The best managers seek consensus but recognise when the pursuit is being abused.
I had a colleague on the senior management team who seemed to delight in frustrating the rest of the team every meeting. There was always one agenda item where she was at odds with the rest of the us. Rather than curtail the discussion and go with the majority the boss would seek consensus and the debate would role on past the allotted time, continue over lunch and into the afternoon. We came away exhausted but feeling that at least in getting a clear decision something of significance had been achieved, only to discover at a latter date that this individual was ignoring the decision. She hadn’t agreed with the decision and didn’t consider her self bound by it.
Blair Mcpherson former Director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
