How to avoid going round in ever decreasing circles?
Struggling to build consensus? Happens to us all (unless of course you follow our top tips).
The reality is, building consensus takes concerted effort and time. But it is always worth the effort when the alternative is death by a thousand cuts or going round in ever decreasing circles. Here are our top tips to building consensus…
1. Get buy-in in stages.
Bring people with you on the journey (yep, does sound hackneyed but it is amazing how many times people skip straight to the recommendations - and surprise, surprise ‘ta dah’ rarely works).
2. Agree the problem you’re solving.
Before you do anything, build the case for change. Remember your colleagues won’t necessarily share your perspective or priorities. You need to help them understand its significance to them/the business.
3. Get buy-in to the process
When they’ve bought into the problem, get buy-in into the process that will address the problem.
Agree which stakeholders need to be involved and when, what inputs are needed, and what form the outputs will take. If everyone buys into the robustness of the approach, then they’ll more inclined to buy-into the recommendations.
4. Findings before recommendations
Sounds really obvious, but do get buy-in to the findings and agree the criteria for assessing recommendations before sharing any ideas. We strongly advocate presenting recommendations at a separate meeting to findings if anything you are sharing has the potential to be considered contentious.
5. Most influential stakeholders first
Get input to your initial recommendations with most senior/influential stakeholders one-to-one, before presenting recommendations to the wider group so you can be confident they will support you if necessary.
6. Job isn’t done til its done
Having successfully got the support of the leadership team, and gained agreement with all those directly involved in the process - do a little celebratory dance if you want to - then put equal consideration into how you communicate the change to the rest of the company and all your other audiences. You don’t want to inadvertently undermine all your hard work to date!
If you don’t have the time to do the consensus building yourself, then why not bring in an expert third party – we can recommend someone who’ll bring objectivity, seniority and expertise to the task!
Strategy
Sharpen your proposition using intelligence, insight and intuition.
Research & insights
Positioning, purpose & values
Architecture & naming
Messaging
Stakeholder engagement
Engagement
Empower and inspire by making the brand meaningful to those that matter most.
Strategic planning
Workshops
Launch events
Staff communications
Training/coaching
Direction
Keep strategy front and centre so your brand is always relevant and distinctive.
Brand reviews
Agency workshops
Pitch management
Implementation planning
Strategic consultancy