Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 298
Map the concerns before solving them
Three discussion levels separate exploration, concern mapping, and resolution so disagreement becomes inspectable before a group commits to action.
Premise
Formal Consensus is the specific structured decision procedure codified by C. T. Lawrence Butler and Amy Rothstein in 1987. It gives a group a visible sequence for developing a proposal, surfacing concerns, working those concerns, and deciding whether remaining objections support a stand-aside, further revision, or a valid block under the group’s own principles. The mechanism is useful because it prevents the first objection voiced from becoming the meeting’s de facto agenda.
What the model is: Formal Consensus in Knowledge →
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- Why this matters
- Risks and limits
- Executive takeaway
- Key questions
- Selected sources
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- FamilyTool
- CategoryGovernance Institutions & Procedures
- DomainGroups & Decisions
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Tool
In this series, Tool names the editorial family primarily used to act on, examine, measure or organize communication. It includes instruments, methods, practices, protocols, codes and institutional arrangements. Membership does not certify effectiveness, portability or safe use in every setting.
Editorial orientation · Category
Governance Institutions & Procedures
Organizes authority, representation, participation, deliberation, collective decision or institutional resolution of conflict. Its contribution concerns who may act, speak, decide or challenge, and under what arrangements.
- KnowledgeFormal Consensus