Top management teams often find it difficult to agree on a course of action for their firm. Whenever we participate in firm strategy retreats, we see managers grappling with collective decisions. After weeding out inferior strategic alternatives, they are left with a set of promising but mutually exclusive options, and often struggle to make a call. Because it’s unrealistic for every manager to agree on a single option, the more relevant question is how many need to agree before a strategic decision is made.

When organizations set a high threshold for approving a project—such that almost all managers must be in agreement—it’s clear that few projects will move ahead. To encourage more investments, organizations may modify their decision-making rules, lowering the threshold required to approve new projects.

Although this appears logical, this structural change may fail to bear fruit. Our research reveals that lowering the bar in the hopes of making it easier for projects to get the go-ahead can have unintended consequences. When less consensus is needed, the more an individual’s support counts. This makes individuals more conservative about how they vote and reluctant to voice support.

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