Consensus or Confrontation?

When we are inexperienced in managing people and processes, saying "no" seems to be the easiest way to follow the rules and achieve objectives. We might use longer phrases and speeches, even though the message is clearly "no". We might cite the rule book or resort to long-winded versions of "because I say so", but the effect is the same.

Over time, we learn to become more sophisticated in accomplishing our objectives, including guiding staff in following rules. To the impatient, time spent on cooperation and consensus feels wasted. To the far-sighted, they are the perfect tools both for achieving immediate objectives and developing allies before the next challenge.

Managing staff and getting along with others does require compromise; therefore, identifying our core needs is essential. When we are sure of exactly what we need, we can ask for what we want and compromise on everything but the core need.

As we become known as a leader who can build consensus, we build the opportunity to use confrontation with great effect. People will recognize our refusal to change as a signal that an essential need is being defended and usually they will grant us our needs. More often, however, consensus can be reached before confrontation is ever employed.