Fact Sheet 98-56

Decision-Making Styles and Techniques

Community Board Development : Series 5
Marlene K. Rebori

"Not everything that can be counted counts,

and not everything that counts can be counted."
Albert Einstein

At some point, your board will be responsible for making decisions. Depending upon the situation and type
of decision to be made, you can chose from a variety of styles and techniques. Often times, your board may
only be required to provide comments to the commissioners or city council members. In an instance when
you only need to provide board comments, you can apply techniques such as brainstorming or other group
process skills that have been outlined in preceding Community Board Development Series.

In the "world of ideas", people explore possibilities. This happens when boards discuss an issue, analyze a
problem, or brainstorm alternative solutions. When discussion is still in the world of ideas, everything is kept
fairly loose and safe. However, when a board moves into the decision phase, everyone's view of reality
changes. Often, boards are not sure when a decision has actually been made and is demonstrated through
phrases such as, "I don't recall us making an actual decision on that", or
"I thought we already made this decision." These examples remind us that boards need to understand and
agree on a decision-making style.

Just as long meetings, inconsistent goals, and unequal group participation can cause board ineffectiveness, a
lack of understanding in decision-making procedures can also impede board progress. To maximize board
effectiveness, the board should decide which decision making style to use depending upon the situation. Your
board may be using one of the following decision-making styles as outlined below.

Decision-Making Styles

• No decision: Some boards may consciously or unconsciously avoid making decisions and thus make
the decision not to decide. The "no decision" style can be displayed by topic jumping-allowing
members to shift the topic before a decision is reached and by the "plop". The "plop" happens when
one member initiates an idea, action, or decision, but the group gives no response. Essentially the plop
is a board decision by omission. Avoiding or ignoring actions or decisions is a decision, it is just a
decision not to decide.
 • Self-Appointed Decision-Maker: A decision or course of action is initiated by only one member under
the assumption that other members consented. One member states a decision, no one else agrees or
disagrees with the decision, and so one member makes the decision for the entire board. Although this
decision-making style is very timely, decisions are not based on the boards input and therefore do not
reflect the collective opinion of the board.
• Minority Rule: A minority of board members (3 to 4) agree to a course of action or make a decision
while the other members remain silent. A vote is usually not taken but based on dominant member's
discussion, a few people make a decision for the entire board. This style does not consider other
member's opinions or values in the decision reached. Minority rule can cause frustration among silent
members creating the impression their opinion does not count.
• Majority Rule: Requires the agreement of at least 51% (or more) of board members to reach a
decision. groups often reach majority rule through a brief and somewhat formal discussion, then a
final vote is taken usually through a show of hands. When used for complex or high stake decisions
this style often produces a win/lose solution and is considered a competitive style of decision-
making.. Although this style moves a group forward quickly, it can result in group divisiveness and
frustration for those members whose opinions were not part of the majority decision.
• Consensus: Board members make a decision based on all members supporting the decision or action.
Consensus is not a compromise because members work to seek mutual agreement on the decision.
Consensus building incorporates all members' opinions and values into the decision. This style is very
difficult because it builds off of the tension caused by a diversity of opinions to develop creative
agreements. This style can become quite time consuming. The benefit of building consensus on
complex, high stake decisions is that it fosters board empowerment, builds group cohesion, and
improves interpersonal relationships and accountability.

How to Decide on Which Style to Use?

Obviously the "no decision", "self-appointed decision-maker" and "minority support" are not recommended
as organized procedures for your board to follow. These styles really refer to common situations that many
boards may fall into when decision-making is required. However majority support and consensus are styles to
which procedures and helpful techniques can be applied. When deciding whether to use majority support or
consensus, the board should consider the following factors:

• Timeliness: How much time has the board been given to make a decision. If the board has been
allocated one meeting to reach a decision, they may have to choose the most timely method possible.
• Appropriateness: How complex is the decision? If the decision is to take an hour or 45 minutes for
lunch, you don't need to reach consensus to make a decision. However, if the board were to approve a
development plan for their community, they would want to spend more time gathering concerns.
• Relationship: How will the decision affect board members relationship? If the decision-making style
could jeopardize or place the relationship in peril, maybe a more collective approach to decision-
making should be considered.

Techniques for Designing Majority Support Decisions

Most people typically understand procedures outlining majority support. A decision is put forth, a vote is
taken, if over 51% vote for the action the decision is made and the board moves on to the next agenda item.
However, there are a variety of techniques you can incorporate into the style of majority support to help
reduce frustration among members and prevent group divisiveness that often accompanies majority support
decisions.

• 70/30 Vote: This technique requires more than 51% of the boards approval, it requires at least 70% of
members in agreement with the decision. The 70/30 requires discussion among board members since
 at least 70% need to be in agreement with the decision. This technique borrows from consensus in the
sense that a deeper understanding of why members feel a certain way about an action is expressed and
helps to develop a shared understanding among board members.
• Blind Vote: This technique is recommended with complex or high stake decisions. It can be as simple
as a secret ballot. This technique adds anonymity to who voted for which decision thus reducing
potential group divisiveness.
• Dots:Although dots were discussed as a technique for prioritizing alternative ideas in Community
Board Development Series 3: Problem Solving, it can be used as a visual way of demonstrating
majority support among a variety of possible actions.
• Devils Advocate: This is a technique that is also very useful during brainstorming and in consensus
building processes as well. One member plays the devils advocate to the potential decision by stating
all the opposite possibilities. This technique is useful in majority support because it prevents the board
from falling into "groupthink". Groupthink occurs when members suppress their dissenting view
because they believe no one will agree with them. By allowing someone to "play" the devils advocate
it encourages members to discuss the merits of an action or potential decision without worrying about
blocking the group's momentum.

Techniques for Building Consensus

As stated earlier, consensus takes time to build and it requires hard work among board members. Whereas
people easily understand majority support, consensus is usually not so easily understood. There are many
misconceptions around consensus, for instance that it takes too long to reach consensus, or that everyone
must agree unanimously on a decision. Consensus is reached when members mutually agree to a decision and
feel that their concerns regarding the issue have been addressed, it is not unanimity. Many of the skills
discussed in the previous Community Board Development Series such as facilitative leadership, board
empowerment, active listening, and the entire Series on Conflict Management Skills are instrumental in
helping a group build consensus. The following techniques may help your board to build consensus and use
your time more efficiently.

Use Levels of Consensus: When working to build consensus, it is very helpful to have 4 to 5 levels of
consensus. Your board may prefer to work with fewer levels for simplicity but the following 5 levels are
outlined below.

• 1. I can easily accept the decision or action.

• 2. I can accept the decision or action but it may not be my preference.
• 3. I can accept the decision or action with minor changes.
• 4. I accept the board or group, but I don't necessarily agree with the decision or action.
• 5. I cannot accept the decision or action.

Anyone expressing a level 5 concern is not consensus. If everyone on the board has at least a level 4 concern
or above, consensus is reached. Using levels of consensus helps the board to be more time efficient while still
addressing concerns and building mutual agreement. Using consensus levels also provides components of the
action or decision to be singled out allowing members to discuss specific concerns. If your board does decide
to use levels of consensus, it is recommended to place these levels in the ground rules and ask for board
agreement on using the levels. Ground rules are discussed in Time and Meeting Management Skills:
Community Board Development Series 1.

• Consensus Log: Keep a running list of the actions you reached consensus on. This may be more
appropriate with groups who are working on highly complex decisions such as approving a
development plan or open space area. Keeping a log prevents the question from arising, "What did we
decide on X?"
 • Distill Concerns: Since one of the reasons for building consensus is to understand members concerns
and reach mutual agreement on a decision, boards should have some techniques in distilling concerns.
As members provide their concerns regarding a potential proposal, someone should record these
concerns on either a flipchart or on a chalkboard for everyone to see. Once everyone has provided
their concerns, then the board should go through the list and group similar phrases or concerns.
Grouping helps to give members a grasp of the real concerns that need resolving.
• Straw Man: In the event that the board is working to develop a proposal for consensus, it may be
helpful for someone to draft a proposal or solution-the straw man and encourage members to criticize
it, attack it, pull it apart, etc. Providing a straw man gives a starting point for the board and it helps to
pull out members opinions and values about the potential proposal or action. Allowing the board to
pick apart the straw man, change it, and add to it will help the board to develop ownership of it.
• No Matter which technique you use for building consensus (and there are many more available)
remember that all members eventually should support the decision or the group, and feel as though
they have had sufficient opportunities to influence the proposed decision. When these elements are
present, then you have generally worked to build consensus.

For more on this topic, refer to:

Saint, Steven. And James R. Lawson. 1994.

Rules for Reaching Consensus: A modern approach to decision making.
San Francisco, California. Pfeiffer Press.

Tagliere, Daniel. 1993. How to Meet, Think, and Work to Consensus. Pfeiffer and Company.

Vrooman, Rona. 1994. Group Process Tools. INFO-Line Issue Number 9407.
Practical Guidelines for Training and Development Professionals. American Society for Training and Development.

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