{"id":2023,"date":"2014-10-02T00:38:54","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T04:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terrencemetz.com\/?p=2023"},"modified":"2026-04-21T13:50:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:50:56","slug":"consensus-does-not-mean-that-participants-are-going-to-be-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/consensus-does-not-mean-that-participants-are-going-to-be-happy\/","title":{"rendered":"Consensus does NOT Mean that Participants are Going to be \u201cHappy\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>A facilitator should typically avoid the term \u201chappy\u201d.<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Our effort guides a group to a common or shared understanding that they can support and not lose any sleep over&#8212;something they can \u201clive with.\u201d <a title=\"The Way People Think Affects How You Intervene to Build Consensus\" href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/build-consensus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Consensus<\/a> does NOT mean that they are going to end up \u201chappy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Look closely at the difference in meaning between the terms \u2018objective\u2019 and \u2018subjective\u2019. The \u2018object\u2019 is that outside of us that is being perceived. The \u2018subject\u2019 is the perceiver. In business, we frequently use the term \u2018<a title=\"Understanding the Method to Manage Meeting Participants with Problems\" href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/smart-measures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">objective<\/a>\u2019 as something we intend to accomplish or realize. We use the term \u2018subject\u2019 when we are referring to meeting participants, or \u2018subject matter experts\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Subject matter experts, aka SMEs, express their preferences, <a title=\"How to Facilitate Requirements Gathering (Primer Only)\" href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/requirements-gathering\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">requirements<\/a>, needs, priorities, likes, dislikes, etc. about \u2018objects\u2019 or things outside of their immediate control. Two people eating chili for example may disagree on the chili\u2019s level of spiciness. What is really hot to one person may be tepid to another. They are experiencing separate realities; they are reacting differently to the same object (the spiciness of the chili).<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2024\" style=\"width: 547px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/scoville-units.png\"><img wpfc-lazyload-disable=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2024\" class=\"wp-image-2024 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/scoville-units.png\" alt=\"Consensus does NOT Mean that Participants are Going to be \u201cHappy\u201d\" width=\"537\" height=\"466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/scoville-units.png 537w, https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/scoville-units-300x260.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 537px) 100vw, 537px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2024\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Scoville Units<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">No amount of <a title=\"How to Help Resolve Business Arguments\" href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/make-thinking-visible\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">argument<\/a> will get them to agree on whether the chili is too spicy or not. Clearly, to one, it is, while to the other it is not. They are both right from their subjective points of view. The wrong approach would be to encourage them to meet halfway and call the chili semi-spicy. That would be like suggesting one with their left foot in a pail of hot water and their right foot in a pail of freezing water should on average, be comfortable.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Objectify the Subjective<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Therefore a world-class facilitator strives to \u2018<a title=\"Beware of Overconfident Subject Matter Experts, and be Prepared to Challenge\" href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/smart-dumb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">objectify<\/a>\u2019 the subjective. Meaning, that they strive to find a common ground between both parties to which both parties agree without compromise. In the case of spiciness, we might be able to get both parties to agree that the chili is neither hot nor tepid, rather they might agree that it measures 3,000 Scoville units (i.e., the measure of pungency or the amount of capsaicin that makes peppers \u2018hot\u2019). The truly objective rating of the spiciness does not make either participant \u201chappy\u201d but it does give them a common ground about which they can argue for more or less in the specific, rather than the general.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">While one may argue for more \u2018heat\u2019 and another argues for less \u2018heat\u2019 we can now more effectively facilitate <a title=\"\u201cBrainsteering\u201d Recommends 5 Activities to Improve Brainstorming\" href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/brainsteering\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">precisely<\/a> what is meant by heat, and wisely offer options such as offering two or three types of chili.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">We are seeking agreement or consensus rather than making participants \u201chappy\u201d so please be careful when using the term, or similar terms that are \u201cqualitative\u201d by description but can be made \u201c<a title=\"When Quality Decision Making is Not Enough and Speed of Action is Required\" href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/decision-quality\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">quantitative<\/a>\u201d through strong challenge, clear definitions, and excellent facilitation.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>______<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Don\u2019t ruin your career by hosting <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/bad-meetings\/\">bad meetings<\/a>. Sign up for a <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/public-facilitation-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">workshop<\/a> or send this to someone who should. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260106090117\/https:\/\/mgrush.com\/\">MGR<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">USH<\/span><\/a><\/em> workshops focus on meeting design and practice. Each person practices tools, methods, and activities every day during the week. Therefore, while some call this immersion, we call it the road to building high-value facilitation skills.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A facilitator should typically avoid the term \u201chappy\u201d. Our effort guides a group to a common or shared understanding that they can support and not lose any sleep over&#8212;something they can \u201clive with.\u201d Consensus does NOT mean that they are going to end up \u201chappy.\u201d Look closely at the difference in meaning between the terms [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[453185961,453185953,453192187],"tags":[453190900,453192237,453190902,453192239,453192238,453190901],"class_list":["post-2023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decision-making","category-managing-conflict","category-prioritizing-meeting-agendas","tag-consensus-does-not-mean","tag-happy","tag-meaning-of-consensus","tag-objectify","tag-scoville","tag-what-consensus-does-not-mean"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Consensus does NOT Mean that 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