Quick, effective and participatory decision making

Companies and projects are complex. This means that one expert or a group of experts can not define and predict everything in great detail for the next 5 years. No, projects, companies and the world are changing continuously, making them complex. And complex matter requires a specific approach.

How do we approach certain complex situations?

• We treat every individual as an equal sensor for tension.
• We use the collective wisdom to our advantage. There is not just one truth, everyone has his/her own truth or wisdom.
• We need to experiment and learn (we need to learn to take small steps and evaluate each time)

These three items form the base of consent decision-making.

Consent decisions don't force us to choose between one thing or another, it is both (and more)! We don't need a solution that is perfect or that lasts for 5 years: we need a solution that is good enough for now (and maybe tomorrow) and safe enough for now.

"Tension is the difference we perceive as a person. The difference between the current situation and the desired situation in the future. Tension is not by default negative, tension can be positive as well."

To reach consent on a proposition, we are not looking for 'yesses' or 'no's', we are looking for objections. Objections are arguments/reasons why the plan is not good enough or save enough for now. 

Every objection is a gift, because it is an improvement, an addition in order to make the solution good and save enough. We combine the wisdom of our proposition with the wisdom that lies in the objections.

This type of decision-making does not fit all decisions that need to be made. There are different types of decision-making (autocratic, majority, consensus) and each one has its own time and place.