Publications

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Clues to Achieving Consensus:
A Leader's Guide to Navigating Collaborative Problem Solving

Rowman & Littlefield Education (2006)
ISBN: 1578862701

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Clues to Achieving Consensus is a book for those who are considering or are committed to sponsoring, facilitating or participating in consensus-based problem solving. It is for leaders that want to get results, for participants that don't like to waste time and facilitators that want to meet leaders' and participants' needs.

It is a guide to effective action in school districts, agencies, companies, organizations and communities by using consensus decision making. Clues to Achieving Consensus is an indexed guide that public and private leaders can use to assure productive group decision making - how to structure the reasons, roles, game rules and resources for consensus processes; how to select facilitators to plan, preside and document the deliberations and engage participants that can serve as effective advocates and ambassadors for "win-win" decisions.

Clues to Achieving Consensus is written for those who do the heavy lifting in collaborative decision making -- the public/private leaders and members of communities and organizations that must make, own and implement the consensus decisions.

What others are saying about Clues to Achieving Consensus

This book is a must read for any manager or administrator who wants to achieve excellence in the product they produce or the youth they educate ... Clues to Achieving Consensus is the road map that I was fortunate enough to personally experience. During the last eight years of my career, Dr. Hanson was the facilitator, I was the sponsor, and there were 1600 participants. The setting was the largest open pit mine in North America and the challenge was very similar to what has become only too common in the heavy industrial sector in our country: stay competitive in the international marketplace or face shut down. As she has done in this book, Mirja not only provided the road map but also the direction, as our facilitator, to move from a autocratic style of management into a collaborative, problem-solving environment that thrived on consensus. These eight years were by far the most enjoyable and productive in my thirty-nine year career.

Jim Swearingen
General Manager (Retired)
US Steel/Minnesota Taconite Operation

In our increasingly interconnected and complex world, Dr. Hanson helps us answer Aristotle's timeless question: "how ought we live together" through consensus. Her book is an excellent mix of case studies, ready to apply principles and skills and in-depth process knowledge, all grounded in three decades of experience reflection and study. A must read for any of us seeking greater productivity in our personal, civic and/or professional lives and relationships.

Dr. David Ostermeier
Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries
University of Tennessee

With her 30 years of practical experience, Mirja Hanson delves deeply into the subtleties of the group consensus method and has provided a treasure house full of keys for successful process consultation. This book will remain within constant reach every time I need a refresher on how to facilitate the politics of process.

James P. Troxel
Partner, Millennia Consulting LLC
Co-founder, International Association of Facilitators
Participation Works and Government Works (Editor)

A major difficulty in problem solving is that all too often, the managers and administrators make decisions affecting the workers or the service providers. Furthermore, they are made with little organized input by the workers. This often creates a downward spiral of "don't bother me with your management problems, as my thoughts don't count anyway." This book provides the model to break that spiral, and actually reverse it. Development of a consensus-based decision-making model, based on information in this book, will improve morale as the service providers, whether they are teachers or widget makers, will have a direct action on the decisions which affect the work they do.

Jim Luoma
Superintendent of Grand Rapids, MN Public Schools (Retired)
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees (Past Chair)