Overview of the Consensus Building Approach
A revolution is underway. Individuals in government agencies, corporations, and nonprofit groups are employing new ways to solve contentious disputes.
Traditional decision-making, negotiating methods, and litigation produce “win-lose” outcomes. Besides being expensive, these methods damage relationships, making it harder for people to work together in the future. Further, "win-lose" outcomes tend to be unstable and often lead to further conflicts in the future.
The Promise of the Consensus Building Approach
Consensus Building, by contrast, allows parties with differing interests and values regarding the use of parcels of land to produce agreements that are better for everyone than their "no-agreement" alternatives. Consensus is reached when all "joint gains" have been explored, and explicit efforts have been made to meet the needs of all parties—though parties are never asked to give up pursuing their own self-interest.
At the vanguard of the consensus building revolution for more than 15 years, the Consensus Building Institute (CBI) offers a wealth of consensus building, negotiation, and facilitation expertise. Our skilled staff can help your group solve problems and make crucial decisions.
Perhaps you are part of a group that must work together regularly and you’ve found group decision-making to be maddeningly slow, or manipulated by one strong personality. Or maybe your organization is involved in a dispute and you’ve been frustrated by the lack of appropriate, non-confrontational venues in which to resolve it. Or perhaps your organization requires the aid of a neutral party to facilitate or mediate a complex dispute involving many parties.
CBI Can Help
CBI has worked with multi-stakeholder groups throughout the United States and around the world to build consensus on 
extremely challenging problems and decisions. We offer specialized services in stakeholder assessment, process design, tailored training and multiparty mediation and facilitation. Our substantive expertise spans a wide range of issues, including environmental policy, land use planning, facility siting, energy systems, natural resource management, transportation, health care, corporate negotiations, and economic development.
Contact us to see how CBI can help you reach better, wiser decisions, preserve and build relationships, and create organizational capacity.
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