. Iterate. Well consensus chips away at the value of experimentation. It’s expensive if you think about it that way. Time is money. Money is money – investing until you eliminate uncertainty or reach perfect. They also say, perfect is the enemy of progress. Thank you Winston Churchill.

Alignment Trumps Agreement

In his 2016 letter to shareholders, Jeff Bezos described his decision-making strategy as “disagree and commit.”

I think commit is the key word. Collaboration does not mean everyone has to agree. You should provide a forum for team members to communicate their ideas, perspectives, and positions but, ultimately, if you are transparent about the process and decision-maker, people know they may end up disagreeing with the decision and understand there may be factors beyond the scope of their authority. They accept the decision.

More than that, when you give people the opportunity to be heard you build trust. When here is disagreement, Besos will ask  “Look, I know we disagree on this but will you gamble with me on it?” Yes, they will gamble if they trust you. They will also stick by you when you make the wrong decision. You build trust by actively listening and valuing what they have to say (and by empowering them by pushing decision-making down as much as practicable!).

Collaboration means working toward a common goal. Means working together to execute on the decision. What you achieve is alignment around the objective, you achieve buy-in which is how you get commitment and motivation. The opposite sucks.

Who Wants to Compromise? 

By definition compromise is a trade-off, giving something up in exchange for the other person doing the same. Arriving at the lowest common denominator. Not saying it’s not super valuable – hello relationships! But does it get you to the best outcome in business? Or is it lose-lose?

If you think about it as politics (and every office has some) it feels more like bartering. I will withhold my “yes” vote until you give me what I want. For example, allocating resources. If everyone does not agree what will drive the most revenue – should we stick with what’s working or experiment, or product doesn’t mean anything without marketing, etc. - you will look out for your department. Yes, spreading it around may be a terrible idea! 

You also have the potential for groupthink. What can happen when the group desires harmony and consensus, that its members ignore common sense and the willingness to present alternatives, criticism, and unpopular decisions.

I used to counsel corporate boards on best practices. I always said there has to be at least one director willing to ask the questions, to push back, to seek to uncover bias.

Is collaboration win-win? Does it get you to the best outcome? Well I think it gets you to a better answer. You are taking into account unique perspectives, expertise, and opinions. This diversity opens your eyes to new possibilities and solutions. Ultimately, someone weighs all of these inputs and makes the best decision for the business overall not anyone individual or team.

All of this is not to say you don’t have collaboration in the consensus model. However, when it comes to decision-making there is a clear difference. Someone makes the final call.