6.6 Agrees with everything

The group agrees with everything.

• People go along with decisions without saying what’s on their mind.
• Decisions are made without thorough analysis and discussion.

• Everyone is in agreement and a good solution has been identified.
• There is a power differential in the room and no one feels confident enough to openly disagree with a leader or manager.
• People are not interested in the topic and wish to bring the session to a conclusion as quickly as possible.
• The discussion has taken a long time, and individuals want some form of closure even if it means settling for something other than a win/win situation.
• Individuals do not have any real investment in the outcome.

• Failing to find out beforehand whether there will be a power differential within the room which will be likely to dominate decisions.
• Assuming that unanimous group agreement means that there are no concerns with regard to the decision.
• Sticking to a large group format.
• Not setting ground rules to create safety and comfort to facilitate open discussions.

• Ensure agreement is genuine so that reservations aren’t revealed at a later date, possibly in more destructive ways.
• Ask some ‘devil’s advocate’ questions to test the strength of the agreement.
• Create a safe climate and stress that disagreement can be very valuable for encouraging creativity and identifying the best solution.
• Split the group into pairs or smaller groups to discuss the options – have small groups feedback on flip charts and discuss. This will provide a safer environment to allow disagreement. Other ‘safe’ alternatives that allow individual contributions to remain anonymous can also help (secret ballot, etc.).