Building Consensus Within Process Development Teams

Gathering and analyzing data may go smoothly within a lean Six Sigma project, but unexpected obstacles in the form of a discordant process development group. It is not uncommon for a certain amount of conflict and disagreement to arise during the process improvement efforts, but this does not have to grind progress to a halt. Developing a consensus within the group can return lean Six Sigma efforts back to the desired scheduling.

Building consensus within the team does not mean that everyone has the same opinion or completely agrees with a decision. It means, however, that the group arrived at a decision representative of all members' concerns. For this to happen, members must have equal opportunity to express their concerns and opinions, after which the group comes to a decision.

Consensus Building Tools

To redirect the lean Six Sigma efforts of a deadlocked team, consensus-building tools should be implemented within group interactions. The more effective tools will:

  • Assist progression of the discussion to prevent it from wasting time and effort by needlessly repeating the same issues.
  • Reduce the importance of connecting a particular idea with the person responsible for it.
  • Discourage the formation of cliques and power struggles within the team.
  • Discourage conformity and compliance in response to peer pressure.
  • Offer protection from reprisals threatened for openly disagreeing.
  • Support comparative decision-making
  • Encourage the display of respect for strong opinions.
  • Encourage active comparison of all options.
  • Adhere to mathematical rules, if applicable.

With these criteria in mind, the tool selected for use should fit the group's style of operation and requirements of the lean Six Sigma project to which it was assigned. Some options include:

  • Multivoting - This is an effective method for reducing long lists into more manageable lengths. Team members choose a designated number of items from the full list. Items selected by the majority remain open for discussion, while the others are removed.
  • Rating scales - Each item under consideration is numerically ranked to structure discussion rather than make a final decision. For best result, neither use a range of ratings that is so wide it skews results nor so narrow that it does not accurately reflect the team's opinion.
  • Multi-criteria voting - Identify the most significant criteria for the team's final decision, and then rate each option under consideration accordingly. This form of voting is often done via a matrix.

No matter what methods are used, building consensus within a lean Six Sigma process team is imperative to keep the project effective and on schedule. By using techniques to reduce the number of options and invite careful consideration, the team's final vote yields a consensus-based solution.