Reaching Democratic Agreement Differently

Authors: Perry Walker and Paul Thistlethwaite

There is a local issue you want to get people together to discuss. But how to go about it? This article proposes an approach that is powerful – consensus.

What is consensus? The dictionary definition is ‘general agreement’ - but that needs unpacking. Take first the word ‘General’. Majority voting often means that the minority have no power at all. But if ‘general’ means getting agreement from everybody, then it is the minority that has enormous power – because it has a veto. That’s why many consensus methods have a fallback: If 100% agreement is unachievable, then a super-majority will do. For example, a 75% threshold kicks in with the N Street Method if objectors do not work with others to come up with a mutually agreed alternative (this has worked effectively in the cooperative housing movement in the USA).

‘Agreement’ too needs a closer look. It comes in various forms. But the lower the bar, the greater the likelihood of general agreement. So the initial test is usually, ‘Can I live with what is being proposed?’ Once there is general agreement in that sense, that pretty well everyone can live with it, the next step is to see if it can be refined so that most people actively support it.

Two recipes for securing consensus

Note that these are recipes, not formulas. They need adapting to circumstances. But understand the basics first.

1. The Win-Win Workout

The Win-Win Workout makes consensus easier to achieve by separating the 'what' from the 'why'. So much discussion, in politics or among groups, takes place at the level of ‘what’ – what the solutions that people advocate. But asking ‘why’ – we call them aims - takes us down to the level of our interests, needs and values, where there is much more common ground. Watch the 4 minute video below for more background.

In late 2024, we ran a couple of events using this format on 20mph speed limits in York and in Worthing, in collaboration with the campaigning organisation, 20’s Plenty. The value of separating the 'what' from the 'why' was evident. Kate Ravilious, cabinet member for transport, City of York Council, wrote: 

“Huge thanks for all your hard work and a super event last night. It was a really interesting approach and I can certainly see the value in bringing the conversation back to aims rather than focusing on solutions.”

We used sticky dots to find out which of the aims commanded most agreement. The lead council officer in Worthing commented: 

“Some wanted solutions - but we need an evidence base – [that was provided by] the green dots.”

To understand the process in more detail, see this account of an event in St Albans on smartphones. We’ve also developed a ‘gamified’ version, to reduce the amount of facilitation needed. You can read about one example here.

2. Crowd Wise

Crowd Wise encourages consensus in a different way, using preference voting, where people put options in order of preference. This form of voting encourages dialogue in which options often start to overlap, and sometimes merge.

Several years ago, Transition Town Lewes (TTL) needed to set up a steering group to co-ordinate decision-making across their several working groups. At the start of a two-hour meeting, five options were proposed. Through discussion and two preference votes, at start and finish, there was consensus on this option: 

“The Steering Group initially comprises the existing group Contacts. They then put out a call for more members from the whole of TTL, and co-opt anyone who is prepared to commit to attending the monthly meeting.”

This article has been written by Perry Walker, Talk Shop, and Paul Thistlethwaite, Thinking Box. Perry is happy to advise on any aspect of this article. He can be contacted at perryw@talkshopuk.org. He runs one day training courses on consensus decision-making, mainly online, for Talk Action.

Read more about our Citizen Democracy Series here.

The publisher is Citizen Network. Reaching Democratic Agreement Differently © Perry Walker and Paul Thistlethwaite 2025.