A team, "is a group of people with a high degree of interdependency organized to achieve a task" according to Marvin R. Weisbord author of Productive Workplaces: Organizing and Managing for Dignity, Meaning and Community.

When working as a team, members must have a dual focus. Their focus must be on the product, accomplishing the task and the process, team development. One of the processes a teams often struggle with is the decision making process. If a team cannot make decisions effectively then this may detract from the teams ability to accomplish their assigned task.

Focus of Team Work	Teams must have a dual focus to be successful
1. Product	task accomplishment
2. Process	team development

There are four methods that teams can use to make decsions:

METHODS	DESCRIPTION
1. Autocratic	A single person makes the decision based on their position in the "power structure"
2. Democratic	A vote is taken among team members and the decision is carried with a majority of the votes cast.
3. Consultative	A single person makes the decision on the basis of information and guidance of the team.
4. Consensus	A decision is made when all team members have committed to support the decision. Team members may not agree with all aspects of the decision, however they can "live" with the decision.

All of the above methods are legitimate. Teams may want to decide before a meeting or project begins the kind of decision making processes they will be using and when. Simply identifying the method that will be used to make the decision before the team meets can alleviate frustration and help the team function more smoothly. Students may feel most comfortable with methods two and three and use these methods most often to make decisions. Your student teams may not be using the consensus method simply because they do not know how to reach consensus. Encourage your students to practice with the following procedure for reaching consensus, and remind them that while consensus may be more time consuming than the other methods it is the most valuable because consensus results in the greatest level of individual commitment to the decision.

If the team decides that consensus is the preferred method of making decisions, it may be helpful to practice coming to consensus using the following procedure:

STEP 1
Process	Each member takes a turn sharing his/her perceptions. Another member may begin only after the other member is finished and has passed the right to speak. All other group members must suspend their comments, reactions or questions. All members may want to take notes or write their own reactions down during this step.
Purpose	To freely share initial reactions from all group members.
STEP 2
Process	Each member has another chance to share his/her point of view or clarify his/her initial reactions more fully. Other members reserve all comments during this round as well.
Purpose	To elaborate on perceptions and insights.
STEP 3
Process	Each member takes a turn commenting on his/her perceptions, reactions, or feelings about what other members have shared. At this point it is helpful to focus on points of agreement and build on common perceptions.
Purpose	To seek common understanding.
STEP 4
Process	All members now participate as desired, in dialogue, to work toward consensus. Get a verbal agreement from each member before making a final decision.
Purpose	To get verbal agreement from each member and identify consensus.

Using a procedure like the one described above may seem awkward and artificial at first, encourage your teams to continue to use it despite the awkward feelings. In time teams will adapt the procedure and become comfortable with it so that it becomes second nature. You may want to have teams practice this procedure using a short exercise. (add link to page 38)

If your teams are still not convinced ask them to make a decision based on consensus without using a procedure. They may find it a frustrating and even an impossible task. If the team is asked to reflect on the process a number of common problems might be mentioned.

The process above seeks to address some of the common problems teams face when trying to reach consensus, such as:

• allowing each member equal air time
• giving each member a chance to say what they wanted to say
• shifting topics
• identifying areas of agreement
• perceiving that silence is a sign of agreement

By giving each team member equal time to voice her/his perceptions and asking for each member to voice their agreement at the conclusion of the process increases each persons level of commitment and leads to more effective implementation.