From the course: How to Stop Wasting Time in Meetings

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Building a consensus

Building a consensus

From the course: How to Stop Wasting Time in Meetings

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Building a consensus

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- One of the most misunderstood words in meeting parlance is the word consensus. I think sometimes people think it means that everyone has to voice their opinion, or everyone has to be 100% enthusiastic about every decision that gets made, and neither of those things are true. Consensus has to do with agreement. So when you are meeting, one of the first things you want to figure out is, what do we all agree on? Do we all agree to be in this room to have this meeting? Do we all agree that this topic is the one that needs to be discussed? Do we all agree that this is the decision that needs to get made today? And while it may sometimes feel silly to voice what you think might be perfectly obvious, it's amazing how many assumptions can trip you up in your meetings. One time I was facilitating a meeting for a theater company that was having some fundraising problems, like so many not-for-profit arts organizations do. And as…

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