January 2000 | Facilitation Skills
During a quality improvement project, decisions are made continually as the team moves toward its two major decisions: the cause of the problem and the appropriate remedy to solve it. These decisions depend on many smaller decisions the team makes as it proceeds with its mission.
January 2000 | Facilitation Skills
A team reaches consensus when all team members can support a particular choice. Some members might not favour the choice, but they can proceed on the basis of the choice, and not one will oppose it. In other words, decision by consensus does not require:
• Agreement by all
• A majority vote
• Complete satisfaction by everyone
January 2000 | Facilitation Skills
Multi-voting, Nominal Group Technique, and Selection Matrixes can give a result – a selected decision. Because they are structured and provide equal participation for all team members, they help build consensus, but they do not guarantee consensus. Once a decision has been proposed from one of these methods or from simple discussion, consensus must still be achieved.