When consensus works, everyone feels both a personal sense of triumph and a sense of closeness to the group. The process requires maturity, and flexibility, along with a willingness to give way for the good of the group, to listen rather than to hold forth, to invent rather than insist. Consensus calls forth the best that is in us, and so empowers us to work together in community. The group has insufficient information. There is a forced choice or all options are negative.
Individual members value their own desires more than the group's purpose.
Consensus manuals emphasize that each group must adopt its own workable process. ALL the resources emphasize that the biggest impediment to successful process is lack of training. Rather than abandon consensus in the early stages when the kinks are still being worked out, they recommend adopting an emergency clause that allows for some form of voting. At Live Oak we have adopted such a clause. Seventy-five percent of the members must approve the proposal in order for it to be adopted.