Finding Consensus: Why Do Reasonable People Disagree?

Image by Jason Goodman, Unsplash.com

You’ve prepared for weeks, you understand the client and have been briefed on the issue. Now, finally after all your preparation you pitch to your client. And… your client does not agree. You’ve been shut down at every turn. Where did you go wrong?

You may have glossed over the situational analysis. More than that, you may have defined the situation differently than your client.

The situation is defined by Smith (2020) as a set of circumstances facing an organization. These circumstances range from organizational opportunities such as loyalty of customers and awareness of brand, to organizational obstacles such as budget constraints and employee disengagement.

“And, because good sense isn’t all that common…people will have different ideas about what the situation is.” Smith (2020)

Turning Obstacles into Opportunities

Consider an anecdote. While working on a campaign with the New Mexico branch of the American Diabetes Association last spring, I had determined the situation opportunity was to educate parents about the dangers of sugar sweetened beverages or SSBs. I understood the harm of SSBs and through my research, thought parents would respond to posters placed in doctors office waiting rooms and restaurants. However, while the client understood the educational opportunity, they believed the situation presented an action: to remove SSBs as an option on all restaurant children’s menus in the state of New Mexico.

This situation presented an obstacle, creating a rule to mandate something in all restaurants would require a state policy change. A new law. My team and I had to think outside the box to create a consensus with the client. So, we analyzed the situation as a social issue. If all children who consumed SSBs were at a higher risk of diabetes, then this was a local issue as well as a state issue. We decided to look at the situation in the light of the City of Albuquerque, using a city mandate, that could in time help to lobby a state policy. The client loved the idea, and once we reached consensus, we were able to create a full fledged campaign with local focus.

Communicating with Clients

Are we on the same page? me (2022)

Consensus beyond the situation is also vital to the researcher client relationship. Other important touch points include Smith (2020):

1. the scope of the project and any needs including resources or cost

2. use of secondary research sources & identification of research questions

3. methodology for any studies

4. findings from studies

Another example of a campaign as discussed in Capstone was Airbnb’s Be a Host campaign. This campaign works to provide housing to Afghan Refugees. Consensus for this campaign may look like the client and the researcher understanding how many houses are needed, how many hosts are available and what benefits can be offered to the hosts for opening their homes.

Still struggling to find consensus with your client? Offer additional solutions that will benefit your clients organization or cause. Be patient. And, if all else fails, know that sometimes reasonable people will disagree.

#opportunity #Situation #redefinesituation #FindingConsensus #obstacle