You've seen this pattern:
"I want this project. It's important for... reasons."
"OK, but we must fix this maintenance, or the system will slowly die."
Each side goes back and forth, trying to convince the other that they're correct.
Yawn. Right?
Try this instead:
"What would it take for you to support this maintenance work?"
Usually, the answer is,
"As long as it doesn't take up more than 10% of your time, I'm fine."
It's amazing what happens when the conversation is about solutions.
Asking this question is one of the critical aspects of consent-based decision-making.
Instead of getting everyone to agree, we look for options that no one is against.
Where could you use this to speed up decisions?
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PS, Consent is beneficial when you want fast decision-making.
When you need to make "perfect" decisions, complete agreement via Consensus suits the decision better.
