Decision-making can make or break a team’s success. While consensus is often seen as the gold standard for team decisions, it can sometimes slow down progress and dilute bold ideas. Instead, focusing on commitment—where every team member is clear on the direction and buys into the decision, even if they initially disagreed—can drive better results. Which is best for your particular team: consensus or commitment? Let’s explore how commitment can lead to a more cohesive and effective workplace.
Key takeaways
- Over-valuing consensus can slow teams down and dilute bold ideas.
- Commitment, built on clarity and buy-in, offers another way forward.
- Reasonable people can buy into a decision that they didn’t initially agree with, as long as they know they were heard and their input was factored into that decision.
- For teams to succeed at commitment-based decision-making, they must have a solid foundation of trust and productive conflict skills.
What is consensus?
Consensus most often means a general agreement. Merriam-Webster even lists unanimity as a synonym. The word consensus can mean different things to different people, which can actually be the source of some disputes about its importance. In this article, we are using consensus to mean that the team has agreed that a certain decision or course of action is best.
What is commitment?
The Five Behaviors® model, based on The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, defines commitment as:
- clarity around decisions
- moving forward with complete buy-in from every member of the team, even those who initially disagreed with the decision
Buy-in is not the same as consensus. Not everyone will agree that the chosen course of action is best—that’s normal. However, cohesive teams cannot delay their work in hopes of first building consensus.
Commitment means that every team member agrees to give their all to whichever course of action is chosen, even if they think a different way would be better.
“In the context of a team, commitment is a function of two things: clarity and buy-in. Great teams make clear and timely decisions and move forward with complete buy-in from every member of the team, even those who voted against the decision.”
How consensus can hinder progress
Exploring consensus can be one option for team decision-making, but it shouldn’t be a team’s only method. Because consensus has a reputation for being an inclusive and empowering process, team leaders may not foresee these possible consequences.
“Too often consensus, when it comes to team decision-making, means we’re going to wait til everyone agrees. And when we do that, our decisions are usually too late, and they’re often equally disagreeable to everyone.”
Consensus decision-making can discourage bold and disruptive ideas
A discussion focused on building consensus will naturally begin to drift toward a middle ground. As this Thought Collective article points out, “The quest for consensus, while fostering a semblance of harmony, often masks an undercurrent of compromise that dilutes the potency of original thought and untested pathways to success.” A strategy agreeable to all team members is not likely to be the riskiest or most unconventional. But sometimes a business needs disruptive ideas.
Consensus decision-making can be too slow
For most groups of people, it takes time to find a solution that is equally pleasing to all. In that time, opportunities may pass you by, and other work may fall behind.
Consensus is not always possible
If all ideas have been discussed and dissected, and still the team can’t agree, then what? Work still needs to move forward.
Prioritizing consensus can lower morale
This is not true of all teams, but lower morale can be a surprising side effect of consensus decision-making. Even though building consensus sounds like it would make everyone feel included and valued, always deferring to consensus decisions can actually sap energy from team members. This can happen when the process results again and again in mediocre solutions chosen for their compromise rather than their promise. If someone keeps proposing new and exciting solutions only to be tasked to carry out another watered-down “happy medium,” their enthusiasm is likely to flag.
The consensus process can silence worthy objections
If a group knows that they need to walk away from a working session with an agreed-upon solution, agreement itself becomes the goal of the meeting, rather than innovation or discovery. Team members may have concerns about the decision the group is trending toward, but they keep these concerns to themselves so they don’t disrupt the consensus. Groupthink wins, and later, problems arise that could have been avoided.
The power of commitment in decision-making
Consensus-building is just one of many team decision-making methods. There may be times when it works for your team, but it shouldn’t be your only option.
Another method to consider is commitment. You may have heard the phrase “disagree and commit,” a management principle used at some well-known companies. This philosophy illustrates that people should be able to support the work their team is doing even if they had a different idea of how to do it. If you are committed, you’re not dragging your feet or secretly hoping the idea fails because it wasn’t yours.
Commitment on a team means every team member is clear about priorities and their specific calls to action. They are confident everyone is committed to the decision. They do their best to support the group decision even if they initially disagreed with it.
A team that fails to commit:
- Creates ambiguity among the team members about direction and priorities
- Misses opportunities due to excessive analysis and unnecessary delay
- Breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure
- Revisits discussions and decisions again and again
- Encourages second-guessing among team members
A team that commits:
- Creates clarity around direction and priorities
- Aligns the entire team around common objectives
- Develops an ability to learn from mistakes
- Moves forward without hesitation
- Changes direction without hesitation or guilt
From The Five Behaviors® Team Development profile
Practical steps to build commitment in teams
“At the end of every meeting, cohesive teams must take a few minutes to ensure that everyone sitting at the table is walking away with the same understanding about what has been agreed to and what they are committed to do.”
Achieving commitment is only possible when the team has mastered trust and productive conflict, the first two behaviors in the Five Behaviors model. Without trust, many team members won’t be comfortable speaking up or disagreeing. Without conflict skills, many perspectives and opinions will go unheard. People will only commit to a team decision if they know everyone has been heard.
An absolutely critical aspect of commitment-based decision-making is to make sure everyone has had their say. This is the leader’s responsibility, but individual contributors should also take responsibility for speaking up and making sure others are heard. Patrick Lencioni: “It’s as simple as this. When people don’t unload their opinions and feel like they’ve been listened to, they won’t really get on board.”
Mine for confusion, leave with clarity. Make sure everyone has all the information. The Five Behaviors® Team Development profile says, “Team members will be unlikely to commit to decisions that seem vague or incomplete. After all, how can you really commit if you’re not sure what you’re committing to?”
Tie the decision to the greater mission. How does it support organizational priorities and goals? Remind everyone of the “why” of their work.
Read more: Achieving commitment on your team
People commit to causes, not to plans.
Overcoming resistance to commitment-based decisions
Commitment doesn’t mean blind agreement. It means moving forward together, even amid doubt.
First, be clear about your definitions of words like consensus, buy-in, and commitment. Refer to the start of this article, or draft your own definitions as a team. Commitment thrives on clarity, so make sure everyone is speaking the same language.
Be transparent about how decisions are and will be made. Do team members know how much they are expected to weigh in and what happens in case of disagreement? Do they know they are encouraged to engage in productive conflict around ideas?
Test out different decision-making methods with the team: consensus, consent, commitment, majority, etc. Talk about which method(s) help your team and work get stronger.
Admit that once a decision is made, the outcome may be uncertain, and the course may need to change.
Engage in activities for teams to practice behaviors like problem-solving and giving feedback.
Again, the #1 way to succeed in commitment-based decision-making with your team is to establish a foundation of trust and conflict skills, so build up that foundation with a tool like The Five Behaviors® Team Development.
Commitment is healthiest when it is not without doubt but in spite of doubt.
The role of leadership in fostering commitment
In addition to what we’ve discussed above, it is the leader’s responsibility to ensure clarity. At the end of each meeting, or any time a decision is made, make sure you’re taking the necessary time to make the next steps clear. Lencioni suggests asking “What did we decide here today?” and writing it out on a whiteboard.
The leader must gather perspectives from everyone and ensure that all ideas, dissents, and concerns have been heard. It is wise to establish team ground rules around communication practices and engaging in productive conflict.
The leader may also need to make the final decision if the group has not agreed.
“How do you make a decision without consensus? That’s where the leader comes into play. When everyone on a team weighs in, the leader hears all those opinions and says, ‘Okay, I have to break this tie.’ Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, reasonable people can buy into a decision that they didn’t agree with, as long as they know they were heard and their input was factored into that decision.”
DiSC styles and commitment
Each DiSC style has natural strengths and weaknesses around practicing commitment.
Strengths around achieving commitment:
- D styles: Results-focused nature means they are likely to support a decision they think will get them to the finish line, even if they initially disagreed.
- i styles: Relationship-focused nature means they enjoy working toward a shared goal.
- S styles: Because S-style people prioritize support over ego-driven pursuits, they excel at contributing to team goals.
- C styles: They enjoy making decisions using objective information and are less likely to be swayed by emotion or intuition.
Areas to improve around achieving commitment:
- D styles: Because they want to move quickly, they may forget that not everyone in the group has had a chance to weigh in.
- i styles: Prone to impulsiveness, so may be tempted to head off in a new direction, rather than sticking with what the team committed to.
- S styles: May keep their opinions and doubts to themselves. Then, because they didn’t weigh in, they may not fully buy in.
- C styles: If they don’t agree with the chosen course of action, they may be tempted to quietly do it their way anyway, or to focus on their own objectives instead.
Read more about how individuals can improve commitment skills: Be a better teammate: Commitment
Clarity + buy-in = commitment
Shifting the focus from consensus to commitment can transform the way teams operate, fostering a culture of clarity, decisiveness, and shared responsibility. While consensus can sometimes lead to stagnation or diluted decisions, commitment ensures that every team member is aligned and ready to move forward with confidence. By embracing commitment, leaders can create a more dynamic and resilient team, capable of making timely decisions and driving meaningful progress.
